Sharing with the corresponding Goldlay its buoyancy, delicacy, and refreshment despite overt sweetness, Melsheimer’s 2009 Reiler Mullay-Hofberg Riesling Spatlese Schaf unites pear, sage, and mint for a luscious yet pungent palate, persistent presence underlain by a lick of wet stone. Even while finding that this bordered on over-sweetness, I was still amazed to discover that it harbored a whopping 95 grams! Ordinarily, I’d say “better in 15 or so years once it tastes drier,” but I do not have much experience with the aging curve of Melsheimer’s low-sulfur bottlings. I was so fascinated by the highly distinctive wines I tasted last year from organic pioneer Melsheimer (reported on in issue 187, where I also describe some of the many sites he cultivates) that I felt compelled to return. Unfortunately, he was abroad selling for the entire time that I spent in Germany, but I visited and tasted a substantial portion of the 2009 collection with his family. Several dry wines, including some he considers among his top lots were, however, in too unfinished a state even in September for him to be willing to show them to me, and it is to be expected that some of his 2009s will only be offered for sale next year. So far, I have tasted relatively few older Melsheimer wines, and they are all conspicuously (I mean sensorially, not merely on paper) low in sulfur, so I prefer to be both conservative and vague in any prognoses of age-ability.Imported by Domaine Select Wine Estates, New York, NY; tel. (212) 279-0799