The 2004 Bacharacher Wolfshohle Grosses Gewachs offers roast pumpkin, nut oils and peach kernel on the nose. The palate impression is creamy, waxy and rich yet bright and refreshing as well, amazing considering it had recently been racked, sulphured and filtered. The long finish is bitter-sweet yet clear and transparent in its ripe fruit and salt and wet-stone minerality, with low-toned, nutty richness but also delicate notes of citrus and pit fruits. Ratzenberger says he reduced the crop to a single bunch per vine. At just over 12% alcohol, this is a model of balance for wines of “Grosses Gewachs” genre. The Jochen Ratzenbergers – father and son – seldom fear letting the acidity of their Rieslings hang out, and they also craft wines that often need a couple of year’s bottle age to blossom, so my verdict on their 2004s may well require upgrading. Acid levels in the grapes stayed high, but Jochen Ratzenberger Jr. reports that the estate has never experienced such unprovoked precipitation of tartrates as this year, which significantly diminished the finished acids.Importer: Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ tel 856-608-9644