The 2007 Haardter Burgergarten Riesling Spatlese trocken incorporates parcels in the Burgergarten – as well as the same stringent standards – that applied to certain wines which the estate for a brief while bottled under their individual names, whereas they have since singled out only the best portion of the site known as Breumel to bottle as Grosses Gewachs. Gentian-like floral perfume, subtle herbs, and ripe peach rise from the glass, while peach kernel, peach fuzz, and crushed stone offer piquant counterpoint to ripe peach on the palate. This finishes with almost severe concentration; admirable, invigorating length; but marginally less clarity, refinement, or sheer refreshment than the corresponding Haardter Kabinett trocken, due to alcoholic weight and slight bitterness. I would plan on enjoying if over the next 6-8 years. You had to play poker and take some chances this year, remarked Martin Franzen, and based on the vinous evidence, he repeatedly played winning hands. The stylistic evolution of wines under Franzen’s and proprietor Philip Catoir’s direction – which I honestly find it difficult to understand why so many commentators view as utterly discontinuous with the legacy of legendary former cellar master Hans-Gunter Schwarz – has run toward increasing refinement and subtlety in the Rieslings, for which conditions in 2007 – assuming (as one can, here) impeccable viticultural husbandry and patience at harvest – were ultimately ideal (even as they had been problematic in 2006). Franzen has turned out the first totally masterful Scheurebe collection of his career this year. And the nobly sweet wines – including, improbably, six tour de force TBAs, among which are the estate’s first-ever from Muskateller and Weissburgunder and first Scheurebe TBA since 1964 – dazzle with the audacity and at times raucousness that routinely accrue to nobly sweet Pfalz 2007s, and are at their best unsurpassed. Nearly all of this year’s collection (save for one refusenik Rieslander TBA) had been bottled already in April, a bold strategy considering how downright unsettled by nature some of them are. But capturing all of their energy in bottle seemed to be the governing metaphor. I cannot resist pointing out that – in keeping with a lamentable national trend – there is now not just no halbtrocken wine here, but no middle ground: every wine this year is either legally trocken or obviously sweet. Muller-Catoir is increasing their acreage of Pinot Blanc – in itself a welcome development, although partisans of Rieslaner will be dismayed to learn that it is coming at that variety’s expense.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300
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