From (as its name states) ungrafted vines – a real rarity anywhere along the Rhine – the Kuhling-Gillot 2009 Nackenheimer Rothenberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs Wurzelecht is notably lower-acid than other wines in a collection that is already as a whole (and not atypically for Riesling from this stretch of the Rhine Front in a ripe vintage) rather low in acidity. The upshot is enveloping breadth though not much refreshment. Powerful wood smoke, ripe peach, toasted almond, piquant peach kernel and orange zest inform this pithy and substantial if slightly inelegant Riesling. The finish here is gripping though undeniably slightly bitter and warm. Here is another instance of Riesling more formidable than loveable, and one which I would be cautious about holding bottles longer than 4-5 years without rendering an interim assessment. The consumer’s best move would be to hunt-down bottles of Gillot’s exceptional 2008 rendition of this parcel. Like her husband Oliver Spanier (of Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier), Carolin Gillot – for more about whose estate see in particular my reports in issues 185 and 187 – seems disinclined to tolerates residual sugar in her wines. Whether or not it is for that reason that they elected not to bottle the 28 gram residual sugar successor to the superb Kuhling-Gillot 2008 Gewurztraminer feinherb, I do wish I’d had chance to satisfy my curiosity by sampling that wine from cask. (I missed out also on sampling this year’s Kuhling-Gillot Pinot Gris from bottle.)Imported by Domaine Select Wine Estates, New York, NY; tel. (212) 279-0799