A bouquet of hyacinth and gardenia, along with strawberry preserves and honey greets one from the glass of Christoffel 2006 Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Spatlese. Oily and creamy in texture, with malt, honey, and brown spices underscoring the wine’s richness – but plenty of underlying slate-stone character – this finishes with superb intensity, yet clarity, delicacy, poise and lift. It will be a joy to drink over the next 20 or more years. Missing from this year’s line-up is a “one star” Urziger Wurzgarten Spatlese (or what used to be called just “Auslese”): ripeness and rot were simply coming on too fast. Hans-Leo Christoffel says he thought Robert Eymael must be jumping the gun when he began the harvest here, even though it was the 9th of October, but that it turned out not to have been too early at all. “Well, I wouldn’t ever have been able to catch up otherwise,” says Eyamel, “there weren’t that many pickers available. In three weeks, we finished.” And with what results! For further details on the Christoffel-Eymael collaboration, consult issue 163, and for notes on Eymael’s exceptional solo 2006 collection, see under “Monchhof” below.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel (516) 677-9300