Spanier’s 2011 Molsheimer Riesling trocken is scented with fresh lemon and Hubbard squash that go on to inform a juicy, clear, yet surprisingly lush palate, accented with peach kernel and toasted almond. These cool vineyards manage to retain refined and efficacious acidity in a warm and precocious vintage like 2011, but in this instance we haven’t the complex dynamic nor – for now at least – the sense of mineral dimension found in this year’s generic or Hohen-Sulzen bottlings. Oliver Spanier (for an account of his methods and still internationally little-known sites, consult especially my issue 185 report) began picking on September 20, 2011 and didn’t finish until November 2 (in his Am Schwarzen Herrgott parcel), an indication of the micro-climatic, topographical and geological diversity among his sites in three communes. That it was necessary to cull botrytis this year is evidenced in an unprecedented set of brilliantly successful nobly sweet wines from this normally trocken-only estate. (Mea Culpa: Somehow, I let Spanier omit pouring me samples of this year’s Eisbach Riesling or his and Gillot’s 2010 CO Riesling – always late-released – without my realizing the omissions and asking that they be remedied.)Imported by Domaine Select Wine Estates, New York, NY; tel. (212) 279-0799