The Ratzenbergers’ 2007 Steeger St. Jost Riesling Spatlese trocken leads with winter pear and persimmon, a certain citrus zest pungency and pip- and pit-like bitterness being successfully folded into a creamy, palpably extract- and glycerin-rich palate. Suggestions of chalk and crushed stone add interest and contrast to a long finish by way of an attractive hint of austerity. This should be worth following for 7-10 years. . Jochen Ratzenberger Jr. expressed delight with his 2007s, and even though I’m straining to recollect a vintage with which he wasn’t pleased, the truth is, he and his father comprise one of the most consistently high-performance teams in German viticulture, and their 2007 collection is consistently impressive. Both of the Ratzenbergers’ 2007 vintage Grosse Gewachse – in what has been fairly typical behavior – finished fermenting only in mid-August, and were immediately bottled with barely enough time to appear at the annual Berlin Presentation of Germany’s collective wines in this genreImported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608 9644