From fruit vinified almost entirely vendange entier, the Barthelmes’ 2009 Pinot Noir Grand H – tasted from barrel (20% new) – evinces aromas of game and lightly-cooked bacon, blackberry and cassis. Ripe yet restrained (at only 13.4% alcohol) and full of freshness and saliva-inducing salinity, this stains a palate underlain by strong, fine tannins, with licorice, black pepper, salt, and chalk adding interest to a long if borderline severe finish. Amazingly the Barthelmes began picking their Pinots already on September 9. Given the intention to bottle these in the spring of 2011, notes Jacky Barthelme, these 2009 Pinots’ slightly reduced conditions when I tasted them are not of concern. The finished “H” will need 3-4 years to loosen-up sufficiently for optimum enjoyment, though how long it might thereafter remain fresh I won’t try to speculate. Although Maurice and Jacky Barthelme continued to pick their 2009 Rieslings into October and achieved satisfyingly ripe flavors, they did so without suffering high alcohol or unbalanced sweetness. Unsurprisingly (whether or not verifiably), they implicate the accumulated experience and effects of a biodynamic regimen in these results. Equally importantly, the levels of acidity in their 2009 Rieslings are ample and efficacious. With Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer, they were forced to discharge high must weights in the form of almost universally high residual sugar, with attractive if seldom distinguished results. The Mann 2008s are characterized by particularly concentrated and positively efficacious acidity, all of the Rieslings weighing-in at what on paper might look like an excessive 9 grams or more. Not only have the Barthelme brothers been together now for 21 vintages – to me it still seems like yesterday that I “discovered” their 1988s – but they point out that most of their present crew has been together for nearly a decade, which is bound to have been instrumental in their having been able to repeatedly expand into new vineyards without sacrificing the highest standards, not to mention with their enthusiasm still youthful.Importer: Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800