Harboring the same 12.5% alcohol and 11 grams of residual sugar wicked-away by high acidity as the corresponding “Cuvee Albert,” the Mann 2008 Riesling Schlossberg features the sharp piquancy of lime zest and huckleberry playing against white peach, lavender, and mint in the nose and on a juicy, vivacious palate that finishes with a positive sense of herbal, zesty, mineral, and berry-tart sizzle that you’ll swear must be battery-powered. Give this a few years to calm down (or perhaps not, depending on your personal proclivities) and prepare to enjoy it for the next 15-20. The 1988 – which, as a young wine, had much in common with this 2008 – is still drinking nicely.
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
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