The Schonleber 2006 Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs predictably features citrus, white peach, and red berries. Silken in texture and voluminous without becoming hot or heavy, this coats the palate with peach and nut oils while preserving the tingling brightness and invigoration of berries, citrus, and mineral “stuff.” The complex exchange of fruit, nut, and hard-to-pin-down mineral notes in the finish is riveting, and there is a brothy, savory, saline depth analogous to that of great Chablis. The overall effect is sedate and laid-back, as if to say “I don’t need to strain or flaunt what I’ve got.” And I don’t think the wine is bluffing: there will be much – as yet in reserve – to reward at least a decade’s cellaring. “The Nahe had the capability to render really good dry wines this year,” asserts Werner Schonleber. “Elsewhere, the botrytis was problematic, or the ripening took place too quickly. But we caught the whole spectrum here.” He proceeded to prove this memorably in the glass, with the finest collection I have ever tasted at this address (as well as – improbably – one in which Fruhlingsplatzchen outperformed Halenberg).Imported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608-9644; also imported by Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA; tel. (877) 389-9463