Messmer’s 2008 Weyherer Michelsberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs is more dominated by dried fruits and their pits – suggesting apricot and yellow plum – than the corresponding Schawer, although this has its own attractive floral hints. There isn’t the brightness or the interplay of mineral and fruit elements here that lent the Schawer its greatest distinction. The virtues in this instance are richness of texture and a depth of nut oils and peat-like smokiness. There is also more bitterness and the tartness of gooseberry mingling with the invigorating chew of pit fruit skin. Messmer says he considers the Riesling from this site inevitably slower to reveal its true personality than is that of the Schawer. I would tentatively imagine it evolving interestingly for the better part of a decade. It had been too long since I’d seen Gregor Messmer (although I am at his winery annually) and I was encouraged by witnessing him professing his rededication to his vineyards. That said, after a 2007 collection that was the best I had tasted here in a number of years, I found that some of these 2008s – which were harvested between the 18th and 30th of October – leaned rather sharply in the direction of leanness and Sauvignon greenness and shared with many of their fellow Pfalz trocken Rieslings an extremely tart brightness.Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300