Taking halbtrocken off the label was the right move, remarks Schonleber of his 2008 Riesling Lenz and its predecessors, which previously were labeled Kabinett halbtrocken. This way, he explains, the question of analysis and legal categories doesn’t arise; you can get German cellar door customers to taste it, and can close the sale. All this is still a bit revolutionary in today’s still trocken-obsessed Germany! The wine tastes dry, but the bit of sugar that’s in it reinforces the fleshy, luscious side of grapefruit, orange, and white peach. At the same time, this is even saltier than the corresponding generic trocken, and glossier in texture. It misses that wine’s lift and transparency, but is a luscious mouthful of impeccably-balanced Riesling that clearly reflects its vintage and place of origin and offers excellent value for enjoying over the next 4-5 years. Werner and Frank Schonleber are another Nahe dream team whose amazing performance in 2007 has been equaled in 2008. “I wouldn’t call it a vintage with the emphasis on fruit,” says Werner Schonleber, “but rather on a pronounced, saline minerality. And there was no great selection of nobly sweet wine this year, because every three or four days it would rain at least a little bit.” He offers as “a very simple explanation” of this pronounced minerality the classic one adduced by growers (whether or not scientifically supportable) that the vines better “assimilate mineral stuff” when mild weather and plenty of moisture grease – as it were – the wheels of plant metabolism. And such vintages always boast measurably high levels of dry extract; the question remains, has that – as most growers believe – anything to do with their expression of flavors for which we feel compelled to employ mineral vocabulary?Importers: Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608-9644; Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA tel. (877) 389-9463

A racy version, sporting bright violet, red berry and vanilla custard aromas and flavors. It's delicate and piercing, with a cleansing finish. Drink now through 2016. 1,200 cases made, 40 cases imported.??–BS??Region: Germany / Nahe Select to Add