The 2007 Monzinger Halenberg Riesling trocken – corresponding with Schonleber’s former Halenberg Spatlese trocken, and reflecting the Nahe-VDP decision to eliminate indications of Pradikat from dry wines – introduces (again, shades of Chablis) a salted meat stock aroma to accompany lime, bitter-sweet floral perfume, and red berries. Subtly creamy yet refreshing, it offers a fascinating interplay of flavors and a striking sense of transparency to mineral nuances that display positively tactile persistence. This beauty should hold up well for a decade. To say that Werner and son Frank Schonleber have been on a roll lately must count as an understatement (and that applies to 2008, too). Two heads are better than one, no doubt, plus the advantages of accumulated wisdom and acreage – the family is filling-in what was once a decidedly, in places depressingly patchy landscape by buying up prime parcels from retiring vintners – are obvious. The Schonlebers went over their vineyards in early October to pull out some botrytis that had already accumulated and to thin their crop, and began seriously harvesting Riesling after the 10th. The estate’s vines were largely spared savage but capricious hail that rained down on parts of the Fruhlingsplatzchen. Werner Schonleber draws a stylistic comparison with the 2002 vintage, which he convincingly demonstrated with several bottles.Imported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608 9644; also imported by Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA tel. (877) 389- 9463