Weingut Kerpen Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett Feinherb, Mosel, Germany

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If you doubt that Martin Kerpen is on a roll, I dare you to try his 2008 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett feinherb, often one of his most delightfully distinctive bottlings (always labeled with a commissioned work of art), but this year an extraordinary achievement and value! Fresh apple, clover, and a cyanic hint of apple pit in a lovely if demure nose lead to a seemingly weightless palate that prismatically projects a dynamic range of mineral and inner-mouth floral nuances on a luscious matrix of apple, cassis, grapefruit, and nut oils. Exquisitely-balanced at a feather light 10% alcohol and 21 grams of residual sugar - despite which it tastes dry - this billows its way into a finish at once soothing and invigoratingly refreshing. Given the inevitable versatility of this Riesling at table; its minimum ten year potential (prove both of the aforementioned virtues to yourself!); and the fact that no other grape or place on earth can render another wine remotely like it, I can only again rhetorically ask why German growers insist on vacating the space between 9 grams and 40 or 30 grams of residual sugar. In recent years, Martin Kerpen has increasingly proven himself a master of dry Riesling, and the acid structure and relatively moderate accumulation of grape sugar relative to phenolic ripeness that characterize 2008 played into his skilled hand in that genre, in which, additionally, he relied increasingly this year on ambient yeasts. (Of course, he is adept with residually sweet Riesling as well.) it's interesting to study Kerpen's detailed map of vineyard parcels, incidentally, and to see how after the controversial Flurbereinigung or general vineyard restructuring and replanting that is now under way in Wehlen, he will end up with around 8-9 parcels - some identical to his current acreage - or about half the number into which his total landholdings are morsellated at present.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300