A 2008 Forster Ungeheuer Riesling trocken is one of the majority of Deinhard wines labeled “Von Winningen,” whereas two other Forster Ungeheuer trocken (which I have also reviewed) are labeled with a Pradikat and “Dr. Deinhard.” The Pfalz VDP won’t permit this multiplicity of vineyard-designates if you are bottling a wine from the same site as Grosses Gewachs. A greenhouse-like mingling of flowers and greenery in the nose combines with roasted root vegetables and toasted nuts on a palate, showcasing the earthy, slightly rustic side of this site. That rusticity seems to have been reinforced by the effects of a small percentage aged in small barrels. That said, this displays depth and amplitude without any heaviness, and finishes with real force. It may well be that these phenolically more-endowed dry Rieslings are going to have great stamina in the bottle, as certainly a good case can be made for their being fashioned in something more closely resembling the methods of 50 or even 100 years ago, eras from which dry Pfalz Rieslings are known to remain remarkably fresh even today. But if I had to handicap this, I’d say count on at least 6-8 years and monitor it along the way. For general updates on the change of ownership and radical recent developments at this venerable estate, I refer readers to my report in issue 185. The official winery name is now Von Winning and the Dr. Deinhard label will be used only for selected wines, not including any of the ostensibly top dry bottlings. I have conjoined the names, and continued to use Dr. Deinhard as a shorthand, because that is still how this winery is routinely referred to (even inside Germany), and readers should simply be on the lookout for either of these names on a label as an indication that it came from the winery in question (and, what’s more, is worth tasting). Young wine-geek-as-director Stefan Attmann – another of the many protegees of Hans-Gunter Schwarz, whose friend Joachim Niederberger now owns the winery – is attacking his work here with frenetic passion, but you have only to taste the latest crop of wines to recognize what discipline and determination he and his vineyard manager Joachim Jaillet (with whom I toured their sites) also bring to their jobs. Aspects of vinification worth bearing in mind are skin contact; near-absence of sedimentation; largely spontaneous fermentation; absence of fining; and filtration only immediately before bottling. (Common practice with German Riesling is still to filter at least twice.) “No risk, no fun,” is among Attmann’s mottos, though as he pointed out, the low pHs and cool weather of 2008 improved one’s odds. The U.S. importer, incidentally, offered last year a much extended range of 2007s, so that with two exceptions the stateside prices for wines of the 2008 vintage have not been set, although many can be expected to arrive here in the course of 2010. Precisely which wines of Deinhard will in future be bottled as Grosses Gewachs remains up in the air. The winery is promoting several individual parcels – i.e. not official post 1971 Einzellagen – for this status.Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300