The limeade-like, faintly honeyed generic Ratzenberger 2008 Riesling Kasper R is relatively simple but infectiously juicy and satisfying in length. A glossy palate adds to the allure, while distinct senses of underlying extract as well as of wet stone and salt offer contrast to the wine’s strong sheer fruitiness and its sweetness. Of course, this is meant to – and will be – drunk young. But it will be more than merely tasty ten years from now, I assure you; and the raw materials for it would in the ‘80s have been rendered by Ratzenbergers as Spatlese. When you taste a collection like this year’s from the two Jochen Ratzenbergers, you have to wonder why their wines’ consistent quality; track record for aging; and frequently stellar performances do not make this one of the most talked-about estates in Germany. (Maybe I shouldn’t wish that on us!) In fact, they are quite well-respected at home, but I think there is a certain snobbishness that rebounds against even the best Mittelrhein Riesling because this region’s precious half-timbered villages and crenellated slopes spell “tourist country” to most German wine lovers.Importer: Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608-9644