Von Winning-Dr. Deinhard Forster Ungeheuer Riesling Spatlese Trocken, Pfalz, Germany

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A 2009 Forster Ungeheuer Riesling Spatlese trocken (A.P. #21) offers a sweet, musky perfume of peony allied to mint and quince. Substantial and succulent, polished in texture, and carrying a metaphorically cooling mintiness all the way through its considerable finish, this Riesling from the lower-reaches of its swollen Einzellage should offer plenty of pleasure over the next 3-5 years. And in fact, it gave me more pleasure than did the much more expensive corresponding dry Von Winning Ungeheuer (sans Pradikat) A.P. #25. For an account of recent changes of ownership, winemaker, and style at this estate, I urge readers to consult my reports in issues 185 and 187. To repeat as regards issues of labeling, the top dry wines here are being bottled – sans Pradikat – under the “Von Winning” label that in fact corresponds to the new official name of this estate, while a second range that includes some residually sweet Rieslings continues to be labeled with the more familiar designation “Dr. Deinhard.” It’s possible also that some dry wines may be bottled in part with one label and partly with the other. The best I felt I could do to avoid confusion is to refer in the text of my tasting notes to the label under which I tasted each wine, but to treat “Dr. Deinhard - Von Winning” as the estate’s name for our purposes and ask readers to look-out for either designation on the label. And look-out you should, because passionate young arriviste Stephan Attmann and veteran (though still young) vineyard manager Joachim Jaillet are putting some head-turning quality into bottle. Incidentally, the vines personally farmed by Attmann’s mentor, long-time Muller-Catoir cellarmaster Hans-Gunter Schwarz, on the villa of multi-estate-owner Achim Niederberger will be incorporated after 2010 (in a manner to be determined) into the production of Deinhard and Von Winning. A very small volume of 2009 vintage wines will be bottled by Schwarz under the Villa Niederberger label, but I did not taste those. (For my report on the corresponding 2008s – which were never exported – see issue 187) The team here harvested Riesling until October 29, and the integration of one new 500 liter French barrel into each of the top dry bottlings – an expedient in lieu of large fuders – has met with a success that one can now compare with that scored by similar means at the newly-launched Immich-Batterieberg estate on the Mosel (for more on which, consult my issue 192 report on their outstanding 2009s). Attmann – a self-confessed wine geek whose range of experience astounds me – professes to admire in white Burgundy the “cool touch” of Meursault from Fichet, Jobard, or Roulot, and it’s not just on account of the use of French barrels that one finds fascinating parallels between his dry Rieslings from the great vineyards of the Mittelhaardt and some top wines of Meursault or even Chablis.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

The Deinhard 2008 Forster Ungeheuer Riesling Spatlese trocken features grapefruit, mint, and lavender, in a pungent, sappy, salt-tinged amalgam that really clings and invigorates. This displays stuffing and faint oiliness of texture without heaviness; grip and grit without inelegance or rusticity. It will be worth following for at least 6-8 years. 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

The Deinhard 2007 Forster Ungeheuer Riesling Spatlese trocken is a bit more typical of its site than the corresponding Kabinett, although that typicity (conveyed here by a blend of fruit from several parcels) encompasses a certain rusticity and amplitude. But there is nonetheless a lot to like here: cider-like, tangy pit fruit impressions; pungent herbal notes; and a long, decidedly saline and to that extent lip-smacking finish. This boasts a lot of sheer raw material that might sort itself out further with a few years in bottle. The late 2007 purchase of the Dr. Deinhard (a.k.a. VON WINNING) estate by entrepreneur Achim Niederberger – who already owned Bassermann-Jordan and von Buhl, with which it was once one – has brought rapid changes, most notably the arrival at the estate’s helm of Stefan Attmann (former wine merchant and consummate wine geek with a degree in marketing) who is – to put it mildly – a gifted young man on a mission and full of stimulating ideas. His and Niederberger’s specific notions for the reorganization of the estate and its line of wines had not yet entirely gelled when I tasted a subset of their 2007s, a collection whose outcome at this address they were not able to influence until after its harvest. That said, my visit found Attmann still working with long-time cellar master Kurt Rathgeber who – along with now-retired director Heinz Bauer – rendered much more delicious and interesting (if unabashedly old-fashioned) wine than a great many German critics were willing to credit them. Many of the Deinhard 2007s were only selected by the importer to offer this Spring, by which point I had no time to go back and taste those that I had missed while visiting the estate. The ostensibly top dry wines from 2008 will be bottled under the label Weingut von Winning (from the name of an early 20th Century owner by marriage) which beginning this year has becomes the new official name for the winery, with Dr. Deinhard as a sub-label.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300