Ripe peach and heliotrope in the nose of the Breuer 2008 Rudesheimer Berg Roseneck Riesling trocken give it a welcome hint of generosity vis-a-vis most of its siblings, and succulent white peach, grapefruit, almond oil, and mineral salts coat the palate even as they stimulate and refresh. The interplay of mineral, fruit, and nut exhibits a lot of energy, and the tartness of fruit skin and bitterness of fruit pit are only subtly present. Bright though the overall impression is, a silken texture helps keep the wine from veering into sharpness. It finishes with rapier and electric length, and will appeal most to acid- and mineral freaks, but then to a mouth-watering degree. Follow it for 7-10 years. At more than 9,000 man hours including the time spent on intensive selection, Heinrich Breuer says this was one of the most labor-intensive and expensive harvests in the estate’s history. “We have 80 parcels in Rudesheim and are very conscientious about checking each one every couple of days to make sure the acidity doesn’t drop too low, to check the must weights, and to deal with any issues that might arise. We were in fact happy to have gotten around a half a gram more acidity at harvest than in the 2007s,” continues Breuer, who says it was really the phenolics and not the quality of acids or levels of sugar that changed while they picked in the course of October. Reports have reached me of the extent to which the top 2008 vintage Rieslings here are said to have became more harmonious and complex in the course of last autumn, so I may well have underestimated them based on my September tastings. But I was already totally disarmed and amazed by the quality of the several best nobly sweet wines, coming as they do from an estate that treats that genre very much as an afterthought (or, more accurately, as a part of pre-harvest provided noble rot is already there) and from a vintage in which so few such wines were essayed nation-wide.Importer: Classical Wines, Seattle WA; tel. (206) 547-0255

Formidable, almost forbidding concentration is once again the watchword with Breuer’s 2007 Rudesheimer Berg Roseneck Riesling trocken, a wine that seems to reflect its slate origins in a stone-licking way, and that projects lemon and under-ripe pear in a decidedly severe, significantly bitter, and stony, if gripping finish. What will emerge here in a few years time, I am not confident to predict. I fear that – at least for some years to come – this might grow increasingly lean and ornery rather, even if after a decade it becomes more ingratiating. Certainly if one intends to serve any of these dry Breuer 2007s in their youth, the cuisine needs to be chosen with care and itself – dare I say? – sufficiently lean. I was extremely curious to see how the normally early-harvesting Heinrich Breuer and Hermann Schmoranz would approach this vintage in which the overwhelming consensus among growers was that the fruit must – despite its remarkable head start – hang late. But by the time I tasted their collection, it was evident that Rudesheim’s slopes were – depending on one’s view – blessed or cursed by having ripened much earlier and more precipitately than nearly any other German Riesling vineyards. That said, the always lean style of dry Breuer Rieslings shaded a bit too far into the green spectrum in some of this year’s renditions, and no members of this collection (including the one bearing that word on its label!) make concessions to charm. The levels of acidity truly are without precedent in the modern history of the estate (2004 came closest in that regard), levels more appropriate to the formidable single-vineyard nobly sweet wines that Breuer has crafted, and which – despite none exceeding 300 half bottles in production – will be sold half in 2009 (alongside the dry single-vineyard wines) and half at some future date. Breuer, incidentally, avows that it is deceptive to point to increasingly early harvests at his or any other top address solely as indications of climate change, because at least for most of the late 20th century, he insists, yields were much higher, thus demanding longer hang-time.Imported by Classical Wines, Seattle WA 206 547 0255

The 2006 Rudesheimer Berg Roseneck Riesling trocken is one of the most amazing concentrates of what can only be called “mineral stuff” that I have ever encountered in the Rheingau. The ripeness yet brightness of acids and concentration of peach and lemon are more than a match for all the seeming concentration of stones, brine, and ores on exhibit. Problems arise though from the phenolic roughness, cyanic bitterness, and alcoholic heat also present. It would be fascinating to see how this dense, powerhouse wine evolves, but I have my doubts. Surely this wine would have been better in every respect for a bit or residual sugar. Try employing it selectively and revisiting over the next couple of years. Heinrich Breuer and Hermann Schmoranz began their Riesling harvest October 6, and finished in record time. Selective picking and watchful decantation and selection of the musts, rather than the use of treatments, was the approach taken here to the problematic health and botrytis of the vintage. The results included a 40% reduction in volume over their recent average.Imported by Classical Wines, Seattle, WA; tel. (206) 547-0255