Gies-Duppel’s 2009 Riesling trocken Buntsandstein evinces a slightly rubbery reductive note (perhaps accentuated by its having been sealed with screwcap, as are all Gies-Duppel whites), but as it takes on air lemon, lime, and orange offer a bright, zesty cast; while musky, decadent evocations of narcissus and lily add intrigue. The combination of pronounced salinity and acidity brings this substantial Riesling to a refreshing, rousing conclusion. I expect it will remain fresh for at least 4-5 years. Volker Gies – for more about whose vineyards and methods consult my coverage in issue 185 –continues to display impressive talent and is happily receiving increasing recognition inside Germany. Hopefully wider U.S. distribution of this estate’s wines will follow. Like other of the best 2009 vintage Rieslings from Gies’s corner of the southern Pfalz, his harbor highly efficacious acidity and high energy of a sort that can by no means be taken for granted – not even on the Mosel! – in this vintage (and indeed, is almost entirely absent in the Rieslings from further south in Alsace). I have been quite keen on Gies’s Pinot Blancs, but found them (as well as his Pinot Gris) – despite ample ripeness – marginally disappointing from 2009, a circumstance familiar from this vintage in neighboring Alsace.Importer: Tartaglione Fine Wines, San Francisco, CA; tel. (415) 216-3356

Salted lime, apple, buddleia, lemon blossom, and narcissus scent the Gies-Duppel 2008 Riesling trocken Buntsandstein, which comes to the palate lithe, bright, and invigorating in its tartness and pungency, finishing with impressive length; although don’t search here for richness over its next 3-5 years of likely active life. Gies says this was significantly more aromatic at an earlier stage in its evolution. For more about Volker Gies’s promising career and estate, consult my coverage in issue 185. His 2008s – which typically received around 6 hours on their skins in the press – were bottled already in March (and indeed, several were sold out by September). Gies indicated that it rained in his part of the Sudliche Weinstrasse for the better part of a week beginning October 27, so that he was glad to have finished picking shortly before that, but as at neighboring Wehrheim, I found this collection of wines on the whole slightly austere when compared with last year’s.Importer: Tartaglione Fine Wines, San Francisco, CA; tel. (415) 216-3356

The 2007 Riesling trocken Buntsandstein features orange, apple, nut oils, and a savory, salkine streak, with a flatteringly tender texture; ingratiatingly ripe, efficacious yet not at all sharp acidity; and lovely buoyancy thanks in part to a mere 12% alcohol. And like its Rotliegendes counterpart, this has a mere 4 grams of residual sugar, yet is anything but austere. Volker Gies took over his family’s domaine in 1999, and is relentlessly and successfully pursuing quality and site-specificity while offering (at least, based on ex-cellar pricing) some of the finest values I have tasted in German wine over the past several years. Some potentially exciting new vineyard sites have recently been cleared for planting it is clear that, as impressive as these wines are, there will be much more excitement up ahead. Although it had been in the bottle 18 months when I tasted it last September, Duppel’s well-concentrated but rather awkwardly woody, rough 2005 Pinot Noir represented at that time his current offering. But red wines represented the only disappointment of any sort at this address, and even here there is promise. Like his more famous neighbors Rebholz and Wehrheim, Giess renders a range of site-specific Pinot Blancs.Importer: Tartaglione Fine Wines, San Francisco, CA; tel. (415) 216-3356