Jellied white currant and white peach, orange marmalade and black tea inform the nose and a polished, creamy, buoyant and expansive palate in the Hasselbachs’ 2011 Nackenheimer Rothenberg Riesling Auslese. Thanks to alkaline, stony, smoky, and toasted nut notes, this finishes not only with impressive persistence and welcome diversity, but with a striking sense of delicacy and interplay that surprises me in a wine so supple in texture not to mention, as its authors testify, significantly influenced by botrytis. (Had a gold capsule Auslese been picked out, as in most past years of high ripeness and noble rot, the wine labeled simply as “Auslese” would certainly have been quite different.) It’s surprising too that the corresponding Spatlese is more confectionary in personality. Hasselbachs’ seek to assure me that for a while in the course of last summer the Spatlese was more expressive, while right now it’s this Auslese. Generous and irresistible as it may be now – and despite its softness – I fully expect this to hold its appeal for at least two decades, quite possibly in a manner reminiscent of the corresponding 1992.I kept company in their tasting room a precious share of Fritz and Agnes Hasselbach’s 2011 harvest in the form of two small stainless tanks and a tiny glass balloon whose contents will probably eventually inform both a T.B.A. (incorporating the latter lot, picked-out near the beginning of harvest) and a B.A. (which would incorporate some of the rest, harvested – as so often at this address – very late). There is no gold capsule Auslese this year, and Fritz Hasselbach’s explanation – “the quality of our Auslese has gotten better and the main harvest so selective” as to obviate two tiers – suggests that this may be a policy choice going forward. The harvest here began already in the third week of September and continued through October. The resultant wines are as a group noticeably low in acid but manage to adapt themselves and display distinctive virtues. Most of the Gunderloch 2011s were bottled in April, the exception being their Grosse Gewachse, in mid-summer.Importer: Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA; tel. (800) 596- 9463

A cornucopia of ripe fruit from, arguably, the finest vineyard in Rheinhessen. Wonderful balance and length.