Weingut Hexamer Meddersheimer Rheingrafenberg Riesling Kabinett, Nahe, Germany

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Juicy, salt-suffused and lilac-perfumed yellow plum, quince, pear, and lime combine for an irresistibly juicy, buoyant, succulent, and perfectly-balanced 2009 Meddersheimer Rheingrafenberg Riesling Kabinett. This is so effusively ripe it almost suggests over-ripeness, yet its delicacy; refreshment; transparency to nuances of salt and stone; and balanced sweetness make for what one can well call “true Kabinett.” I would expect this to perform adeptly for ten or a dozen years. This originated in that parcel just below the woods, part of which is left each year for Eiswein. Harald Hexamer continues to expand his acreage in response to what I can well appreciate are almost irresistible offerings, and the latest round of sell-offs by one of the Nahe’s best-known and once-renowned estates at the beginning of 2011 is I suspect going to test the limits of Hexamer’s ambition and abilities to absorb yet more vineyards. (The number of 2009 vintage wines I have had to reference with A.P. #s due to there being alternate bottlings is in itself testimony to the rapid expansion of this estate.) No one who has followed this young grower over the past decade, though, can accuse him of lacking seriousness, and he has been subjecting his stylistic ideals and his accomplishments to rigorous examination, knowing he must balance the potential value of experimentalism with the need to focus both his attention to individual wines and his stylistic range. These latest results reveal a grower increasingly sure in touch and displaying a defter sense of balance at both the dry and sweet ends of the spectrum. By a considerable margin, they constitute this estate’s most consistently excellent collection in my experience. With the exception of a couple of partial lots of generic dry Riesling, no 2009s were de-acidified, and a majority of the dry wines kicked into spontaneous fermentation, although Hexamer brought cultured yeasts to bear in order to promote dryness. Both an Eiswein and a T.B.A. from the Rheingrafenberg were still fermenting in September and I’ll have to report on those along with Hexamer’s 2010s.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

Hexamer’s 2008 Meddersheimer Rheingrafenberg Riesling Kabinett is one of several in his current collection to have fermented spontaneously. Honeysuckle and heliotrope, lime and orange inform the nose, and a delightfully delicate juicy palate is equally billowing and winsome. Smoky, stony finishing notes seem to rob this of its last possible measure of finishing juiciness. But it should remain a delightful and typical example of its vintage’s virtues for at least the better part of a decade. Harald Hexamer’s crew generally picked with two buckets this year, segregating botrytis fruit at the same time as that for the dry wines was gathered. The results in both genres sometimes lack a bit of refinement. Hexamer performed some pre-fermentative maceration; some de-acidification; and allowed or encouraged some lots to go through malo-lactic conversion, all in an effort to deal with his high 2008 acidities. Incidentally,he has begun installing the large wooden ovals made for him by Hosch from some exceptionally tight-grained old oaks in the estate, but he will be using them for Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris for a time in order to season them before they receive Riesling.Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

From a loamier site, the 2006 Meddersheimer Rheingrafenberg Riesling Kabinett displays subtle creaminess allied to genuine delicacy, featuring refined variations on spiced apple and pear, rhubarb preserves, and tingling finishing mineral suggestions. Amazingly, considering what I would not hesitate to call its “true Kabinett lightness,” this has around the same 10% alcohol as the powerful, scarcely-delicate “Quarzit” bottling. It also harbors yet higher – nearly ten grams – acidity. Harald Hexamer has made major strides since I last described his operation in these pages in issue 161, refining his approach in the vineyards and cellar, and acquiring astonishingly many new parcels, so that he now has three – and a majority share – in Schlossbockelheimer In den Felsen, and owns or has under contract one-third of the entire Rheingrafenberg (including nearly all of the Eisendell). Hexamer sacrificed some of his remaining crossings in order to insure the harvest of healthy Riesling. His earliest-picked material tasted marginally under-ripe, but he did not finish until the 19th of October, and by then had amassed the finest collection I have tasted thus far at this address.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300