Green herbs and fresh strawberry in the nose of the Erbes 2008 Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Spatlese trocken lead to a refreshing palate with vintage-typically efficacious acids, if no special sense of lift or delicacy, and a finish with the proverbial kiss of slate and a well-integrated hint of bitterness. I would plan to enjoy this cask-matured dry Spatlese over the next 2-3 years. Stefan Erbes has been attracting considerable positive attention even in the relatively residual sugar-adverse German press, so I thought it high time to meet and taste with him. A sizeable percentage of old, ungrafted vines and ambitious quality-consciousness on his part are combining for some very good, ultra-clean, largely tank-rendered, and modestly-priced Riesling, most of it – predictably – sold abroad, particularly in Japan. His 2008s struck me as surprisingly soft in their impression of acidity, which Erbes attributes in part to a combination of skin contact and high tartrate precipitation.Importers include Boston Wine Company, Somerville, MA; tel. (617) 628-5967 and Winebow, Montvale, NJ; tel. (201) 445-0620