Messmer’s 2008 Weyherer Michelsberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs is more dominated by dried fruits and their pits – suggesting apricot and yellow plum – than the corresponding Schawer, although this has its own attractive floral hints. There isn’t the brightness or the interplay of mineral and fruit elements here that lent the Schawer its greatest distinction. The virtues in this instance are richness of texture and a depth of nut oils and peat-like smokiness. There is also more bitterness and the tartness of gooseberry mingling with the invigorating chew of pit fruit skin. Messmer says he considers the Riesling from this site inevitably slower to reveal its true personality than is that of the Schawer. I would tentatively imagine it evolving interestingly for the better part of a decade. It had been too long since I’d seen Gregor Messmer (although I am at his winery annually) and I was encouraged by witnessing him professing his rededication to his vineyards. That said, after a 2007 collection that was the best I had tasted here in a number of years, I found that some of these 2008s – which were harvested between the 18th and 30th of October – leaned rather sharply in the direction of leanness and Sauvignon greenness and shared with many of their fellow Pfalz trocken Rieslings an extremely tart brightness.Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

Now, here’s another inane piece of Grosses Gewachs idealogy. The regulations governing this category in the Pfalz (a category whose name, bear in mind, is not permitted to appear on the label) preclude having both a Grosses Gewachs bottling and an off-dry Spatlese labeled with the same site name. But the Burrweiler Schawer manifestly swings both ways, so the Mebmers have acquired rights to an obscure but historically significant and well-exposed nearby vineyard from which to craft their entry into the category Grosses Gewachs. Thus we have the 2004 Weyherer Michelsberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs, a wine that immediately announces its geological origins – like those of the Schawer – in grey slate. Peach, musk melon and wet stone aromas lead to a glossy palate saturated with a brothy, liquid mineral character rather analogous to that of a Chablis, and a forceful finish of pit fruits, melon, herb and stones. The astonishingly high quality achieved at this estate in the last several vintages – near the apex of the Pfalz pecking order – represent a hard act to follow. There have been a few personnel changes: first Werner Sebastian and then Michael Leibrecht have departed as vineyard manager and cellar master respectively, and Gregor Mebmer’s brother Martin (who showed me the wines this year) has joined the team. For whatever reason, there were not as many exciting wines this year as in other recent years, although there is one, by now almost predictably, that must on no account be missed. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300