Sweaty and musky overtones lend the Schonborn 2011 Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg Riesling Beerenauslese (*) a decidedly animal aura, though to be sure, extremely ripe fruit - almost spoiled pear and glazed pineapple mingled with quince jelly and pure botrytis secretion - is present in spades. Polished, creamy and delicate, this confitured and overtly sweet elixir finishes with an amplification of the soothing, throat-coating richness that characterized this collection-s Marcobrunn Auslese, and those who especially value opulence in Riesling will no doubt rate it even higher than did I. I imagine it rewarding return visits through at least 2035. There were only around 400 bottles. (The authorities say it represents illegal blending outside its named Einzellage.) In recent reports, I have ascribed the significant positive developments at Schloss Schonborn to Peter Barth, who was named "winery director of the year 2009" by the Gault Millau, wine guide within Germany. However, Baarth was dismissed by Count Paul Schonborn in autumn of 2012 after the State of Hessen brought charges against him for violations of German Wine Law based on analyses that allegedly demonstrated he had illegally concentrated musts; blended wines in ways incompatible with their labeled geographical attributions; and added distilled spirit to T.B.A.s (presumably to push them past the 5% alcohol requisite for wine). The charges involved 20 wines (Seven of them Pinots) and around 20,000 bottles, mostly from vintage 2011, all of which the winery - acting decisively, if ultimately with little choice - destroyed or has sought to buy back from trade or private owners so that they can be destroyed. As of early 2014, the case has yet to come to trial. Steffen Roll, who replaced Barth soon after the latter's dismissal, will be responsible for a newly-assembled viticulture team as well as for wine-making, and there is little doubt among those who have observed their vineyards first hand that the level of care these received under outside management - along with their sheer vastness - was a weak point of the Schonborn estate, whether or not consequences of that weakness played any role in a temptation to transgress wine law in the cellar (which I tend to doubt). As it happens, I got an especially distressing glimpse of the estate's rot-endangered flagship Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg and other nearby vineyards during the warm, rainy third week of September, 2011, but Barth had not yet ordered any significant picking and expressed confidence that if the rain soon stopped, he would still be able to select both healthy and botrytized bunches capable of excellence, which is exactly what happened. "Many people failed to learn the relevant lessons from 2003," he insisted, and for that reason ended up with overly-alcoholic and acid-deficient 2011s. Among other procedures, musts were immediately pressed; rapidly and radically chilled; then rigorously settled. This is one of several Rhine estates whose lighter dry 2011s I found more expressive and better-balanced than their Grosse Gewachse. My tasting notes on this occasion reflect no experiences subsequent to Barth's indictment for wine fraud, but I have placed a parenthetic asterisk (*) after the names of any wines I reviewed that were evidenced in those charges, and added a parenthetic note on the infraction in question. As usual given the huge extent of this estate - and even allowing for its many distinguished vineyards whose fruit informs only generic bottlings - I did not taste more than two-thirds of its vintage offerings. Importer: Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA; tel. (800) 596 9463. Until recently, though, various importers, including Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA; tel. (877) 389- 9463; Slocum & Sons, North Haven, CT; tel. (203) 239-8000, Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700, and Winesellers, Ltd., Niles, IL; tel. (847) 647-1100

Harvested off of the old vines that stare directly down onto the Rhine from outside the von Schonborn winery, their 2009 Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg Riesling Beerenauslese smells of glazed pineapple, white peach preserves, and candied grapefruit rind, all of which inform a slick, glycerin-rich, soothing, honey-drenched and butterscotch-tinged palate impression. At only 8% alcohol, this displays striking delicacy, and while its high acidity is not overtly noticeable it is responsible for restraining a huge load of residual sugar and reinforcing a sense of primary juiciness that helps keep the wines impressively long finish from becoming excessively candied or in any way ponderous. This is one to follow for 30 or more years. The latest collection from Peter Barth and his team further demonstrates the high standards that now prevail at this venerable estate. “The window for optimal harvest seems to keep narrowing,” Barth notes, and the relatively high finished alcohol levels on this years dry Schonborn Rieslings certainly testifies to that fact, leaving the 2008s at this address with a distinct edge over their 2009 counterparts. Despite the ravages of hail in Hattenheim and Erbach – including the loss of nearly one-third of the estates anticipated crop of Marcobrunn – the number of different bottlings from that site and from the monopole Pfaffenberg is still considerable. Various importers, including Dee Vine Wines San Francisco, CA; tel. (877) 389- 9463, Slocum & Sons, North Haven, CT; tel. 203-239-8000, Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700, Winesellers Ltd. Niles, IL; tel. (847) 647-1100

Smelling of pink grapefruit, pralines, and banana, von Schonborn's 2008 Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg Riesling Beerenauslese comes to the palate absolutely sticky with sweetness, despite its high acidity, and a confectionary sense of honey-drenched pralines emerges in the finish. This almost pasty concentrate is amazingly viscous and creamy, but its lightness of touch is not accompanied by the sense of levity that so memorably informed the estate's rare nobly sweet bottlings from Marcobrunn. There is no question it's phenomenally persistent, but its sheer sense of sweetness is a bit overpowering. Anyone who hasn't a really sweet tooth should have at least 20 and preferably 30 years at his or her disposal before buying a few bottles of this. An April, 2009 visit to this estate - my first in many years - convinced me of Peter Barth's seriousness and talent, and revealed many wines worthy of the great potential of the vast von Schonborn acreage. Last September, I was thrilled by an even finer collection. The number of separate and vineyard-specific bottlings here (as explained - along with other recent developments at this estate - in issue 185) is nowadays intentionally limited. Additionally, in 2008 Barth adopted a very conservative approach, essaying few nobly sweet wines, and while finding his best fruit from top parcels worthy of Erstes Gewachs bottlings, he did not render parallel Spatlese trocken bottlings from the same sites as in other recent years. -Our late start picking this year, with the first Riesling on October 17,- Barth points out, -would have been considered entirely normal 15 years ago. But honestly, by the time we started, I think more than half of the Rheingau had already been picked, a lot of that wines with green, unripe notes and resulting in wines that were then de-acidified.- Various importers, including Dee Vine Wines San Francisco, CA; tel. (877) 389- 9463, Slocum & Sons, North Haven, CT; tel. (203) 239-8000, Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700

Schonborn's 2007 Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg Riesling Beerenauslese - like its Marcobrunn counterpart, representing the berries culled from the eventual T.B.A. over an extended period - harbors a frightening 14 grams acid against 287 grams of residual sugar. Here caramel verging on burnt sugar and pure, honeyed secretion of botrytis cohabitate uneasily and discordantly with fresh lemon. This is viscous but certainly not heavy. it's also not texturally at all alluring, for now at least and for how many more years, or perhaps decades?. Low notes of toasted nuts and dark caramel and detached citrus are what linger longest, like a sustained piccolo-double bass duet. For those wealthy and brave enough this should be interesting stuff to follow. I have to admit that my teeth were on edge a bit in anticipation after tasting Schonborn's two B.A.s, and realizing that there was a corresponding pair of T.B.A.s. Peter Barth took over cellar duties in 2001, and direction of the entire, fabled Schonborn estate in 2006. I had not visited in all that time - only heard rumors of a revival (tales of a sort that are too often false alarms when it comes to large, underperforming, noble Rheingau estates) - so I am happy to report that the renaissance of Schloss Schonborn is for real. Ten years ago, I found Schonborn's dry wines too austere and their sweet wines exaggeratedly so. Examples of these extremes have not been eliminated, but there are plenty of gorgeous and without doubt age-worthy wines that steer a steady stylistic course. Although - like most large German estates - Schonborn has pruned the number of single-vineyard wines and styles on offer when compared with the enormous annual line-ups that prevailed until a decade ago, this has been done with sensitivity to synergistic blends, and allowing plenty of room for each of the domaine's most celebrated vineyards - in particular their monopole Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg with 12 bottlings this vintage! and Erbacher Marcobrunn - to show-off. Various importers, including Dee Vine Wines San Francisco, CA; tel. (877) 389-9463, Slocum & Sons, North Haven, CT; tel. 203-239-8000, Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700