A creamy yet refreshing, invigorating yet soothing grapefruit and white peach sorbet-like impression is conveyed by Weingart’s 2009 Schloss Furstenberg Riesling Spatlese, which finishes with unabashed sweetness but also persistent juiciness and an exhilarating sense of lift. This seductive elixir will be well worth following for at least the next 15 years, and hopefully will take on some complexity along the way. For notes on some recent developments at Florian Weingart’s estate, please consult my report in issue 187. While much has been done to improve vineyards and cellar, this young grower’s acute self-awareness and quality-consciousness continue as they have since he took over here, even as he has become one of his country’s most talked-about talents. And he would be the last to want readers to remain unaware that the wines rendered here when his father, Adolf, was in charge – of which I recently tasted a fresh, minerally-intense example that I had imported from the difficult 1987 vintage – were consistently good and often downright distinguished. Weingart reports some drought stress in 2009, but while he began picking already before mid October, Oechsle levels were universally high, which explains not only the relatively high alcohol of some of the dry wines (a phenomenon that’s been witnessed in these vineyards in quite a few recent vintages) but the lack of differentiation by that metric between those wines Weingart chose to bottle as Kabinett and those that became Spatlese. Acid levels were on the whole modest, on top of which several of Weingart’s 2009s – including a couple of the ones I thought among his finest, please note! – underwent at least partial malo-lactic transformation.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

The 2004 Schloss Furstenberg Riesling Spatlese smells extravagantly of peach, cherry, pink grapefruit and vanilla. A suggestion of milkiness on the nose suggests to Weingart that perhaps this started into malo-lactic conversion. But, no matter, the wine is compelling. Sweet, honeyed and creamy in the mouth, it preserves enough citricity to stay lively and project its effusively ripe, subtly botrytized fruit personality into a gushing finish. This suggests the flavors of a young 1975, and its ample stuffing and residual sugar may well help to render it a good 20-year keeper. Florian Weingart brought no Riesling in from the Bopparder Hamm under 90 degrees oechsle – a record at this estate – but the range of phenolic ripeness was much more variable than that statistic would suggest. In years gone by, Adolf Weingart would have attempted to gently de-acidify a vintage with acids like this, but his son sticks by principle and with a single exception did not touch the 2004 acids. Instead, he tried to counter any tendency toward green, aggressive acidity with time on the lees and judicious application of residual sugar. But as he points out, it didn’t help that the 2004s as a rule stubbornly held on to their CO2 after a cold winter, a condition normally viewed as favorable. Introducing some wood into the cellar is an idea for the future.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

Sporting 72 grams of residual sugar, Weingart's 2001 Riesling Spatlese Schloss Furstenberg has a verbena and pear-scented nose. This medium-bodied wine is lush, velvety-textured, concentrated, and immensely long in the finish. From the initial attack, it broadens on the palate, enveloping the taster's palate with candied pears and apples as well as red currants, raspberries, and spices. It is a hugely flavorful offering with exquisite richness, intensity, and depth. Projected maturity: 2006-2016. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300