Weingart’s 2009 Bopparder Hamm-Engelstein Riesling Spatlese trocken weighs-in at 13.5% alcohol, which might seem surprising in view of this being the northernmost Einzellage of Boppard; but the presence of deeper soil and more fine particulate matter here protects the vines from hydric stress, and I suspect that Weingart would have done well to have picked this a bit sooner. The nose is marked by yeasty and faintly funky post-fermentative notes. (This commenced spontaneously, though Weingart eventually yeasted it to encourage dryness.) Some of the fruit pit piquancy and stoniness of the corresponding Ohlenberg is present here, too, but the higher alcohol appears to be the factor that underscores the wine’s bitter elements. That said, there is no heat, and the pear-like fruit, amplitude, and creaminess of texture (probably enhanced by low-level presence of lactic acid) are imposing, as well as offering an interesting contrast with its piquancy and minerality. I would plan on monitoring this along the way before considering cellaring for more than three years. 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