A. Christmann Gimmeldinger Biengarten Riesling, Pfalz, Germany

A克里斯特曼酒莊金梅汀花園雷司令干白葡萄酒

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The 2015 Gimmeldinger Biengarten Riesling Trocken is very pure, clear and mineral on the nose where lemon, grapefruit, apple and crushed stone aromas are displayed; there are also with ripe, yet discreet stone fruit flavors. Bottled with 12% alcohol, this is an aromatic, elegant and well-balanced Riesling with remarkable finesse and a persistent, salty and grippy minerality. An excellent Riesling.

Turnip and other, brown spiced root vegetables mingle with fresh lemon in Christmann’s 2011 Gimmeldinger Biengarten Riesling trocken, which preserves plenty of primary juiciness on a firm palate and finishes with an invigoratingly tactile sense of spice and lemon rind impingement. This will surely drink well through at least 2016. Steffen Christmann does not attempt to minimize the danger that existed of 2011 reading the difficult path of 2006, or even going the rot-plagued way of 2000, had cool, sunny weather not intervened. “We picked generic Riesling after the Grosse Gewachse,” he reports, “which is the first time that has ever happened. But we saw how must weights were charging upwards in the top sites and we didn’t want to have any 14.5% alcohol wines.” May frosts were not a significant factor here as they were in much of the Mittelhaardt, so that the 2011 crop level was normal. Late-picking (though the mid-October dates for it were only 8-10 days behind recent norms); longer-than-usual skin contact; and longer time on the lees were the approaches Christmann took to temper 2010’s ferocious acids, only his lesser bottlings having been subjected to any (and then double-salt) de-acidification. Concentration from low yields, he notes, made for finished levels of natural alcohol no lower – and in a couple of instances higher – than in 2009. He reports relatively little botrytis, but there was enough to permit (or, depending on one’s perspective, to necessitate – lest alcohol or bitterness in the corresponding dry wines get out of hand) a pair of Auslesen, a genre that has in recent years (by choice) become rare at this address. In both 2010 and 2011, some of the single-vineyard wines were matured entirely in cask; others in a mixture of cask and stainless steel. Christmann notes that his collective stock of ambient yeasts – and he suspects that those coming from his vineyards play a prominent fermentative role – must be abundant and healthy, because all of his 2011s (save, of course, for the Auslesen) finished fermenting by Christmas with at most 4.5 grams of residual sugar. Imported by Domaine Select Wine Estates, New York, NY; tel. (212) 279-0799

A Christmann 2010 Gimmeldinger Biengarten Riesling trocken comes off as faintly warm and diffuse, though expansive and undeniably persistent. Its 13.5% alcohol seems to accentuate piquant notes of fruit pit and citrus rind which, along with a stony undertone, render this Riesling austere despite its fullness. I suspect that it will be best served by 2015. Steffen Christmann does not attempt to minimize the danger that existed of 2011 reading the difficult path of 2006, or even going the rot-plagued way of 2000, had cool, sunny weather not intervened. “We picked generic Riesling after the Grosse Gewachse,” he reports, “which is the first time that has ever happened. But we saw how must weights were charging upwards in the top sites and we didn’t want to have any 14.5% alcohol wines.” May frosts were not a significant factor here as they were in much of the Mittelhaardt, so that the 2011 crop level was normal. Late-picking (though the mid-October dates for it were only 8-10 days behind recent norms); longer-than-usual skin contact; and longer time on the lees were the approaches Christmann took to temper 2010’s ferocious acids, only his lesser bottlings having been subjected to any (and then double-salt) de-acidification. Concentration from low yields, he notes, made for finished levels of natural alcohol no lower – and in a couple of instances higher – than in 2009. He reports relatively little botrytis, but there was enough to permit (or, depending on one’s perspective, to necessitate – lest alcohol or bitterness in the corresponding dry wines get out of hand) a pair of Auslesen, a genre that has in recent years (by choice) become rare at this address. In both 2010 and 2011, some of the single-vineyard wines were matured entirely in cask; others in a mixture of cask and stainless steel. Christmann notes that his collective stock of ambient yeasts – and he suspects that those coming from his vineyards play a prominent fermentative role – must be abundant and healthy, because all of his 2011s (save, of course, for the Auslesen) finished fermenting by Christmas with at most 4.5 grams of residual sugar. Imported by Domaine Select Wine Estates, New York, NY; tel. (212) 279-0799

Weighing in at 13% alcohol, the Christmann 2009 Gimmeldinger Biengarten Riesling trocken strikes me as running both cold and hot: a bit coolly aloof in its predominance of pungently herbal (lavender, peppermint) and stonily mineral flavors, but at the same time faintly alcoholically warm. A fairly plush, glycerin-rich palate helps alleviate tendencies toward austerity, while salted nuts and sunflower seeds; green herbs, peat, and crushed stone; as well as tart and zesty citrus make for a lingering if as mentioned rather austere finish. I would plan on drinking this over the next 2-3 years. Once again, Steffen and Karl-Friedrich Christmann's collection of firm dry Rieslings (smaller in number than in other recent years) has struck my palate as rather relentlessly consistent in its straight-laced and at times brusquely piquant style. I frequently find myself wanting these wines to loosen-up and show greater primary juiciness and sweetly-ripe fruit, especially this year, given the relatively generous tendencies I associate with the 2009 vintage. Certainly nobody can accuse this team of having harvested prematurely. They picked well into October precisely because, opines Karl-Friedrich Christmann, "until then, the fruit wasn't really ripe." "Most of the wines," notes Steffen Christmann, "had fermented completely by mid-December, with only a very few lingering into January" and he was happy to point out that even those labeled as containing 13% of alcohol generally harbored slightly less than that amount. "This," he suggested, picking up a refrain I hear often, though I have no way of testing its basic claim, "is at least in retrospect one of the advantages of biodynamic cultivation, namely ripe flavors and relatively long hang times at moderate must weights and consequently moderate alcohol. For me, the ideal way would be to have no more 14 or 14.5% monsters but nonetheless have complexity, and I think that's the path we're on." Incidentally, I found the finished 2007 Pinot Noir Grosses Gewachs here worrisomely high in volatiles and drying in finish, continuing to feel uneasily as though I must be missing something in evaluating Christmann reds, none of which I tasted from barrel on this most recent outing. Imported by Domaine Select Wine Estates, New York, NY; tel. (212) 279-0799

Comes across as rather round and lush on the palate, with tropical fruit flavors of guava and pineapple. It’s easy to drink and enjoy for its fruity immediacy and mouthwatering finish. ——J.C.(12/1/2011)—— 88