The auction-bound 2006 Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Beerenauslese Gold Capsule was harvested with scrupulous selection as a Trockenbeerenauslese, and more than met the legally required must weight. “But we thought it would probably make more sense,” says Schonleber, “with all the really thick Trockenbeerenauslese there are out there and our wanting to bottle something slimmer and finer in character, to label it as gold capsule Beerenauslese.” Here indeed one has the uncanny combination of elegance, lift, and transparency with creamy, honeyed richness of which this vintage is capable. Red currant and quince jelly, pink grapefruit, gardenia, and hints of caramel are among the themes of this luscious, marvelously refined Riesling that truly soars in the finish. Let it carry you (or your heirs) to the heights on its perfectly balanced wings of ennobled sweetness and vibrant acidity anytime over the next 40 years. “The Nahe had the capability to render really good dry wines this year,” asserts Werner Schonleber. “Elsewhere, the botrytis was problematic, or the ripening took place too quickly. But we caught the whole spectrum here.” He proceeded to prove this memorably in the glass, with the finest collection I have ever tasted at this address (as well as – improbably – one in which Fruhlingsplatzchen outperformed Halenberg).Imported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608-9644; also imported by Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA; tel. (877) 389-9463