Penny royal, sage, marjoram, and lemon rind in the nose of Muller-Catoir’s 2009 Haardter Muskateller Kabinett trocken follow on a waxen-textured yet juicy palate. Tart suggestions of crab apple and a streak of salinity combine with the herbal and zesty pungency serve for a thoroughly invigorating, lip-smacking finish. The wine’s mere 11.5% alcohol helps convey a lovely sense of levity. This will prove deliciously versatile over the next 4-6 years. “Despite sporadic rain at harvest time,” notes Martin Franzen about the 2009 harvest, “cool weather kept botrytis completely at bay. Frankly,” he adds, “it was hard to make disappointing wine with raw materials of this caliber.” But it was also impossible to achieve nobly sweet results save from Rieslaner, with its notorious penchant for spontaneous desiccation even in the absence of botrytis. This is the first vintage, incidentally, for which this estate has claimed organic bona fides, and Franzen – even if predictably – claims to find additional depth in his wines thanks to that conversion. (Not that this estate has ever been anything but entirely circumspect in any use of herbicides or pesticides.)Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

The Catoir 2007 Haardter Muskateller Kabinett trocken smells pungently of peppermint, sage, and black pepper; delivers almost a lashing of citrus zest, herbal concentrates, apricot, and pepper; and leaves one’s palate invigorated and refreshed even if faintly smarting! One of the more outrageously intense Muskateller in a long, brash line of them at this estate all formerly labeled Burgergaarten, this is also the most juicy, clearest, and most satisfying thus far under the new regime. Seeing no reason why it should not follow the pattern long-established here and having myself cellared these wines going back to 1984, I would advise you to enjoy most of your bottles by 2015, but feel free to follow one or two bottles longer and still be rewarded. An as yet faint bitter coffee note is apt to emerge to prominence. You had to play poker and take some chances this year, remarked Martin Franzen, and based on the vinous evidence, he repeatedly played winning hands. The stylistic evolution of wines under Franzen’s and proprietor Philip Catoir’s direction – which I honestly find it difficult to understand why so many commentators view as utterly discontinuous with the legacy of legendary former cellar master Hans-Gunter Schwarz – has run toward increasing refinement and subtlety in the Rieslings, for which conditions in 2007 – assuming (as one can, here) impeccable viticultural husbandry and patience at harvest – were ultimately ideal (even as they had been problematic in 2006). Franzen has turned out the first totally masterful Scheurebe collection of his career this year. And the nobly sweet wines – including, improbably, six tour de force TBAs, among which are the estate’s first-ever from Muskateller and Weissburgunder and first Scheurebe TBA since 1964 – dazzle with the audacity and at times raucousness that routinely accrue to nobly sweet Pfalz 2007s, and are at their best unsurpassed. Nearly all of this year’s collection (save for one refusenik Rieslander TBA) had been bottled already in April, a bold strategy considering how downright unsettled by nature some of them are. But capturing all of their energy in bottle seemed to be the governing metaphor. I cannot resist pointing out that – in keeping with a lamentable national trend – there is now not just no halbtrocken wine here, but no middle ground: every wine this year is either legally trocken or obviously sweet. Muller-Catoir is increasing their acreage of Pinot Blanc – in itself a welcome development, although partisans of Rieslaner will be dismayed to learn that it is coming at that variety’s expense.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

Floral, spicy and a bit Gewurztraminer-like on the nose, this is a very fresh, fruity example of Pfalz Muscat. It’s light in body, with touches of spice and orange zest on the finish. Great aperitif.——J.C.(6/1/2009)—— 90