2007 Maximin Grunhauser Herrenberg Spatlese

Pineapple and brown spices on the nose of 2007 Maximin Grunhauser Herrenberg Riesling Spatlese signal a different sort of ripeness from that displayed by the wines leading up to it in this year’s collection. More familiar suggestions of ripe white peach and red currant join on a subtly creamy and at the same time lusciously refreshing palate. There is a vibrant intensity to the finish of citrus with smoky, saline, and crushed stone undertones. This should evolve beautifully for at least two decades. I wrote about vintages 2005 and 2006 in Carl von Schubert’s and cellar master and vineyard manager Stefan Kraml’s hands as representing a return to the traditional Grunhaus excellence, because their wines performed quite well despite manifest vintage limitations. In 2007, the weather was far more cooperative, and the von Schubert collection – harvested over a 20 day period, leisurely compared with the pressures of 2006 – is the finest from any of the “big five” growers who collectively practically exhaust the Ruwer’s remaining top-class acreage. For the most part, they illustrate impeccable balance and clarity, and at their best reach the exhilarating level one would a dozen or more years ago have routinely anticipated at this address under favorable meteorological circumstances. Grunhaus has moved to practicing almost entirely spontaneous fermentations, which von Schubert sees as tending to moderate acidity but also “to achieve a less efficient yield of alcohol” from a given level of sugar, “which is an advantage nowadays just as it was a disadvantage in earlier times.” He was, incidentally, honestly taken-aback a decade or so ago – and was not the only estate owner to experience such a realization – to learn that the ancient, slow-growing, slate-rooted oaks being harvested from his considerable forest and sold at rapidly ascending prices were ultimately destined for prestigious French barrel-makers. The esteemed Nahe-based cooper Horsch has since been commissioned to gradually construct barrels for the Grunhaus from ancient Grunhauser Wald oaks, and von Schubert said he welcomes a time when wood will dominate over tanks in his cellar, although not only cost factors but also the sensitivity of Riesling to new wood preclude a pace more rapid than two or three new casks per year. Importer: P. J. Valckenberg International, Tulsa, OK; tel (918) 622-0424