Dusty, smoky, as well as cyanic fruit pit notes in the nose of Pfeffingen’s 2009 Ungsteiner Herrenberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs M (whose initial stands-in for the name of its vineyard of origin, the Mardelskopf) set the tone for the third consecutive installment of this wine to tend toward the austere. Firm, brightly citric, and rather angular, a hint of salinity lends this some ingratiating saliva-inducement but stony and bitter notes pursue the theme of austerity all the way through the finish. I would be watchful of any bottles I had lest in a few years the wine were to become even sparer. Jan Eymael elected to perform significant leaf-removal in order to permit his crop – especially the Scheurebe – to hang free, with the result, he explained, “that botrytis never really could establish itself” and the range of nobly sweet Scheurebe one generally looks forward to at this address is absent from 2009. Total acid levels are moderate this year, but the low pH levels in the grapes led Eymael to give his dry wines longer skin contact than usual to help buffer them. “Bear in mind that we’re one of the warmest spots in the Pfalz,” notes Eymael in connection with this year’s early, September 28, commencement of his Riesling harvest, though picking continued for nearly three weeks.Imported by Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA; tel. 800 596 9463