Among the most effusively aromatic such bottlings in this estate’s history – and that’s saying something! – Muller-Catoir’s 2009 Haardter Mandelring Scheurebe Spatlese leads with pink grapefruit, mint, pineapple, nectarine, and a hint of passion fruit. This is also one of the lightest, creamiest, and most overtly sweet exercises in Scheurebe ripeness I have witnessed, and for all of its delicacy, the overall effect is almost syrup-like, as well as seductively soothing and lusciously lingering. This behaves as though it were trying – quite successfully – to compensate for the Auslese that the estate elected not to attempt this year. I expect it will delight for at least the next 20 years, and indeed after a decade or so I would anticipate a more balanced impression of sweetness as well as enhanced complexity. (I suspect that importer Terry Theise might be the only other wine lover with my accumulated experience in aging Scheurebe from Muller-Catoir.)“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