The -three star- Schonborn 2007 Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg Riesling Auslese offers the muskiness of the site multiplied by the muskiness of botrytis, for an aromatic display that may cause some to wrinkle up their noses, but that none will soon forget! A downright animal streak runs all the way through this, as does a sense of tension between the wine's high acid and honeyed, caramelized botrytis side. Past the nose, this becomes slightly less striking than the Marcobrunn Auslese, and it finishes long and spicy, if mildly discordant. But there is certainly a lot of complexity on display here, and no sense of heaviness - on the contrary, there is energy and lift. Perhaps even short-term this will become more harmonious. That said, I only tasted it after it had been bottled for almost a year. It certainly would bear following for several decades. Peter Barth took over cellar duties in 2001, and direction of the entire, fabled Schonborn estate in 2006. I had not visited in all that time - only heard rumors of a revival (tales of a sort that are too often false alarms when it comes to large, underperforming, noble Rheingau estates) - so I am happy to report that the renaissance of Schloss Schonborn is for real. Ten years ago, I found Schonborn's dry wines too austere and their sweet wines exaggeratedly so. Examples of these extremes have not been eliminated, but there are plenty of gorgeous and without doubt age-worthy wines that steer a steady stylistic course. Although - like most large German estates - Schonborn has pruned the number of single-vineyard wines and styles on offer when compared with the enormous annual line-ups that prevailed until a decade ago, this has been done with sensitivity to synergistic blends, and allowing plenty of room for each of the domaine's most celebrated vineyards - in particular their monopole Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg with 12 bottlings this vintage! and Erbacher Marcobrunn - to show-off. Various importers, including Dee Vine Wines San Francisco, CA; tel. (877) 389-9463, Slocum & Sons, North Haven, CT; tel. 203-239-8000, Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700