Kunstler’s 2006 Hochheimer Kirchenstuck Riesling Erstes Gewachs – from fifty year old vines – is another pithy, piquant and relatively austerely dry Riesling. Almond and green hazelnut; citrus and peach kernel; and chalky salty minerality are the key themes. Sleek-textured but pungent, this formidably dense wine lacks the sap and juiciness of the Stielweg, finishing with pronounced nuttiness and chalkiness. Plan to revisit it in 2009 and follow it for at least 3-5 years thereafter.One can’t say that Gunther Kunstler has enjoyed the best of luck in recent years. This year’s move into a spacious and superior cellar coincided with the earliest and most precipitant ripening of Riesling grapes in modern history, and accomplishing the harvest and move both in timely fashion was an enormous challenge. But the bottled results show that the challenge was well met. The green harvest was as intensive and expensive as many a genuine harvest of the past, Kunstler relates, and even after rigorous triage, musts were charcoal-filtered (as has been the case in other rained-on vintages).Imported: Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA; tel. (800) 596-9463