The 2015 Pinot Noir "Caroline" opens with a super fine and elegant but, at the moment, leathery and very spicy, almost animal bouquet of dark fruits, mainly cherries. Silky textured, pure and elegant with intense fruit and fine tannins, this is a promising Pinot Noir with a long, intense finish. This is going to be remarkable in a couple of years.

Bottled last August, the Diel 2010 Pinot Noir Cuvee Caroline is the most elegant, and best showcases inherent Pinot virtues of this cuvee’s exemplars that I have tasted. Tart-edged and pit-inflected cherry mingles with red meat and mushroom stock, bacon and sage, for a satisfyingly juicy and mouthwateringly Umami-rich experience in which (for once!) the wood – now down to one-third new – serves merely as framing. The one area where this slightly disappoints is in its lack of textural allure; but then, the rather glassy, hard-edge impression I received (though I can’t say it’s inconsistent with impressions of previous vintages) might be attributable to the recent bottling. Expect merit for the better part of a decade. Caroline Diel is now the mother of two, but shows every intention and indication of personally staying on top of her estate’s viticulture. In collaboration with long-time cellarmaster Christoph Friedrich, she is both perpetuating and further refining the styles of wine that have come to characterize and enhance the long-standing reputation of Schlossgut Diel. Picking began in the last week of September and most of the top Rieslings were harvested already in the first week of October, by which point there was a significant amount of botrytis, happily largely noble, most of it picked-out in parallel with the fruit for the Grosse Gewachse. Wisely, I think – as heaven knows they have an austere side as is – the Diels elected for the sake of moderating alcohol to leave a bit more residual sugar behind this year than usual in their Grosse Gewachse. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

The Diel 2009 Pinot Noir Cuvee Caroline displays lightly-cooked mulberry and bitter-edged huckleberry that I can’t say strike me as especially Pinot Noir-typical, hints of licorice and smoky, charred notes from barrel well-integrated though serving to underscore the low-toned, roasted overall character of this ripe and abundantly if finely tannic bottling. (At one-third, the proportion of new wood utilized here continues a trend of diminution.) A pithy, slightly chewy berry-skin finish and welcome suggestion of salted beef marrow complete this dark, brooding vision from the Nahe. There are certainly the abundance of both structure and fruit to suggest that this will keep well for a decade, though whether or not it will become more interesting or winsome I shall not venture to predict. While her famous father Armin naturally continues as a trusted advisor, it is evident in conversation as well from continued adjustments in methodology that Caroline Diel is settling into her role as hands-on manager of this great estate, clearly positioning it as one of those lucky enough to receive the special benefits and blessings that can accrue to felicitous multi-generational collaboration. Selective double-salt de-acidification was performed here in 2010 – occasionally even in lots destined for residually sweet wines – and skin contact encouraged. Alcohol levels for this year’s Grosse Gewachse are in the moderate, 12.5-13% range.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

The Diel 2008 Pinot Noir Cuvee Caroline was raised in barriques one-third of which were new. (The 2006 had been in 70% new wood!) This offers a lovely layering of kirsch distillate; marzipan; fresh dark cherry and blueberry; and a broth-like underlying carnal element. Marjoram-like herbal pungency; peat-like smokiness; suggestions of crushed stone; and a lip-smackingly savory salinity all render this silken-textured and happily also refreshing Pinot worthy of at least a half dozen years’ further attention. Caroline Diel’s 2009 collection is noteworthy not only for a range of outstanding Riesling such as has long been anticipated (though seldom bettered) at this estate, but also for a set of wines from the Pinot family – all, incidentally, now labeled with French rather than German names for their varieties – that in my estimation mark a significant up-tick in quality. That this estate has been famous in Germany for its work with Pinots ever since Armin Diel assumed charge in 1987 and began barrique vinification, I am of course well aware. But only in recent years have I witnessed tendencies to restrain the influence of new wood and to encourage real subtlety, which seem to me prerequisites for achieving with these varieties anything remotely approaching the class of Schlossgut Diel’s Rieslings. The 2009 Pinots were harvested in mid-October and most of the Rieslings in the two weeks following. The superb botrytis selections were all picked-out ahead of even the Pinots. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

The Diel 2007 Pinot Noir Cuvee Caroline represents a project that Armin Diel has babied from its inception but that is now receiving even more meticulous attention on the watch of its namesake. This 2007 was destemmed entirely by hand so as to retain a maximum of berries intact. Bright cherry fruit is tinged with the cyanic bitterness of fruit pit and the toast, resin, and spice of (30% new) barrique. A subtle sense of creaminess lends allure on the palate, where floral perfume wells up as the wine warms and opens to air. In the finish, I find the wood and lactic elements slightly inhibit the flow of juices, though the wine’s persistence per se is admirable. I won’t attempt to guess at its future evolution. For all of its virtues, this cuvee serves as a reminder of two difficulties I often experience with German Pinot Noir. First off, some of the best are that way by a sort of via negativa, rather than by making a really distinctive statement (a criticism that could of course be leveled against many Pinots from the New World). Secondly, marketing German Pinot Noir outside of its homeland will remain difficult in instances where a high U.S. retail price reflects demand and consequent ex cellar price inside Germany. In the present instance, for example, it’s hard for me to imagine very many wine lovers would be entirely happy to have spent $120 on this rather than a top-notch Burgundian premier or grand cru. Caroline Diel is taking the reins at her family’s estate, and results in 2008 are as impressive as one would have expected given the track record at this address. The team here did not start harvesting until the third week in October and picked for nearly a month, due to which lateness the measurable acid levels (which were not adjusted) were relatively low by vintage standards, but the impression of acidity was more than vivacious and efficacious enough. On a quest for purity and authenticity, the Diels did not include in their bench trials for the blending of Grosse Gewachse any small lots of off-dry wine such as might in past have been employed expressly to fine-tune the finished levels of residual sugar. Instead, they let the blends all remain quite dry. Armin Diel has for at least the past dozen years championed and cherished the Mosel stylistic ideals of delicacy and of high residual sugar balanced against acidity. His choices of Mosel-born cellar master Martin Franzen (now of Muller-Catoir), and more recently of Moselaner Christoph Friedrich, testify to this proclivity. But there has never been a better vintage in which to give these ideals fluid realization. So if you are a lover of Kabinetts and Spatlesen from the likes of Joh. Jos. Prum, Willi Schaefer, or the Haags, do not miss the show Caroline and Armin Diel have put on this year, and that could be playing in your cellar any night over the next two decades! Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300