Tight, with saline notes to the flavors of green apple and white plum, featuring some savory overtones. The finish lingers with hints of wet stone and citrus. Drink now. 750 cases made, 12 cases imported.??–KM??Region: Germany / Pfalz Select to Add

The crunchy pippin apple and dried herb flavors are well-structured, accented by notes of sea salt. Shows good balance, with a pure finish of lemon-lime. Drink now. 56 cases imported.??–KM??Region: Germany / Pfalz Select to Add

Fresh lemon, lemon blossom, peony, oregano, apple, and ripe apricot inform the nose and refreshing, silken-textured palate of Muller-Catoir 2009 Riesling trocken, a distinguished, lip-smackingly persistent generic bottling at once bright and cooling. This should prove delightfully versatile over the next 3-5 years. “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

The Muller-Catoir 2007 Riesling trocken comes from half a dozen parcels in lesser sites with lighter soils. Kumquat, persimmon, and lime with hints of smoke and spice inform a juicy, generous palate, leading to a finish of lip-smacking refreshment. Enjoy it through 2011. You had to play poker and take some chances this year, remarked Martin Franzen, and based on the vinous evidence, he repeatedly played winning hands. The stylistic evolution of wines under Franzen’s and proprietor Philip Catoir’s direction – which I honestly find it difficult to understand why so many commentators view as utterly discontinuous with the legacy of legendary former cellar master Hans-Gunter Schwarz – has run toward increasing refinement and subtlety in the Rieslings, for which conditions in 2007 – assuming (as one can, here) impeccable viticultural husbandry and patience at harvest – were ultimately ideal (even as they had been problematic in 2006). Franzen has turned out the first totally masterful Scheurebe collection of his career this year. And the nobly sweet wines – including, improbably, six tour de force TBAs, among which are the estate’s first-ever from Muskateller and Weissburgunder and first Scheurebe TBA since 1964 – dazzle with the audacity and at times raucousness that routinely accrue to nobly sweet Pfalz 2007s, and are at their best unsurpassed. Nearly all of this year’s collection (save for one refusenik Rieslander TBA) had been bottled already in April, a bold strategy considering how downright unsettled by nature some of them are. But capturing all of their energy in bottle seemed to be the governing metaphor. I cannot resist pointing out that – in keeping with a lamentable national trend – there is now not just no halbtrocken wine here, but no middle ground: every wine this year is either legally trocken or obviously sweet. Muller-Catoir is increasing their acreage of Pinot Blanc – in itself a welcome development, although partisans of Rieslaner will be dismayed to learn that it is coming at that variety’s expense.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

Shows green fruit and slightly herbal nuances on the nose, then delivers crystalline structure and purity of lime fruit and liquid minerals in the mouth. Although only light to medium in body, this is a powerhouse, with a long finish.——J.C.(6/1/2009)—— 89