Scents of peach, lemon, and a sharp note of radish in the nose of Muller-Catoir’s 2009 Gimmeldinger Mandelgarten Riesling Spatlese trocken set the tone for a cooling, lemony bright palate performance, with its infectiously juicy finishing fruit subtly but persistently suffused with chalk and marjoram. I would not have guessed this wine’s 13% alcohol given the sense of levity it conveys, but then, that is not so unusual at this address. Look for a good half dozen years of admirable performance from this extremely polished and refreshing Riesling. “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 Catoir 2007 Gimmeldinger Mandelgarten Riesling Spatlese trocken features kumquat, lemon, tart yellow plum, as well as high-toned distilled pit fruit and herbal essences, citrus oil, and mothball. Quite voluminous, and with a hint of finishing heat as well as pronounced piquancy, it nevertheless retains ample refreshment and its saline, savory side promotes salivation and invigoration. I would suggest monitoring it along the way before assuming that it would pay dividends beyond 6-8 years. 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

Labels like this one are probably what confuse American consumers, but the truth is that this is just great wine. Peach and mineral notes with a generous squirt of lime mark the nose, followed by a round, juicy midpalate and with lots of fruit and lots of minerality. It’s lush, yet structured with firm acids on the long finish.——J.C.(6/1/2009)—— 92

Rich and full of grapefruit, apple and herb notes, this balances fruit and acidity with the dry profile. Moderate length. Drink now through 2010. 17 cases imported.??–BS??Region: Germany / Pfalz Select to Add

With a 2004 Gimmeldinger Mandelgarten Spatlese trocken we enter a realm of bitter-sweet, lightly desiccated fruit flavors. The nose is of persimmon. In the mouth, intense persimmon and citrus rind flavors are folded into a creamy, glossy, obviously lees-enriched, and subtly honeyed matrix. We’re up to over 7 grams of residual sugar now, which is just as well since – at 13.5% alcohol – the finish evinces slight but not irritating heat. With its underlying richness and plush texture, I suspect this will come around very nicely after a few more months in bottle. Since the arrival of young Mosel-born Martin Franzen at this great estate so long associated with the wisdom and artistry of Hans-Gunter Schwarz’s 36-year tenure as cellar master, I have been struck by a degree of qualitative continuity and stylistic affinity with the ancient regime that other commentators seem not to have noticed. In a very real sense, the legacy of Schwarz – “activism in the vines, minimalism in the cellar” – has seeped indelibly into the fabric of nearly every top winery in the Pfalz. How then could it be otherwise precisely at Mandelring #25? And although Franzen and a largely new team were forced, to a considerable extent, to rediscover the keys to these vines and sites, they are the same vines and sites so carefully tended, trained and conscientiously replanted over the past decades by the then team of Catoir and Schwarz. In 2004, Franzen has unlocked from them astonishingly numerous and improbably fine vinous treasures such as one has come to associate with the name “Muller-Catoir” in the nearly four decades since a very young Heinrich Catoir inherited this estate and decided to make a statement.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300