2007 Riesling Muenchberg

Ostertag’s 2007 Riesling Muenchberg is his most approachable (least aggressive or austere) and at the same time far and away most profound Rieslings of the vintage. Yellow plum and white peach tinged with caraway, cyanic fruit pit bitterness, lemon zest, and mysterious, bittersweet, musky floral perfume (encompassing but not limited to narcissus) turn your head, then segue onto a voluminous yet buoyant palate suffused with spices and crushed stone, finishing with riveting intensity, interactive complexity, and length. Count on this for 20 years’ worth of excitement. Andre Ostertag was like most of his region’s best growers very selective about what he chose to bottle in 2006. He is especially enthusiastic about his uncompromisingly intense 2007s and the sense in which the Rieslings resemble a throwback to the moderate must weights and refreshing acidity that was common in Alsace before the string of warm vintages that has been nearly uninterrupted since 1988. I was surprised to find myself as impresses as I was with the 2007 Pinot Gris bottlings here, but Ostertag says it was simply unfair until very recently to compare his results with that grape to those with Riesling, because the vines of the former were too young. They’ve passed 20 years of age now, and that, he opines, is why they can start to show their real potential (and, I would add, stand up to Ostertag’s use of barriques). While I hate to take up space with this matter, readers should be aware that wines from this estate that formerly bore the village name “Epfig” will now merely be coded with the capital letter “E” because of certain limitations that the authorities have now imposed on the use of village designates and the definition of “village level” names. (Frankly, I wouldn’t even want to understand the regulation if I thought it would prove intelligible!) Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524