2007 Weingut Prinz Hallgartener Jungfer Riesling Spätlese

Again returning as usual with this bottling to the original Jungfer, the 2007 Hallgartener Jungfer Riesling Spatlese Gold Capsule is scented with musk melon, gardenia, and pear nectar; coats the palate with silken, smooth honeyed essence of melon, pear, marzipan, and liquid flowers; and finishes with a return to the lift and delicacy that characterized the gold capsule Kabinett, except with greater richness, intensity, and length, along with a stimulating, savory salinity. Two weeks separated this picking from the mid-October harvest of the “regular” Spatlese, and that fact – plus the effect of the site – made a great difference. My only reservation here is that as sweetly as the wine finishes, I would not plan to revisit it for a decade, but I would count on its flourishing for two. Even in high-elevation, breezy Hallgarten, and given almost six weeks to harvest, to hear Fred Prinz tell it, getting healthy, truly ripe fruit in 2007 represented intensive labor and strategy. The tartness and green herbal character of his (as usual, machine-harvested) basic dry Riesling betrays some drawbacks of early picking, but Prinz needed a good volume of clean, well-concentrated, healthy fruit, and that he certainly achieved. Imported by Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA tel. (877) 389-9463; also imported by Magellan Wines, Centennial, CO tel. 720-272-6544