2009 Forster Kirchenstück Riesling QbA trocken Edition GC

Passion fruit, mango, musk, and very ripe peach scent the Burklin-Wolf’s 2009 Forster Kirchenstuck Riesling trocken GC with site-typical decadence. Suggestions of smoky black tea and peat add further intrigue, and all of these elements convene on a palate of opulent richness (at 13.5% alcohol) but considerable refinement and even a welcome sense of lift that was absent from the corresponding 2008. Hints of white pepper and brown spices offer some finishing contrast to the wine’s sheer sumptuousness. As always with this site, its virtues are best envisioned in plastic, even statuesque terms rather than in terms of a dynamic framework such as characterizes Pechstein or Jesuitengarten. Right now, one has to give this at least half a dozen years of rest, I suspect, and it ought to remain in good shape for at least 12-15. Burklin-Wolf has fielded a 2009 collection of remarkably consistent excellence. Sales veteran Tom Benns – an extremely savvy and insightful taster who presented to me this year’s collection – offered a likely clue to that level of quality (albeit without claiming any scientific explanatory rigor) when he pointed to the roughly 80% reliance this year on spontaneous fermentation. “This was a bit of new ground for us,” Benns explained. “It sort of just happened, in part because we had a crop with absolutely no botrytis, great acidity, and perfectly ripe fruit.” It was still so warm here when the Riesling harvest began that refrigerated trucks were called in to guarantee that these qualities were preserved en route to the press house. While I continue to mourn for all of the wonderful non-trocken Rieslings with which cellarmaster Fritz Knorr and the team at Burklin (and their predecessors) once displayed such talent but which they nowadays essay only in rare instances of early and ideal botrytis, I lift my hat to the exceptionally well-balanced and absorbing results of their virtually single-minded devotion to Riesling trocken. (And by the way, theirs are seldom anywhere near the upper-limit of 9 grams residual sugar set for that category.) I cannot resist calling readers’ attention to the fact that the suggested retail prices for these wines have dropped since last year, rendering nearly the entire collection below the estate’s “G.C.” level collectively fine values. (And by contrast, you have to have faith in their ultimate extra measure of developmental potential to justify the price differential of those “G.C.”s.) Christopher Cannan Europvin Selections (various importers), Bordeaux; fax 001-33-5 57-87-43-22