2011 Zeppwingert Riesling

From old vines immediately adjacent to the Batterieberg yet always giving distinctly different vinous results, the 2011 Enkircher Zeppwingert Riesling is the only "dry" wine in its collection whose fruit was influenced by botrytis. Quince, white peach and bittersweet liquid floral perfumes cavort against a background of wet stone on a silken, expansive, deeply rich, yet still-refreshing palate, nuances of peach kernel, almond, black tea, and ginseng adding to the dynamically interactive finish of a Riesling that manages to at once sooth and enervate. As one has come to expect from Kollmann, this wine is adroitly-balanced, its 22 grams of residual sugar entirely supportive yet leaving behind only the subtlest impression of sweetness per se. Look for at least two decades of satisfaction. Gernot Kollmann picked most of his best parcels in the third week of October, although botrytis pressure forced him to attack some vines earlier. Even with such a relatively late harvest and a vintage this ripe, he has been able to bottle wines with finished alcohol between 12-12.5%, in keeping with a continued goal of achieving levity. Vine age, genetic diversity, and lack of grafts have much to do, in Kollmann's (and many another Mosel vintner's) view, with their fruit ripening at relatively low must weights. These wines display the sort of balance that long-time (and last family) proprietor Georg Immich adored, although I regret that one certainly cannot credit as prophetic his belief that halbtrocken would, before the last century was out, become the sensible and aesthetically sensitive norm among "dry" German Rieslings! (Perhaps one day still, though.) He has managed to secure significant numbers of wholesome used barrels of 300-liter capacity, substituting these increasingly for classic 225-liter barriques; but reports that, sadly, he cannot locate suitable used 500- or 600-liter demi-muids nor, for the time being, afford to introduce newly constructed fuders on the classic Mosel model. (For more on the recent evolution - indeed, veritable resurrection - of this venerable estate, please consult my reports in issues 199 and 192. The first, strikingly delicious Chardonnay-dominated wine has appeared from Weingut Rinke's dramatically-steep and -restored mussel-chalk terraces on the Upper Mosel, a Kollmann project about which I'll write further in future, though that arguably belongs in the context of covering neighboring Luxemburg, or even Champagne.) Imported by Louis/Dressner Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 334-8191