The Mann 2006 Riesling Schlossberg – which incorporates additional acreage of old vines that first surfaced in the 2005 rendition – is loaded with fresh apple and grapefruit whose tartness and pungency of skin and rind help render its juicy palate impression especially invigorating. Tactile impingement of brown spices, piquancy of fruit pit, and saliva-inducing salts and iodine in the wine’s whistle-clean, bone dry finish, help drive home the message of handsome leanness and heightened refreshment. This concentrated, energetic Riesling is a remarkable testimony to the potential of 2006 despite adversity, and should keep well for a dozen or more years.
To say that Maurice and Jacky Barthelme are bullish on their 2007s would be an understatement, as they seem to think that this is their best collection going all the way back to the wonderful 1988s with which they debuted in the U.S. (and a number of which I am still enjoying). Since they have been among those Alsace vintners most concerned with restraining sugar accretion while promoting ripe flavors, it’s understandable that they view 2007 as having been especially welcome when compared with other very recent vintages. “In September there was just enough rain; in October no rain; November was wonderful,” comments Jacky Barthelme, “so, we had time to harvest and to select.” Barthelmes were also among those growers who sold off a portion of their 2006 crop in bulk and declassified portions into generic bottlings, but the resulting bottlings are among the finest of that vintage, for which the brothers in part – unsurprisingly – credit biodynamic preparations and fruit that could be picked ripe early. My laudatory reviews of the (for this estate typically) outstanding value Mann Auxerrois Vieilles Vignes and Pinot Blanc bottlings of vintage 2007 can be found in issue 178.
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