Max Ferd. Richter Wiesser Burgunder Trocken

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As in previous years, Richter’s 2008 Weisser Burgunder trocken nicely displays the unique virtues of the under-appreciated (in fact, as a distinct grape variety little-known) Pinot Blanc. Fresh apple, apple blossom, and lime in the nose could come from a Riesling, and that this is buoyant and refreshing yet subtly creamy might seem unexceptional in light of the vintage’s character. But the extent of creaminess – allied to notes of toasted hazelnut – is specific to this grape. A lusciously fruity finish tinged with apple pip, wet stone, and toast reels you back for the next sip – and that’s not factoring-in the synergies this will show with cuisine over the next several years. What’s more, this represents an outstanding value. These 8 year old vines, incidentally, are in the breezy Elisenberg, and I begin to believe that the Pinot Blanc from here will gain more and more of the floral, finesseful personality associated with Richter’s distinctive Rieslings from that site. “We had the November weather in October, and the lovely October weather in November,” says Dirk Richter of 2008, thereby essentially explaining his harvest strategy. He ameliorated acidity through skin contact; nature helped by precipitating tartrates; and nonetheless, some wines were de-acidified already as must. Richter is pleased to characterize the results as “classic Mosel Rieslings,” and since Richter spends a great deal of time promoting his wines in the U.S. I am happy to be able to concur in that description, even if some of his 2008s are only modestly successful. Richter admits that this collection is likely at least for the short term to be overshadowed by those on either side of it, but speculates that the 2008s will have their day if given time.Importer: Langdon-Shiverick Cleveland,?OH; tel. (216) 861-6800

The 2007 Weisser Burgunder trocken is grown in the Veldenzer Kirchberg “really a Riesling site,” he says. But then, who’s arguing that Pinot Blanc does not need a good location? Scents of apple, purple plum, and hazelnut anticipate the flavors on a subtly creamy yet refreshing palate, and faintly bitter nips of apple pip and grapefruit zest add invigoration to a finish as obviously stony as that of many an excellent Mosel Riesling. This will prove delightfully versatile over at least the next 18 months. Dirk Richter is an historian of the Mosel as well as one of the region’s foremost growers, and he claims that on five occasions in the eleven years between and including the epochal vintages of 1911 and 1921, flowering on the Mosel took place in May ... but then not again until 2007. He started picking already in early October, but only as a means of thinning (“pre-harvesting”) his Brauneberg vineyards, and the resultant Kabinett is rather green in flavor. Harvest did not begin in earnest here until mid-October, and save for the two T.B.A.s that he painstakingly collected, Richter insists there was scarcely any botrytis. Interesting, the yields from Richter’s Wehlener Sonnenuhr vineyards – his only remaining ungrafted vines – were the highest this year that he has ever experienced, and the wines are by no means disappointing (although Auslese was not possible). The grip exhibited by his dry-tasting wines may in part come from the skin contact Richter gives most of them, in part to buffer their acids. Still, as he puts it, “with the intense minerality, strong acidity, and very low pH of Mosel Riesling, some residual sugar is needed. And here, with feinherb-as-trocken, that need is borne out quite clearly, and the wine tastes dry, and people drink it as ‘dry’.” What’s more, lower alcohol helps these “dry” Riesling dance. If feinherb (often as high here as 25 grams in residual sugar) works on Richter’s German customers, halleluiah! For anybody else, these feinherb Kabinetts should be no-brainers, especially at his prices. Richer shares my enthusiasm for the undeservedly obscure and misunderstood Pinot Blanc (a.k.a. Wiesser Burgunder), and is in process of doubling his acreage and planning to produce some Sekt from it as wellImporter: Langdon-Shiverick Cleveland,?OH; tel. (216) 861-6800