Banana, glazed pineapple, molasses, peach preserves, and blood orange marmalade are among the scents and flavors emitted by Muller-Catoir’s 2007 Haardter Herzog Rieslaner Trockenbeerenauslese. Eszencia-like in its low alcohol and near-gelatinous viscosity, it doesn’t however display quite the uncanny standoff of sugar and acid one associates with that genre, as this is decidedly syrupy. Caramel, malt, and honey add diverse allure even if they do nothing to mitigate the wine’s residual sugar, and the finish here is unbelievably and unforgettably persistent, even abstracting from its sheer sweetness. In theory, I’d advise rationing-out any bottles you manage to acquire. Unfortunately, if you’re under 21, it’s illegal, and if you’re over 21, you may be too old to benefit. I was unable to taste for this report a Gimmeldinger Schlossel Rieslaner TBA that proved almost interminable in its fermentation, and hope to do so this year.
You had to play poker and take some chances this year, remarked Martin Franzen, and based on the vinous evidence, he repeatedly played winning hands. The stylistic evolution of wines under Franzen’s and proprietor Philip Catoir’s direction – which I honestly find it difficult to understand why so many commentators view as utterly discontinuous with the legacy of legendary former cellar master Hans-Gunter Schwarz – has run toward increasing refinement and subtlety in the Rieslings, for which conditions in 2007 – assuming (as one can, here) impeccable viticultural husbandry and patience at harvest – were ultimately ideal (even as they had been problematic in 2006). Franzen has turned out the first totally masterful Scheurebe collection of his career this year. And the nobly sweet wines – including, improbably, six tour de force TBAs, among which are the estate’s first-ever from Muskateller and Weissburgunder and first Scheurebe TBA since 1964 – dazzle with the audacity and at times raucousness that routinely accrue to nobly sweet Pfalz 2007s, and are at their best unsurpassed. Nearly all of this year’s collection (save for one refusenik Rieslander TBA) had been bottled already in April, a bold strategy considering how downright unsettled by nature some of them are. But capturing all of their energy in bottle seemed to be the governing metaphor. I cannot resist pointing out that – in keeping with a lamentable national trend – there is now not just no halbtrocken wine here, but no middle ground: every wine this year is either legally trocken or obviously sweet. Muller-Catoir is increasing their acreage of Pinot Blanc – in itself a welcome development, although partisans of Rieslaner will be dismayed to learn that it is coming at that variety’s expense.
Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300
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