2008 Hohenmorgen Trocken Edition G.C.

Corn mash, fresh lime, sage, and freshly-milled wheat on the nose of Burklin’s 2008 Deidesheimer Hohenmorgen Riesling trocken GC strike a cool note, following which the oily-texture, overt richness, and hint of alcoholic warmth on the palate come as a surprise. High marks for opulence certainly. Thankfully, both acidity and chalky minerality complement this sultry wine’s sense of substantiality and very ripe fruit, but I’d like to revisit it in a year or two to see how it handles its alcohol, and before predicting its bottle evolution. The 2007 was a slam dunk by comparison. Burklin-Wolf – for more about whose practices consult issue 185 – mobilized a complete back-up crew to harvest the 2008 crop, in order to work around the rain and, virtually, around the clock, finishing in a burst of activity on October 20. Like Burklin-Wolf’s early 21st century conversion to biodynamic methods, this is an indication of the labor-intensity and quality-consciousness that have kept Germany’s largest privately-owned estate near the forefront of its nation’s viticulture. Obviously, though, great vineyards are critical to the results here, as are the continuity of three generations of Knorrs as cellar and vineyard managers, and two of Burklins that reach back into the 1920s. Bettina Burklin says she expects her 2008s to have especially long aging potential, but having had only very limited opportunity to taste dry Burklin-Wolf Rieslings of over a decade’s age (I have lots of positive experience with aging the residually sweet sort for which they were long known), I prefer to be conservative in my prognostications. Christopher Cannan Europvin Selections (various importers), Bordeaux; fax 001-33-5 57-87-43-22