2007 Riesling Burgergarten im Breumel GG

The 2007 Haardter Burgergarten Breumel In den Mauern Riesling Grosses Gewachs comes from the most sheltered (as its name says “within the walls”) portion – a Muller-Catoir monopole – of the Burgergarten. Bitter-sweet floral inhalations suggesting gentian and iris, and – even on the nose – suggestions of iodine and wet stone, lead to a silken-textured palate loaded with kumquat, blood orange and underlain by a mysteriously animal savor such as I would be less surprised to come upon in a red Burgundy. With alcohol over 13.5% and hence slightly higher than its Riesling stable mates or the vintage norm, it comes off as supremely elegant, even buoyant, and does not betray a bit of heat or save for its hints of citrus zest and fruit pit of bitterness. What’s more, there is an active, vibratory interchange of fruit, animal, and (saline, stony) mineral elements here, and a finish that tugs relentlessly at your salivary glands. This beauty should perform brilliantly allowing, perhaps, for phases over the next 12-15 years. 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