German Rieslings --- Wine Spectator List of April 2009

Bruce Sanderson covers Germany in the Wine Spectator team. Two wines, a reasonably priced day to day wine from Loosen and an expensive high class dry Riesling from Wittmann made it to the Top 100 wines of the Wine Spectator this year. See my posting on this.

Sanderson published a comprehensive tasting report on the 2007 Riesling wines from Germany in the April, 30, 2009 issue of the Wine Spectator. He feels that the 2007 vintage for German Riesling is one of the greatest in a string of successful harvests dating back to 1988. These white wines are fresh and balanced, exhibiting ripe, complex fruit flavors, elegance and density, and a mineral streak that manifests itself from the first sip. Quality is consistently high across all of the country's major regions.

The character of the 2007 wines is best defined by the long, growing season; the Riesling grapes remained on the vine for one to two months longer than usual. With the perfect weather of an Indian summer at harvest, the late-ripening Riesling stayed healthy and matured fully. Wine after wine featured the structure, depth and harmony that will allow them to be enjoyed for a few years after release and develop for decades in the bottle.

Here is his full report in the April 30, 2009 issue of the Wine Spectator.