2014 Riesling Kaseler Nies'chen Spätlese

The Karlsmühle and its monopole Lorenzhof vineyards came to late 20th-century prominence when now-veteran German wine journalist Stuart Pigott spread word that proprietor Peter Geiben, after having for several years perpetuated the stolid local reputation of this estate across the road from Maximin Grünhaus, had decided in 1988 to show just what brilliant Rieslings, dry as well as sweet, were possible there. Not long after, I imported some of those 1988s which, like their no less amazing successors from 1989, 1990 and 1991, can still impress today.

Geiben, whose affable but unapologetically rustic personality was always in striking contrast to the delicate refinement of his best wines, has scored some memorable Riesling successes since, and his acquisition of the adjacent Patheiger estate brought a bevy of fine additional Kaseler parcels. But it must be acknowledged that his recent endeavors have been anticlimactic, and the challenges of what he describes as the three-week struggle that was harvest 2014 have resulted in a relatively weak collection. Geiben ascribes much responsibility for his 2014 difficulties to the Suzukii fruit fly invasion, although it may well be that wasps and conventional drosophila were more important sources of the acetification that dogged his Rieslings. Because those circumstances forced him to begin picking early while fruit was still very high in acidity, Geiben elected to de-acidify his low- and mid-level dry wines, which in consequence sometimes come off as noticeably soft and a bit flat. There was botrytis to be sure, says Geiben, but none that he was convinced could justify the selective effort or result in ennobled Rieslings of the sort that has contributed much to his reputation over the years. (Geiben and his sites have also, often memorably, favored Eiswein, but the past decade has brought few opportunities for speculating that healthy grapes would freeze, and even fewer successes.)