2007 Winninger Uhlen Roth Lay Riesling Auslese Gold Capsule

The debate on the Mosel about just what is or should be "dry" has been broadly framed by Reinhard Lowenstein, who is skeptical about the aging potential of totally dry rieslings. "At the level of ripeness necessary to make good dry rieslings," he says, "the alcohols are too high when we try to imitate the Pfalz. Further, the salty minerality [i. e. , acidity] of our wines profits from a hint of residual sugar. Although the lawmakers call them off-dry, they taste dry. " At least for his own wines, he is right-and the off-dry style that he labels merely as riesling not only works well with food but also ages gracefully. Anything with higher levels of residual sugar-and these can be equally impressive here-is sold as auslese or upwards. The surprise in 2007, though, was the quality of the entry-level wines. They were so good that the ostensibly better wines had difficulty asserting themselves. (Chambers & Chambers, San Francisco, CA; Ewald Moseler Selections, Portland, OR; Weygandt-Metzler Importing, Unionville, PA) Also recommended: 2007 Riesling Vom Blauen Schiefer (88+?), 2007 Hatzenporter Kirchberg Riesling Erste Lage (89+?), 2007 Hatzenporter Stolzenberg Riesling Erste Lage (90), 2007 Winninger Rottgen Riesling Auslese Gold Capsule (92), 2007 Riesling Beerenauslese Vom Blauen Schiefer (94), 2007 Winninger Rottgen Riesling Beerenauslese (94).