2005 Riesling Ürziger Würzgarten Spätlese

Even in "active retirement," as he calls it, Hans Leo Christoffel continues to produce first-class wines from the five acres of excellent vineyards that he has leased to Robert Eymael from Monchhof, where the wines are now made. These are classical rieslings in the finest sense of the term:elegant and distinguished, with pure mineral spice. The kabinett and spatlese bottlings are perfectly balanced. The ausleses, on the other hand, are unusually rich and a touch closed this year. (Terry Theise) Also recommended: 2005 Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Kabinett (88) and 2005 Erdener Treppchen Riesling Spatlese (89+?).

After his excellent 2004s, Karl-Josef Christoffel produced a wide range of ausleses in 2005 that are richer but perhaps not as precise as their predecessors. Each is certainly typical of its vineyard character, but the wines do not sing with quite the same purity. As numerous mature vintages still available on the market attest, these wines age remarkably well, so it will be interesting to compare 2005 with 2004 ten years down the line. (K&L Wines, San Francisco, CA) Also recommended: 2005 Erdener Treppchen Riesling Spatlese (86), 2005 Urz iger Wurzgarten Riesling Auslese ii (88), 2005 Erdener Treppchen Riesling Auslese ii (88). Other wines tasted: 2005 Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Spatlese Halbtrocken.