2000 Scheurebe Haardter Mandelring Spätlese

Hans-Gunter Schwarz was challenged by 2000 as never before and he responded with an intensity and scrupulousness of selection that few other vintners anywhere in the world would muster. To hear him tell, every single bunch of fruit was personally inspected by him on a slow-moving conveyer belt. But that was only after his dedicated crew exercised nearly limitless patience and care in the vineyards. In addition to Catoir and Schwarz's triumphs from 2000, they have also released their dense, fine-grained and rivetingly complex 1999 Spatburgunder ($55), the best pinot noir so far for this estate if not from anywhere in Germany, and easily a 2 star performance in my book. Anyone who loves this great grape should seek out a bottle of this rare wine. There are no fewer than five riesling Kabinett trocken in this year's collection, but I report below only on the three I tasted and which are being offered in the U.S. (Terry Theise)