The 2004 Mussbacher Eselshaut Riesling Auslese smells of peach jam, plum paste and honey with smoky botrytis-typical top notes. In the mouth it manages to retain startlingly juicy fresh pit fruit and citrus character to harmoniously accompany layers of incipiently caramelized pit fruit and honey. The balance and layered complexity of this wine is poised and elegant, a fast-flowing, incredibly deep, rich river of fruit and honey managing somehow to come off as ethereally light and delicate. The finish endlessly layers honey, nut oils, and the aforementioned caramelized and fresh fruit flavors. Since the arrival of young Mosel-born Martin Franzen at this great estate so long associated with the wisdom and artistry of Hans-Gunter Schwarz’s 36-year tenure as cellar master, I have been struck by a degree of qualitative continuity and stylistic affinity with the ancient regime that other commentators seem not to have noticed. In a very real sense, the legacy of Schwarz – “activism in the vines, minimalism in the cellar” – has seeped indelibly into the fabric of nearly every top winery in the Pfalz. How then could it be otherwise precisely at Mandelring #25? And although Franzen and a largely new team were forced, to a considerable extent, to rediscover the keys to these vines and sites, they are the same vines and sites so carefully tended, trained and conscientiously replanted over the past decades by the then team of Catoir and Schwarz. In 2004, Franzen has unlocked from them astonishingly numerous and improbably fine vinous treasures such as one has come to associate with the name “Muller-Catoir” in the nearly four decades since a very young Heinrich Catoir inherited this estate and decided to make a statement.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300