The 2007 Ruppertsberger Spiess Riesling Grosses Gewachs hails from a portion of the Reiterpfad split solely between Deinhard and Bassermann that was permitted to retain its identity as Spiess under the 1971 wine law. (Since Bassermann vinifies their portion as an exclusive bottling for the company B.A.T.F., Deinhard’s is the only Spiess that ever comes to the market.) This boasts a smoky, piquant, bright intensity mingling lime, tea, almond, pear, and peach kernel, with sheer extract and ripeness of fruit lending a subtle impression of sweetness, while saline, wet stone, and piquantly cyanic notes lend invigoration to a truly gripping finish. It should be worth following for 10-12 years. The late 2007 purchase of the Dr. Deinhard (a.k.a. VON WINNING) estate by entrepreneur Achim Niederberger – who already owned Bassermann-Jordan and von Buhl, with which it was once one – has brought rapid changes, most notably the arrival at the estate’s helm of Stefan Attmann (former wine merchant and consummate wine geek with a degree in marketing) who is – to put it mildly – a gifted young man on a mission and full of stimulating ideas. His and Niederberger’s specific notions for the reorganization of the estate and its line of wines had not yet entirely gelled when I tasted a subset of their 2007s, a collection whose outcome at this address they were not able to influence until after its harvest. That said, my visit found Attmann still working with long-time cellar master Kurt Rathgeber who – along with now-retired director Heinz Bauer – rendered much more delicious and interesting (if unabashedly old-fashioned) wine than a great many German critics were willing to credit them. Many of the Deinhard 2007s were only selected by the importer to offer this Spring, by which point I had no time to go back and taste those that I had missed while visiting the estate. The ostensibly top dry wines from 2008 will be bottled under the label Weingut von Winning (from the name of an early 20th Century owner by marriage) which beginning this year has becomes the new official name for the winery, with Dr. Deinhard as a sub-label.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300