From largely old vines in the middle slope of the cru Weinbach's 2005 Riesling Schlossberg Cuvee Saint Catherine smells in a by now very familiar manner of citrus oil peach kernel smoke and spice here with a pineapple overtone. Enormously ripe and lush with tropical tendencies to its fruit and deep nut oil richness this nevertheless also displays the most prominent and stony mineral character and the tightest brightest coil of acidity of any Weinbach 2005 Riesling and its long finish is truly dry-tasting. This intense beauty should we well worth following - indeed improve - over at least a 12-15 year period and those (like this taster) who are most fascinated by mature Riesling will - after a prudent interim assessment - probably choose to hold it longer. The dynamic trio of Fallers continues to bottle some of France's (hardly just Alsace's) richest and most flamboyant wines. Beginning with 2005 all of their vineyards are being biodynamically farmed. Laurence Faller finds their 2005s in general "more focused and clear" (this was especially true of Riesling) despite their often prominent botrytis component and the 2004s richer. I suppose it goes without saying but one has to carefully scrutinize each Weinbach label so numerous are the cuvees. And as wonderful as is the distinctiveness exhibited by the vast majority of wines here even a geek like yours truly could be forgiven for asking whether somewhat fewer different ottling might benefit consumers as well as journalists!

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