Dr. Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese 2011

Subtle bouquet of gooseberry and nut oil, with a trace of something floral. On the palate the creamy papaya flavor is counterpointed by citrus and slate. The persistent finish features an amalgamation of spices and mineral salts.

This moves through a vast array of flavor, spicy and lush. It begins on an herbal note of gentian, grows fleshy with nectarine flavor and heads into deep orange citrus. Those flavors coalesce around a tight center of white cherry fruit, sparkling with a crystalline minerality. It’s vast and yet structured, everything feeling in its place.

This is outstanding for its clarity and poise, its ripe white peach and apricot flavors wrapped in a crystalline frame. It has a silky texture and length, a finely wound, lemony acidity carrying the flavors on the finish.

Pale yellow. Nectarine, lemon candy and clove on the palate, with a fine peach nectar flavor joined on the finish by a rush of slate and spice. This rich and creamy spatlese is also graceful and persistent.

Given all the exuberant peach and berry fruit, you might miss the underlying minerality; it's that deep, dark, almost savory stoniness which drives this wine and keeps it focused. Leave this in the cellar for a decade or so and that lovely minerality will be pushed further into the foreground.

This is ripe and showy, strutting peach and mango flavors sequined with sparkly, clear quartz-like minerality. It wins big points for being irresistible, and it will be only more impressive with another decade to reveal more mineral and spice.

Loosen hit a home run in 2005, nailing virtually every wine in his expansive portfolio. Floral, apple and citrus aromas give way to flavors of superripe apples and pears, lovely tangerines, ever a hint of strawberry. Acids are soft, making this luscious to drink young.