While this is the inaugural "GG" bottling, Karthauserhof has a long history with dry Rieslings... frankly, a long history with GREAT dry Rieslings. One of the most impressively mineral wines I have ever had was the 2001 Karthauserhof Auslese Trocken "S" (I'm talking Clos Ste. Hune-like mineral). This particular bottle was drunk in 2007, and at six years of age it was still infantile, extraordinarily muscular, dense and compact - a detailed expression of rocks and salt, citrus and flowers that was so fine, yet so, so forceful.

This one experience was more than enough to make myself, and Joe, devout fans of this bottling and its a wine we've sought out and brought to the U.S. market in both 2005 and 2007 (there was no bottling made in 2008). Though they require tremendous patience, the rewards are well worth it.

The 2009 should be poised to stand shoulder to shoulder with the 2001 - the more and more I taste 2009, the more I believe the vintage has a similar tension, a ripeness balanced by (again, especially in 2009), a vigorous, sinewy acidity.

- Stephen Bitterolf