Now not slated to be released until 2011, Keller's 2009 Westhofener Morstein Riesling Grosses Gewachs seems almost at pains to prove the wisdom of that choice by offering a pithy fruit skin chew and an almost gum-numbing, persimmon-like pungency, allied to tingling brightness of fresh lemon, pink grapefruit, and bitter tartness of its zest that offer a prickly rebuff to anyone anticipating immediate pleasure. This is an embryonic and severely concentrated young Riesling, although one whose energy certainly appears equal to its sheer density. It finishes with pointed bitterness, blazing citric intensity, and a formidable, near avalanche of crushed stone and other less identifiable mineral elements – seemingly unstoppable? which is not the same as saying it's irresistible (at least, not for now)! I wrote in my initial notes that “only time can tell whether this has a gentler side to its undeniably complex and formidable personality, and it will be most interesting to follow its evolution during the coming decade.” Eleven days later (!), Keller confronted me, blind, with the contents of the same bottle, and the wine was not only pristine in terms of its absence of oxidation, it also displayed greater primary juiciness and clarity to a more refined diversity of mineral elements.