94 Points - Robert Parker

The 2007 Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg Riesling Spatlese A.P. #22 Pfaffenberger bears a strikingly simple antique (officially back) label that Schonborn revived a decade or so ago and that bears the prominent legend - Pfaffenberger. The analysis of gross chemistry here is virtually identical to the A.P. #6, but their personalities are strikingly different. What's more, this was picked four weeks later - a demonstration that what changed with hang time this vintage was not always measurable. It gives up no sappy brightness to its near-twin, but displays an intriguing additional depth of musk, meat stock, malt, and nut oils, the whole drenched in honey yet not overly sweet, with tart fruit skin, citrus, fruit pit bitterness, and mineral salts all adding contrast in the long, multifaceted finish. Here is a Rheingau classic that should dazzle for three decades.