Barmes-Buecher advertises itself as growing their wines bio-dynamically. I'd appreciate any illumination on what this may mean. In any case, their wines have appeared at a discount compared to houses with more established US presences at my local Binny's (and apparently also N Berkeley Wines). So I tried their basic Riesling (labelled "Riesling Tradition"), their Pinot Noir, and their Hengst Riesling, Hengst being a Grand Cru vinyard with rieslings by several houses. The Riesling Tradition and Pinot were around $8, the Hengst around $19.
What struck me is how Germanic their wines are. The Riesling Tradition could easily be confused for an off-dry Moselle except for the alcohol content. It is a light, extremely pure, citrusy, all-fruit Riesling with no complexities, suitable for light summer fare. There isn't even a hint of minerality. The Pinot is strawberry juice; I vaguely recall from long ago that Alsatian pinots were extremely earthy, if that memory is correct, this isn't typical either. However, the wine is dryish, not like German Spaetburgunders.
I made the mistake of first having the Hengst with a blue cheese, spinach, and mushroom pasta. This killed off both wine and food. Drunk on its own, it became clear that this is much more like a well-botrytified Rheingau Auslese than any Alsatian riesling I've ever had (of course, that leaves out a lot). The dominant taste is the honey and allspice (?) of the botrytis, with Auslese level sweetness, and plenty of body. There is, by Riesling standards, muted acidity (but maybe only in comparison to the sweetness), and just a hint of minerality. This level of sweetness makes an awkward food match, foie gras of course, while it's still legal, or something like a roasted veggie soup using eggplants and red peppers along with the usual soup veggies, accompanied by crepe noodles.
These wines are somewhat disconcerting if you were expecting standard Alsatian styles; but at the price, they are an excellent bargain for German style wines with full alcohol as a bonus.