(SFGate) - Most vintages give you a story line. It was good. It was bad. A year for nerds. A year for pleasure. For months, the story of Germany in 2010 has left me dumbstruck. The wines can be electrifying one moment, wan the next. They never taste the same twice. The only conclusion: It was a bizarro year, unlike any other in recent memory. Importer Terry Theise says: "2010 is a vintage that sends us all back to school." What happened? Awful flowering and fruit set and a cool summer created a prospect for disaster. And then in September came a glorious warm spell. The remaining tiny, thick-skinned grapes presaged an intense vintage.