2002 Oberhauser Brucke Spatlese
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
This Spatlese is extraordinary, hovering in that zone bordering perfection in which wines touch the soul. The 2002 Riesling Spatlese Oberhauser Brucke exhibits aromas and flavors of cherry-drenched quartz, raspberries, minerals, as well as steel. Medium-bodied, muscular, powerful, and masculine, it is an oily-textured, broad-shouldered wine of spectacular depth and length. This concentrated, harmonious behemoth will be at its best between 2010 and 2030. All Hail the King of Spatlese! Donnhoff’s line-up of Spatlesen is second to none. For the second year in a row, Helmut Donnhoff has left me shaking my head in wonder. Having tasted the greatest wines in the world, year in and year out, as a wine merchant and as a critic, did not prepare me for the awe-inspiring experience of tasting through Donnhoff’s 2001s and 2002s. They are magical, emotional, breath-taking. My words cannot do them justice. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Pierre Rovani
More reviews and scores
A bouquet of lily and narcissus is both sweet and musky. A coulis of red raspberry and molten minerals flows over the palate, but the sheer intensity here is matched by an elegance and lightness of touch. You might say this has the concentration of other recent vintages of Brucke Spatlese but not the weight, a perfect illustration of Donnhoff's characterization of 2002 as "playful and light even though dense. " The balance of acid and sugar is perfect, so that the sweetness drops away completely in the back. Red fruit, citrus and devilishly diverse expressions of salt and stones hang around for a lot longer than you can wait before taking the next sip. 2 stars.
Very cool and intense on the nose. Superficially open and broad, but underneath there is a huge interplay of flavours. This is a ballet, and a good one. (JR)