2004 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese

If illegible notes reflect ecstasy, this Auslese must be close to the doors of paradise. A sublime concoction of aromas and flavours includes apple and apricots, almonds and marzipan, herbs and green mint, fumy and flinty notes of minerality, but most important, none of these components overwhelm any of the others, they all live together in happy harmony. The perfect partnership of finely poised acidity and expertly harnessed sweetness of fruit make this a masterpiece of finesse and elegance. (MS)

NB vintage! Quite minerally, cool nose. Very delicate, very lively. Racy. Great grip. (JR)

A promising batch of Riesling originally intended to be this year’s unique non-auction “gold capsule” bottling ended up finding its way into the 2004 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese A.P. #12. The result is a wine exhibiting great richness of fruit, subtle notes of noble rot, and a combination of gripping flavor intensity with delicacy of touch that has been a hallmark of the better Prum Auslesen for decades. The wine’s intense aromas – still overlaid with considerable primary yeastiness – are of baked and fresh apple, honeysuckle, fresh orange, and vanilla. In the mouth, this is bracing and dripping with fresh fruit, yet subtly-tinged by honey and spice from botrytis. It is audaciously ripe, mouth-coating and golden-berried in fruit character, yet light and delicate to the touch, suggestively creamy and soothing, yet preserving an animating core of fresh fruit acidity. The long finish is similarly rich, honeyed and coating yet bracing and invigorating with its fresh fruit, fruit skin and wet stone elements. As is generally the case with Auslesen from this estate, how long you choose to cellar it will depend in large part on how much of its abundant fructose and overt sweetness you want to taste, but it will certainly mature impressively for more than a quarter century. There tend to be multiple Prum bottlings of a given combinations of site and Pradikat, but I am never privy to an overview of these. To sin on the side of safety, I have noted the A.P. # for wines I tasted from bottle, but Manfred Prum routinely seeks to assure me that any alternate bottlings will not differ substantially from those I have tasted, and consistent excellence – like ageworthiness – has long been a hallmark of Joh. Jos. Prum Rieslings. Picking this year – until the middle of December – culminated in Eiswein harvests several days earlier than the vast majority of those essayed in 2004. I did not have opportunity to taste the embryonic results of those pickings, nor did I taste Prum’s 2004s from Bernkastel and Zeltingen sites. Various importers including: P. J. Valckenberg International, Tulsa, OK; tel. (918) 622-0424 and Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA; tel. (800) 596-9463.