2004 Graacher Himmelreich Spatlese

Aromas of Granny Smith apple, cinnamon, lime, honeydew melon, and vanilla pour from a glass of the Prum 2004 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Spatlese A.P. #23. Saturating the palate with juicy spiced apple, melon, and lime fruit while remaining delicate to the touch, this Riesling finishes with persistent fruit augmented by distinctive wet stone, salt, green tea, fresh lemon, and a pleasantly pungent note akin to peppermint. A light hint of primary yeastiness, mingled with CO2, had considerably diminished between the time when I first tasted this wine in August and then re-tasted it in November, and its personality will continue to grow short term, as well as inviting a dozen and more years of cellaring. 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.