2002 Oberhauser Brucke Auslese

This wine arose out of little bits of BA picking over a considerable period and right through the December frost. "It was a last great effort," says Donnhoff, "because it seemed a shame after so many terrific Spatlesen - as if something was missing. Every year, when the harvest is over, I fall into a deep hole. There is an unbelievable emptiness in me. There aren't any more possibilities hanging. I couldn't stand the thought of the BA I might miss this year, however little of it there might be. " Yeasty, smoky, honeyed and mysterious in the nose, and quite reminiscent of a great 1971. Lemon, pineapple, orange and pit fruit jam concentration on the palate, with a warm, smoky, even fiery side to the botrytis. The only real indication of this wine's high acidity is the degree to which high residual sugar is simply incapacitated on the palate. There is a density here you have to chew your way through to get to the site-typical minerality or the juice. So formidably tactile, it's like a wine from a different vintage, in effect confirming by contrast Donnhoff's dictum that the vintage is best captured in Spatlesen. 2 stars.

Deeper nose than the Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Auslese. Lively, racy, green fruit intensity. This needs time. (JR)

(for 375 ml.) Like biting into a drippingly ripe peach and simultaneously inhaling a blast of sweet lily and orchid florality. Subtly creamy in texture, yet with delicate lemony acids; overall, elegant and uplifting. Like a superconcentrate of peach and apricot in the finish without being at all heavy or obvious and with true transparency to shimmering minerality and wafting florality. 2 stars.