2004 TBA #8 Traminer Nouvelle Vague

Kracher’s 2004 #8 Traminer Trockenbeerenauslese Nouvelle Vague is impressively-scented with candied rose petal and violets, spiced lychee, and vanilla. At only 9.5% alcohol, and given its low acidity, this T.B.A. is struggling a bit to deal with its 239 grams of residual sugar and an overtly resinous note of new wood. Candied flowers and cinnamon candy linger without enticing the next sip, but I think it would be wise to check this out again in another year or two as it may well find its groove. The inspiring and otherwise irrepressible Alois “Luis” Kracher died last December 5, after a nearly year-long battle with pancreatic cancer. His son Gerhard, 27, and still-active father will continue the work of this exemplary estate. Note: I tasted the Kracher wines of 2005 and 2006 for the reviews above this Spring, and the 2004s in late 2007 and again this Spring. Kracher was restrained in his early judgment of the challenging 2004 vintage, in which he could not start picking noble rot until November, and continued until Christmas. “The first selections were wonderful; the second passage classic, good; the third – kaput,” was how he described it. “From two months of work,” he continued, “we netted 6,000 liters of quality T.B.A.,” from which he promises a modest-sized collection so that – as he puts it – he wouldn’t have to apologize for a vintage that is good but not great. I don’t believe that this was a tactical confession on his part. Kracher was genuinely surprised by the quality that emerged as his 2004 collection evolved, and in the end, he bottled the same number of Trockenbeerenauslesen – ten – as in the manifestly more classic botrytis vintage of 2005. Importer: Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700