2007 Graacher Himmelreich Auslese

Musk melon, peach, black currant, and botrytis-inflected suggestions of caramel, white raisin, and pungent spice fill the nose from Prum’s 2007 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Auslese. A considerable measure of yeasty and CO2-engendered aromas needs to clear off before this really begins to show its formidable stuff. Creamy in texture and quite unlike the corresponding Spatlese, it displays more than enough energy, concentration, and sheer length, but needs time to harmonize and focus. The characteristics of great Riesling from the Prum estate coincide with one of the most striking virtues of 2007 Mosel Rieslings in general, namely the ability to combine intensity of aroma and flavor with delicacy, and caressing richness with vivacity. In a sense, the best wines in this year’s collection are like Prum-squared in their distinctiveness and expressivity. Manfred Prum acknowledges good reasons for the widespread comparison of 2007 with 2004, and thinks the present vintage also shares the richness of 2005. Notoriously little attention is paid at this address to dry-tasting wines, and I was unfortunately not able to taste either a Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Spatlese trocken or a Bernkasteler Badstube Spatlese feinherb. Nobly sweet wines which I have not yet tasted include Wehlener Sonnenuhr auction Spatlese, gold capsule Auslese, and Beerenauslese; a Graacher Himmelreich long gold capsule Auslese, and a Bernkasteler Badstube Eiswein. Various importers including: P. J. Valckenberg International, Tulsa, OK; tel 918 622 0424 and Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA 800 596 9463