2011 Dhronhofberger Spatlese

From healthy fruit, as usual for wine of this Pradikat chez Adam – the botrytis having been picked-out beforehand from the relevant parcels – his 2011 Dhronhofberger Riesling Spatlese is, nonetheless, far-gone on sheer ripeness and nearly decadent in its aromas and lush, almost palpably pulpy palate expression of papaya, mango, orange, banana and musk melon. Creamy and glossy in feel and ripe though it is, this, nonetheless, displays an admirable sense of transparency to subtly stony and liquid floral nuances not to mention ample primary juiciness to serve for a refreshing finish. I suspect it will be best enjoyed over the next 10-12 years, but Adam’s wines have been evolving (going from strength-to-strength) so steadily and his approach is so singular that one really doesn’t have obvious benchmarks for age-ability. In commencing his tenth harvest on October 1, Andreas Adam was setting a record. “But it was good I did,” he notes, adding that “early in the month we picked exclusively for Kabinett and Qualitatswein. We were in shorts and tee shirts. It was 28 degrees (82 F.) and we only picked in the morning. But by the time we finished on November 1, we were all in heavy jackets.” Mid-October brought some fine botrytis that Adam wasted no time in picking-out and sorting for small volumes of nobly sweet elixirs, the culmination of which is a 280 Oechsle T.B.A. that was not finished fermenting yet last autumn. “Honestly, I had some anxiety as fruit was coming in,” he confesses, “because there was really a large volume of grapes. I can tell you, our cellar was full. What we changed in terms of cellar technique in 2011,” he explains, “is that we didn’t permit any skin contact, didn’t even crush, but instead pressed (whole clusters) directly, like for Champagne.” Despite his success in 2011, the period of elevage was beyond merely stressful for Adam, as his cellar was shockingly vandalized right after his principal, March bottling, and his top dry wines (which he refers to as Grosse Gewachse) along with the barrels that held them, were contaminated and ruined. But speaking of barrels, Adam also got lucky in that respect last year, tapping a cache of impeccably-kept Fuder from a retiring grower. These will definitely come in handy, since in addition to recent plantings (some, sadly, lost to a deep February, 2012 chill), Adam continues to add parcels – for a total of nearly three dozen now – provided they possess old vines and/or outstanding exposure. He doesn’t want to get so big that a hands-on approach is precluded, but his Geisenheim-trained sister will soon join him full-time, and he says he’ll meet the problem of too many superb old vineyard parcels and the need to jettison something less good when and if he comes to it. Speaking of March bottling, you can see from my notes that no matter how much sense it makes – indeed, how true it may be in many such instances – to say that extended lees contact and late bottling were critical to conveying to 2011s the necessary structure and complexity, Adam’s collection is a deliciously definitive if gentle counterexample. He has always been at pains to retain healthy lees, but captured fantastic results bottling after barely five months. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300