2015 Erdener Pralat Auslese Goldkapsel

Delightfully and surprisingly (for wine from Prälat, let alone Auslese), both nose and palate here feature some of the cooling mintiness and incisive notes of cress found in this year’s renditions of Erdener Treppchen and Ürziger Würzgarten. There was also a hint of anise from tank that was missing right after bottling. (Like other Loosen Auslesen, this wasn’t bottled until mid-September 2016, so when I tasted it at that time, I compared both a remnant taken from tank and a newly bottled sample.) The midpalate is sleek and glycerol-rich but harbors abundant fresh, tangy tangerine and lime as well as subtle nips of cress – signs of the new approach to Prälat initiated after 2003 by Schug and Loosen, generally involving earlier picking and aiming to preserve freshness at the expense of opulence or fat. The finish is superbly persistent, if more obvious in sweetness and marginally less animating or complex than that of this year’s Treppchen Auslese. But it’s early days for this impressive Prälat, which is sure to be worth following for two decades. (Lest there be any confusion as to what physically constitutes a gold capsule as opposed to a “long” gold capsule, this Auslese is the A.P. #45, and there is no corresponding “normal” capsule Prälat Auslese.)