2011 JJ Prum Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett

The Prum 2011 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett leads with scents of mint-tinged cassis and Golden Delicious apple, but the softness that these intimate on the palate doesn’t really materialize thanks to tart apple skin and piquant apple pip and grapefruit rind impingements, all the way through a bitter-sweet interchange of flavors leading into a satisfyingly sustained albeit rounded-off, delicate and soothing finish. Greater complexity and a sense of transparency may well emerge with time – and one can count on two decades’ high performance – but I doubt that this will ever display the interactive dynamic of the corresponding Bernkasteler. Katharina Prum says her team did an extensive pre-harvest culling of negatively botrytized material in September, “but it was the beginning of October before you had the ripeness to harvest a good Kabinett.” And the Prums were very happy – over and beyond the no doubt more conspicuous successes that this vintage brought them, including the results of sparse late botrytis – to have been able to bottle a full range of Kabinetts in decent quantity; indeed, there’s marginally more Kabinett than Spatlese, something that would have been taken for granted here 25 or more years ago but is today rare. And what quality and value – not to mention age-ability – these Kabinetts offer! Relatively low – upper 20s or low 30s – residual sugar in them has meant reaching 9-9.5% alcohol, but I defy anyone to charge them with lack of delicacy. “This balance is intentionally what we’re tending toward now,” explains Prum. “Since we don’t make any trocken wines, this is our notion of a light, dry Mosel Riesling. But that doesn’t mean we did any calculations or often had to intervene. For the most part, the wines simply found their own balance.” This year’s collection at Uferalle 19 is happily notable also for wines that are nearly all frank and forthcoming, with little of the interference from fermentative afterbirth or sulfur byproducts that one must often accept early-on in the life of a vintage at this address. And, curiously, the wines from Wehlener Sonnenuhr, rather than being the most backward, were atypically open last September. It goes without saying given their long track record that these are, in general, wines to cellar long-term – even the Kabinetts among them – but you will certainly not be disappointed if you can’t restrain yourself from opening some Prum 2011s today! (As frequently explained in the context of my reviews of these wines, I am not always privy to the A.P. numbers of the bottles I sample at Joh. Jos. Prum and the family prides themselves on consistency between different but – save for their registration numbers – identically-labeled bottlings. That said, in instances where there are several otherwise eponymous 2011 bottlings and the wine in question is iconic and beloved of Riesling collectors – such as a Wehlener Spatlese or Auslese – I take the opportunity to, in this instance, supply the registration number of the bottling that I tasted.) Various importers including: P. J. Valckenberg International, Tulsa, OK; tel. (918) 622-0424 and Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA; tel. (800) 596-9463

Pretty smoky and subtle. A little reductive but not so much as to hide the citrus fruit fragrance. Matched on the palate by a slaty, almost savoury tang, becoming more citrusy on the back palate. Savoury, minerally racy finish. There's some sweetness but the mineral salty taste dominates at the end. (JH)

Cask sample. Riper lemon aroma than the estate wine but that same smoky minerality. Orange and spice too. Intensity and freshness finely balanced. Not as persistent as the estate wine but lovely harmony of purpose. (JH)