2004 Alois Kracher Chardonnay TBA #9 NV

The Traminer #8 Kracher’s 2004 #9 Chardonnay Trockenbeerenauslese Nouvelle Vague makes! This represents a step down in alcohol (to 8.5) and up in residual sugar (280 grams), but above all in acidity (to 8.9 grams). Vividly juicy Clementine, soursop, and mango are allied to some of the most indelible brown spices I have ever encountered in a wine. The fruit and spice personality here, allied to sheer phenolic intensity and palpable density, give one the impression of chewing on a delicious bar of dried fruits and spices. One proof of this wine’s greatness is its sheer irresistibility. I was panting to swallow and making excuses to go back for additional sips. Your mouth will be left quivering. This should be worth following for 15-20 years at least – not that there is any need to wait. 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