2009 Willi Schaefer Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Auslese

Quince, apricot, grapefruit, pineapple, and black tea inform the nose and almost compactly dense palate of Schaefers’ 2009 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Auslese. There is an alternation of sharply bright citrus with dried expressions of pit fruits, while the black tea and zesty pungency segue into slight finishing bitterness. This whole performance takes place, though, in the context of sublime refreshment; impeccably balanced sweetness; and levity. It should be fascinating as well as delectable to follow over the course of the next 30 or so years. Most of the harvest of 2009 here was accomplished during the second half of October. "We'd actually reckoned with an earlier start," remarks Christophe Schaefer, "but although the grapes looked beautiful, when we tasted them we thought, 'no we really need to – and we can – wait.'" "The grapes were very stable," adds Willi Schaefer, "and when we did get botrytis – encouraged by a bit of October rain – it dried up nicely. And when you get this sort of late botrytis, it can really concentrate already high acids." Furthermore, parcels in Graach had retained their foliage after the one-night cold snap in early October. All of this year's wines remained on their fine lees at least through March, and the Schaefers pointed out that choices about which to bottle at what Pradikat level were usually made only from cask as the wines evolved, since with the exception of late pickings notably influenced by botrytis, the character of fruit was remarkably uniform. Another feature of 2009 that the Schaefers emphasized was high skin-to-juice ratios, something I certainly thought discernable even before they mentioned this. As a result their yields ended up being even lower than they had been anticipated on the basis of eyeballing and measuring the incoming volume of grapes. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300