2011 Weingut Joh. Jos.Prüm, Riesling Auslese, Graacher Himmelreich, White Capsule, Mosel, Germany.
This 2011 Graacher Himmelreich Auslese, delicately gold hued and wonderfully fresh in the glass, was showing absolutely heavenly at a recent dinner and paired perfectly with an Amuse Bouche of Foie Gras, fig paste, on cinnamon toast, with just the right amount of sugar to compliment the starter dish. Not a cloying style of Auslese and more subtle in charms, this wine was sublime and added its classic pedigree as it opened up with slate infused mineral tones, mature fruit just awakening, a mix of white flowers and liquid stone and non Botrytis sweetness. The medium bodied palate has bright apricot, baked apple, pineapple, candied lime and quince, along with crystalized ginger, just a hint of caramel and bitter almond. At just 7.5% alcohol and loaded with residual sugar, the natural acidity keeps things sublimely fresh, lifting this Riesling to an excellent performance. The Joh. Jos. Prüm winery, as noted before, which was founded in 1911 in Wehlen, prefers 100% spontaneous fermentation with almost all the wines being done in stainless tanks with usually about a year or more of lees aging in the upper end bottlings as this one. The Graacher Himmelriech vineyard, is what Dr. Loosen calls the “Kingdom of Heaven”, and is located above the small village of Graach, which that lies between Bernkastel and Wehlen, along the river. This vineyard’s steep, southwest-facing slopes and deep Devonian blue slate soils produce profound wines that Loosen, who also gets grapes here, says combines the elegance of Wehlen with the rustic strength of Bernkastel.
It is always a pleasure to have an older J. J. Prüm bottle on the table and In the world of wine these days, Katharina Prüm is a star and her family’s winery is legendary, noted for traditional Mosel Rieslings from historic vineyards with incredible aging potential. One of the signature expressions of the Joh. Jos. Prüm estate is the famous Graacher Himmelreich, it is set on classic deep, weather-beaten grey slate soils and old vines with a very steep slope above the Mosel, and its prime south-south-west exposure, making for intense, ripe, but impeccably balanced Rieslings. The house style at Joh Jos Prüm has become the archetype Riesling of the Mosel region, along with Willi Schafer and Selbach-Oster these are wines of delicacy and restrained sweetness, though most wineries here now include excellent Trocken offerings and some very coveted GGs, without the Prüm’s as of yet. These J. J. Prüm wines can be very good young, but really are made for aging, with the Prüm’s themselves not wanting even their Kabinett bottlings to be opened for a dozen years or more. As mentioned many times before, the Prüm’s are old school and prefer their Mosel Rieslings with significant residual sugar, with Manfred, Katharina’s dad, who really brought fame and world attention to these wines, making no secret of his longstanding disinterest in legally dry wines. He, and now his daughter make uncompromising and unapologetic sweet Rieslings, but that have fine balance, as this one has, and I’d never think about missing a chance to enjoy one. Sometimes, even with lots of experience in these wines, you get a real surprise, and that is what this J. J. Prüm Graacher Auslese did, it’s in the brilliant place, I only wish I had a few more bottles tucked away.
($75-249 Est.) 95 Points, grapelive