2010 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese GK

A Prum auction cuvee – 2010 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese gold capsule A.P. #28 – reflects a further degree of botrytis concentration vis-a-vis the corresponding non-auction Auslese. This adds an overtly honeyed cast both aromatically and on its dense, oily palate as well as an accentuated sense of caramelization, both of which – taken together with what I must presume is even greater extract (though, as noted, the non-auction bottling already seems “implosive”) – have considerable buffering effect on the high acid energy that courses through either of these Wehlener gold capsule Auslesen. Toasted praline rather than the more piquant nuttiness of its near non-auction sibling serve for counterpoint in this gold capsule Auslese, to which candied orange rind, truffle, and musk add further intrigue. Here is another of those Prum 2010s you’ll have trouble banishing from your palate much less your memory once you’ve swallowed. I would bank on this thriving for half a century, but would advise keeping hands off the corkscrew for the next 12-15 years if one wishes to maximize in gustatory terms one’s investment. Katharina Prum says she and her father performed some de-acidification on their eventual generic Kabinett bottling as wine, but otherwise employed only sparingly light double-salt must de-acidification, insisting that late harvesting was the essential measure to be taken this year against high acidity. (And, as usual, most of the wines were bottled in high summer, relatively late when compared with those of nearly all their Middle Mosel neighbors.) It’s not so much that measurable acidity dropped significantly in the second half of October, opined Prum, but that the character of the acidity changed in immeasurable ways. Other than the aforementioned generic bottling, concentration was deemed simply too high this year for any of an already small crop to be rendered as Kabinett. And indeed, only the two most prominent sites were captured in Spatlese format; all else is Auslese and above. Prum notes that levels of residual sugar are seldom significantly higher this year than in other recent vintages, with the result that the wines generally tend to taste a bit drier. “Above and beyond” (as it were) those wines I report on (or whose existence I at least mention) below, there is material from Wehlener Sonnenuhr expected to inform long gold capsule Auslese, Beerenauslese, and Trockenbeerenauslese and be released in future years. (Veteran readers of my reports will know by now that while there are often multiple eponymous Prum bottlings, the family is loathe to disclose the A.P. #s of wines they serve in tastings, numbers that might be required to disambiguate between lots which they insist that there will only ever be very slight difference. In 2010, the crop is was so small that there are few alternate bottlings.) Various importers including: P. J. Valckenberg International, Tulsa, OK; tel. 918 622 0424 and Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA tel. 800 596 9463