2006 Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Trockenbeerenauslese

The Fritz Haag 2006 Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Trockenbeerenauslese – in contrast with the B.A. – is a monument to the vintage, but not monumental in style. Here we witness the ethereal aromatic intensity and remarkable levity and delicacy of which 2006 is capable. Notes of freshly-baked bread, truffle, honey, and orchard fruit liqueurs call to mind a 1971, but a seductive profusion of floral perfume is all 2006. Almost painful intensity of fruit preserve, nut paste, and honey sweetness is pulled back from excess by otherwise undetectable strings of acidity, leading to a billowing, seemingly weightless yet endlessly stimulating finish that is guaranteed to leave you shaking your head in wonder. If one factors in the sheer length of this wine, it is a bargain: one sip lasts for several minutes and one half -bottle would last for months unspoiled in a refrigerator, and for longer than an average lifetime in the cellar. (I trust these prosaic calculations will be appreciated in the context of a “people’s T.B.A. and the absence of further metaphoric flights of fancy in no way be taken as a reflection of this wine’s personality.) Oliver and Wilhelm Haag have fielded their third sensational collection in a row, but then, superlatives are hardly new to this address, there are simply more of them this year then ever before. Wilhelm Haag compares 2006 with 1953 – a fabled vintage he remembers helping to harvest as a teenager – for its “desiccated, incredibly healthy botrytis,” adding “I plan to drink these in my second life.” They started picking immediately after October 3, and when I asked Wilhelm Haag whether a particular bottling had been picked early, he laughed and replied “they were all picked early! When I saw the must weights that were coming in, I thought they were too high for Spatlese and even Auslese, and that the wines would be too broad, but I must say, today – even with the botrytis – they have a wonderfully elegant effect.” Importer: Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA; tel. (800) 5960-9463