2011 Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Spatlese

Musk melon, Persian melon and mango dominate the Fritz Haag 2011 Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese A.P. #7, conveying its sense of sheer ripeness, which is underscored by an opulent, glycerol-rich, subtly honey-slicked, creamy palate performance. This preserves the striking sense of delicacy and lift that were found in the corresponding Juffer and shares as well its saliva-inducing finishing salinity, though not quite that wine’s sense of energy and interplay. This beauty, too, should be worth following for at least two decades. “We started picking at the beginning of October,” relates Oliver Haag “because must weights were already high for Kabinett, but there was good acidity.” Haag pressed whole clusters rather than either crushing or permitting skin contact for his dry wines, and tended to favor a higher percentage of stainless steel for vinification and elevage because, as he puts it, “the material was all so ripe that I was worried it would come off as too opulent and voluminous.” Without question, he thereby puts his finger on a legitimate concern, and his own wines illustrate the truth that higher alcoholic volume and opulence – no matter what appears on the Riesling’s label – aren’t necessarily virtues, and in particular not in the context of this vintage. “To convey a sense of levity this year,” notes Haag, “was not so easy. Not that there was much botrytis out there,” he adds, though fortunately that fact did not deter him from rendering several spectacular ennobled wines in small volumes. Importer: Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA; tel. (800) 596-9463