2009 Graacher Himmelreich Auslese

A "three-star" 2009 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Auslese*** -- which I tasted from cask, and on whose precise number of stars Molitor was only finally deciding the day I visited - is dominated by confectionary and sweet-tart impressions, notably of lemon and apple candies, marzipan, and honey. At the same time, there are evidently invisible springs of acidity here (I think in that regard of the corresponding Spatlese's energetic edginess) because the finish remarkably penetrating and bright, somehow without the overall effect being awkwardly bifurcated. In addition, there is a mouth-watering invigoration of salinity. This is going to need a dozen or more years in the cellar, I think, to even begin to reveal its full potential, and should at the very least remain vital for twice that long. Markus Molitor - for more details on whose vast acreage, mind-boggling multiplicity of bottlings, and highly distinctive methods and style consult my reports in issues 167 and 185 - faced an especially daunting conditions in vinifying his 2009 collection, inasmuch as the wholesale renovation of his cellars under the Wehlener Klosterberg ran into some engineering complications and consequent delays. The results show no signs of having suffered. -Where yields were high in 2009 there was the danger of stress, which you taste as un-ripeness, but where yields were low- which naturally includes his vineyards, -the vines stood up to the dry August and September and then you could harvest some terrific things past the middle of October. I'm extremely enthusiastic about the vintage, because the wines have this inner reductive potential. They have 100 (and more) Oechsle, 6.8 or 7 acid (i.e. not terribly high), but then they have pH values almost as low as we've ever encountered, lower than I could ever imagine- for wines this ripe and relatively low in total acidity. As a result, Molitor predicts unusual keeping powers for his 2009s (his wines have impressive track records in that regard anyway) and he thinks these wines- chemistry caused the to tighten up more than usual after bottlings, which for all but the highest Oechsle among them took place only the week before I tasted in September. (The exceptions had then not yet been bottled.) In addition to the wines reviewed in this report, two further -three-star- Auslesen, a B.A. and two T.B.A.s - all of these representing wines featuring the two Sonnenuhr Einzellagen - were still fermenting and thus inaccessible. For explanation of the color-coding of Molitor's labels to reflect their style, see my report in issue 187. In keeping with my usual convention, only where two wines here share the same site-designation and Pradikat have I included reference to A.P. #s, and although Molitor does not employ the terms -trocken,- -halbtrocken,- or -feinherb- on his labels, such instances of otherwise eponymous wines normally only arise here where one of them is dry-tasting and other off-dry or unabashedly sweet. Despite the few wines listed in the U.S. but Molitor's importer (and thus paired with prices in my report), both of them have sought to assure me that a wider range is available to merchants who ask, and I find it hard to believe even in the present economic climate that a larger number of these distinctively delicious, and in many instances under-priced wines is not available stateside. As usual chez Molitor, with the exception of the lightest wines and an auction cuvee, none of the 2009s reviewed here will have gone on the market until December and some will not be released for another year or more. Importer: Schmitt Soehne, Millersville, MD; tel. 410 729 4083