2006 Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Auslese Goldkapsel 09 22

White peach and other “northern” orchard fruits return with the 2006 Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Auslese Gold Capsule (one of a kind, but just for the record, it’s A.P. #22). This early-picked wine also beautifully illustrates the vintage potential for combining pure, ennobled ripeness with delicacy and primary fresh fruit juiciness. Imagine a more honeyed and creamy-rich yet at the same time clearer, brighter, more delicate version of the “regular” Juffer Auslese. The twists and turns of exotically floral, musky-animal, pit fruit, citrus, nobly fungal (truffly) and mineral elements are riveting. To the extent that I’ve made this note sound a bit like a laundry list, shame on me! But I think readers get the idea: you may not be able to do justice to this wine in words, but you should do whatever you can to latch on to some, realizing that it will probably have a 40 year life-span. 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