2005 Maximin Grunhauser Herrenberg Auslese

The 2005 Maximin Grunhauser Herrenberg Riesling Auslese offers aromas of red berries, grapefruit, sage, and honey. A savory palate mingles lime, jellied red fruits, honey, sage, and smoky minerality. Quite firm and bright in the mouth, this is nevertheless rich in terms of ripeness and sheer abundance of flavor. Here too is the finishing thrust, penetration and clarity that made so many Grunhaus Auslesen of earlier times almost legendary. Get serious about drinking this outstanding value only after 12-15 years and then anticipate another two decades of fascinating development. Stefan Kraml met me well before eight o’clock on a mid-August morning with an air of quiet confidence and near nonchalance that tipped me off to what would follow: a display of Grunhaus quality such as practically went without saying a decade or more ago. He and owner Carl von Schubert have regained their footing, despite a year in which what von Schubert described as nature’s eventual “turbo-autumn” was preceded by severe hail and an unprecedented tornado that felled 200-year-old trees and a portion of the vineyard walls – to say nothing of the toll it took on vines! The harvest began October 10 and – like many a successful one this year – was finished in a mere two action-packed weeks. Up to the level of B.A., incidentally, all of the wines fermented spontaneously. Also recommended: 2005 Maximin Grunhauser Herrenberg Riesling Spatlese feinherb (unknown; 84+?). Importer: P. J. Valckenberg International, Tulsa, OK; tel. (918) 622-0424