2005 Alois Kracher Traminer TBA #3

The 2005 #3 Traminer Trockenbeerenauslese Nouvelle Vague is strongly oriented along the animal – more precisely, marine-porcine – axis of this notorious family of grapes. Ham hock, candied rose petal and violets, celery seed, and ocean breeze rise from the glass. This coats the mouth with an oily residue of pork fat, along with rose oil, lychee, pineapple, and white pepper. There is a cut and brightness to the finish that belie the grape variety, the new wood, and this wine’s mere 7 grams of acidity. Cinnamon, white pepper, and bacon hog the finish from the fruits and flowers. This should be worth following for at least 15-20 years. The inspiring and otherwise irrepressible Alois “Luis” Kracher died last December 5, after a nearly year-long battle with pancreatic cancer. His son Gerhard, 27, and still-active father will continue the work of this exemplary estate. Note: I tasted the Kracher wines of 2005 and 2006 for the reviews above this Spring, and the 2004s in late 2007 and again this Spring. Kracher was restrained in his early judgment of the challenging 2004 vintage, in which he could not start picking noble rot until November, and continued until Christmas. “The first selections were wonderful; the second passage classic, good; the third – kaput,” was how he described it. “From two months of work,” he continued, “we netted 6,000 liters of quality T.B.A.,” from which he promises a modest-sized collection so that – as he puts it – he wouldn’t have to apologize for a vintage that is good but not great. I don’t believe that this was a tactical confession on his part. Kracher was genuinely surprised by the quality that emerged as his 2004 collection evolved, and in the end, he bottled the same number of Trockenbeerenauslesen – ten – as in the manifestly more classic botrytis vintage of 2005. Importer: Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700