2006 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel

The 2006 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Gold Capsule offers gardenia, orange blossom, apple jelly, and honey in the nose. Malt and peach join the floral and apple essences on the palate, which alternates silken and buttery textural expressions. Acidity is not at all obvious here, but its presence is felt in balanced sweetness and in finishing penetration and energy. Malt, butter cream and flowers linger in the empty glass. If this were sold solely as perfume it would already justify its price. But it would really be a shame to open a bottle for at least 15 years, and it could be held for at least 40. (There were two bottlings of this wine – one this year – of which I tasted the first, A.P. #17 07.) The Prums picked Wehlen and Zeltingen first, while the Graacher Himmelreich resisted botrytis to a greater degree, and by the time they came to Bernkastel (shades of the scenario at Selbach) botrytis was so advanced that they ended up vinifying their first-ever Beerenauslese from those sites. “From the standpoint of quantity, it was a catastrophe,” says Manfred Prum, but he judges this likely the greatest vintage of his lifetime, yet also as a vintage that is open and accessible early. I therefore had the opportunity to taste a wider range of young nobly sweet wines here than normal, although I was not able to re-taste them after bottling. There is in fact very little to taste at this estate from 2006 other than nobly sweet wine. Miniscule amounts of “normal” Spatlese (which I did not taste) were bottled from the Himmelreich and Sonnenuhr. Various importers including: P. J. Valckenberg International, Tulsa, OK; tel. (918) 622-0424 and Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA; tel. (800) 596-9463

Note that, as usual, this producer is one vintage behind everyone else. Tense and cool and introvert and extremely classic. Really racy and just what it’s all about. (JR)

The 2006 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese shows considerable fermentative overlay from yeast, CO2 and sulfur, so that it took some patience to coax it out from under. Pear, quince, gardenia and honey inform a creamy palate and wafting finish. This lacks the energy of the Himmelreich at present, but its combination of richness with delicacy and the purity of its finishing expression of ennobled fruit speak to a fine future, perhaps three decades or more.