Some nice Auslesen

WINE TALK
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  • 2005 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Auction - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (1/2/2023)
    #22-06, 7.5% abv. From half-bottle. It's almost a little strange to say that this feels low in acid, but in the context of Prüm it feels true. Anyway, this is a botrytis-laden wine, showing the very ripe nature of the vintage on the nose with fruit that feels almost a slight bit roasted (though not in a bad way). More stone fruit than apples and pears, this also has a bit of that classic creamy texture you get from old(er) Wehlener Sonnenuhr. There's enough extract here to give this a chewy texture and there's a bit of a black tea note here too. Not a riesling driven by its acids. The right thing to do is to set aside my last bottle of this and let it age for many more decades, but given how good this is now, that will be a pretty difficult proposition. (98 points)
  • 1998 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel - Germany, Nahe (1/2/2023)
    #20-99, 9% abv. From half-bottle. An outstanding rendition of a Dönnhoff, and again amongst the best regular Auslese I've had from the Brücke vineyard. Drinks almost like a BA-lite, with ripe (but not sickly sweet) orchard fruit on the nose coupled with some honeyed, botrytis-inflected aftertones. The palate is racy and slightly creamy, with the typical Dönnhoff delicacy. Great acidity and very typical Brücke acidity and raciness to counterbalance the heightened sweetness. Fantastic length and complexity. (98 points)
  • 1998 Müller-Catoir Haardter Mandelring Scheurebe Auslese - Germany, Pfalz (1/2/2023)
    #16-99, 9% abv, 9821. From half-bottle. Scheurebe is one hell of a drug. Mango, passionfruit, guava, and rosewater(!) on the nose and palate. I love the herbal phenolic bitterness on the finish as well, which helps temper the intense, fruity sweetness here. Acidity is present, but doesn't play a large role in this wine -- it's just there in the right amount to keep all the other parts of this wine in check. Drinks like a tropical cocktail. Another Schwarz masterpiece, who somehow manages to craft wines of an over-the-top scale while keeping perfect balance, like the classical unstable equilibrium of Newtonian mechanics. (98 points)
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Nice set of wines. Drank through all my HGS Scheurebe a few years ago. Amazing stuff. We’ll never see its like again.