2001 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese- Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (12/25/2013)
A bottle from my parents’ cellar, so not quite as glacial storage as my own. That said the wine was spectacular, displaying perfect focus, vibrant fruit, bracing acidity, and an emerging smoky petrol note that signaled something beyond mere vinous adolesence. 3 hours of air, and the wine barely budged, so it is not going anywhere quickly. Great Riesling here, that demonstrates the quality of the producer, site and vintage. (95 pts.)
We opened a bottle of this on Christmas Eve and it was just beautiful wine. It had a strong (tempted to label it “overwhelming”) nose of burnt rubber immediately upon opening. That blew off quickly leaving in its wake what David described: smoky petrol.
I will be drinking this wine happily for many years to come, and I wonder when to think about dipping into my 2001 Prum WS Auslesen. For all the excellent recent vintages in Germany, these 2001s always outshine the rest for me.
Well Bob, the first thing is have those 2003 & 2004 wines been on the shelf since release? If so, I would keep my distance unless they were in some climate controlled space.
I think it depends on how much you have and how old you are.
I have a fair number so I’ve opened a few in the last 2+ years. They are wonderful to drink and appreciated for their evident class by geek and nongeek alike. That said, they certainly will evolve for many years and will make great mature Riesling.
I only bought a couple of the Spatlese, and haven’t opened one yet.
I have read that until relatively recently (before my time) Wehlener Sonnenuhr was considered a very good but not great site. Mindboggling.
The Wehlener sites did not achieve prominance until the 20th century. Prior to that, places like Brauenberg were considered the best of the Middle Mosel. Fashion. Those were the days when German wines were far more expensive than Bordeaux or Burgundy.
We had a 2001 Prum W-S Kab at lunch on Monday and it was in quite a nice place. Still some primary fruit but starting to develop some aged characteristics. I got lucky and found a stash of 01’s at recent auction, I think the Kab was about 30 with auction fees. Not bad for someone else doing 10 years of cellaring for me.
I am going long on 12’s for sure, but only a few Prum’s. Focusing more on S-O, J. Christoffel Jr, and Donnhoff.
Strangely enough, the WS AL 2001 has been spectacular on 3 out of 3 occasions over the past 5 years that I’ve had it. I do agree that it’s nowhere near maturity and that it will only get better. But in most vintages you only experience a fraction of the full potential of this wine if you open it far too early, but 2001 has been very kind to me so far.
/Ulrich
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