We are talking about German wine. German. There is no humor.
John - look to the Germans. Rule followers all the way. And STRONG rules too! Since you never have to acidify, by god the law won’t allow it. Just use what you get from the land.
Unless it’s really hot. Like 2003.
Then they change the rules to allow acidification.
After all, they’re practical people too.
Funnybot begs to differ.
Yeah it’s like Germans and politics. Their biggest problem is “ein Uberfluss von Heiterkeit” (too much joking around).
John,
I hear you about Prum but you need to put things in context. Clearly it is not a great vintage. Clearly it is a vintage in which the vine did shut down leading to light wines with green notes and overripe flavours (a classic of super hot vintages).
That said I was present at a Dinner with Katharina Prum in which she showed a re-release of their 2003s. They were beautiful and poised. She told us that the wine virtually did not evolve for 10 years and therefore it was not included in their library releases. In the end I gambled on few Auslese and A GK (a BA in disguise and the cheapest Prum BA you will ever find). If you don’t gamble on Prum (a most reliable Domaine along with the Produttori) on whom would gamble?
Of course YMMV and as usual 
PF
P.S. You may not be aware but every year you can buy old wines directly from Prum at a very cheap price. Almost every importer has that list. The 2004s ex cellar were around EUR 24.
My man has a point here…
So what is the typical Prum path? I have some 01, 02, 05, 06, and a few 06 gold-cap auslesen, but don’t really know what the hell i’m doing.
If you are talking Auslese, then 20 years is a really good starting point, with excellent provenance. I have been drinking some 2001s, and they are just starting to emerge from slumber, but that’s from a different cellar than mine. The wines have been treated well, but at closer to 60 degrees instead of 53-55.
Broadly agree with David, drink within a few years of vintage or leave for 15-20. Vintage dependent.
I often ignore this advice though and am rarely disappointed.
There is no real typical path. And quite frankly, given that top Mosel Riesling are not a top priority with collectors- nor priced as such- as they were for a very long time until a few decades ago- it is difficult to find guidance based in a broad array of collectors taking great care with when and how to open and air the wines. They need far more attention in this respect than even Bordeaux and Burgundy.
Where I think people go wrong is in opening and pouring far too soon. If you are opening any great Mosel Riesling with age on it, but in particular Prum, Muller or Haag, then you really need to open the wine- and perhaps double decant it- at least 5-6 hours before serving. Ideally, open in the morning if serving at dinner that night.
These wines open very slowly, and while I have on many occasions sadly watched the end of a bottle while the wine was still developing, I have never yet- not ever- had a Riesling of any age that had been well stored (my experience goes back to 1959 for the most part) from a good producer fall apart in the glass. Even in horrible vintages. I once had a 1974 Bernkasteler Doctor Spatlese (do not recall producer) that was not so hot when first opened, but came out quite nice with 2 hours of airing (not great- but nice.)
When they are young, PnP and a couple of hours of airing while you enjoy will do the trick. If you must have a general benchmark, I would say that once they are 10+ years old, you need to give them plenty of advance opening and possibly decanting. Where most wines in a dumb phase become hard, great Rieslings go very quiet- they can even seem watery. But even if you ultimately decide you opened one before its time, aeration can only give you a better result in my experience.
thanks, folks. Useful information.
Tom–this sounds somewhat analogous to what I sometimes experience with Dauvissat Chablis. older ones can require a lot of air.
Seconded. I had a Mosel Riesling tasting just this weekend and I double decanted all the 12 wines at 11 am, full 8 hours before the tasting. Only one wine seemed to perform worse in the tasting than during the decant - it was a rather modest-acid 2003 Spätlese that had a rather dried-out and crumbly cork.
All the other wines performed wonderfully and both JJ Prüms (a 2012 Kabinett and a 2009 Spätlese) felt not just too young, but the 2009 also felt like it could’ve used at least 12 more hours of air, based on how reductive and closed it still was at the tasting.
I, too, was underwhelmed the one time I had the '03 Prum WS Auslese. Rated it 88 points, and expressed hope that it was in a weird stage of its evolution. It was very light and boring for a Prum, let alone their WS Auslese.
Similarly, I have been massively disappointed by their '03 WS Spatlese — very watery and boring.
Out of interest I looked up the MFW reviews and noticed there are three different releases of the wine in the OP (plus an auction version). Consistently good reviews.
Russell,
as you may well be aware MFW is like Burghound. You need to read through the lines. Everything with them it is always at least good or very good. They are nice guys but not really a publication a la John Gilman (voicing a strong opinion).
There is no harm in waiting 5 more years.
PF.
I am and I do. Their reviews are good.
Interestingly they advise not to drink the auction wine for a further 25 years from today, and drink up in 55 years from today.
I had a 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese on the recommendation of the sommelier in December that was outstanding. It showed a freshness and vivacity that I would not have expected from 2003, not even from Prum. While it won’t make anyone forget great vintages, it was reasonable on the list and a great match to the food and a nice surprise.
FYI, Gilman was pretty positive on the Somnenuhr Auslese. 94. So there goes that argument.
David,
I meant that with Gilman you can rely on his reviews (as long as you know his palate) whilst on MFW they brand everything likable which, frankly, is close to no use to a wine lover.
I am aware that John is positive on Prum’s 2003.
Regards
PF.
I find MFW useful. I guess I’m not a wine lover.