"The Prum 2006 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Auslese is seductively scented with gardenia, hyacinth, and musky exotic flowers that remind me of stepping into a greenhouse. These are backed by very ripe pear and nectarine, while notes of botrytis spice also nip at the nose. A soothing, polished, enveloping, sweet and strikingly delicate palate gives equal representation to ripe, subtly-dried fruit, sweet floral inner-mouth perfume and spices. As usual at this address, retained CO2 and efficacious ripe acidity keep the long finish lively, enhancing its wafting sense of near-weightlessness. I suspect one could be happy following this for 30 or more years. (There were two bottlings of this wine " one this year " of which I tasted the first, A.P. #12 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."
Wine Advocate # 179
Oct 2008 David Schildknecht (92-93)
Country:
Germany
Region:
Germany
Variety:
Wine White - Riesling
Size:
375mL
