Friday, July 30, 2010

Riesling from Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Germany: J.J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese Riesling 2007


Despite its still youthful freshness, this rich and at the same time elegant Spätlese (literally: "late-harvest")from the famous Wehlener Sonnenuhr vineyard shows a fine fruity, floral Riesling characteristic and an underlying hint of mineral from the grey Devonian slate soil.

Serve this refreshing wine slightly chilled! Enjoy it just by itself, if young with spicy dishes and - especially when more matured - in combination with seafood or poultry, but also red meat.

Some of Prüm's releases in this decade have been more fruit-forward and less overtly yeasty than in the past, but this wine feels like a Prüm Spätlese of old: Tightly restrained and stubbornly closed behind a wall of youthful fermentation aromas, it takes its time to reveal subtle detail and silky depth of fruit. It's infused by the haunting blue-slate character for which the vineyard is renowned, and while it undoubtedly packs more richness and ripeness than a Prüm wine of 20 years ago, it maintains a similar feeling of delicacy, purity and grace.

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