At only 11.5% alcohol, the Breuer 2011 Rauenthaler Nonnenberg Riesling displays the levity as well as the juiciness, savor, and floral garlanding of its "Rauenthal estate” second wine; but here, there is not only an enhancement of bittersweet gentian and iris perfume, but also subtly seductive creaminess of texture and augmented mineral intrigue by way of alkaline, stony, and mouthwateringly saline elements. The finish positively shimmers and tingles on top of milking saliva and remains strikingly transparent to its Rauenthal-typical floral as well as mineral nuances. Here is a wonderful example of the magic that has been associated with the best Rieslings of this high hill village for at least two centuries, but which is in sadly short supply among present-day exemplars. It has me irresistibly wondering what Theresa Breuer and Heinrich Schmoranz would do if they had a share of the great Baiken vineyard at the other end of the communal jurisdiction. Look for this beauty to perform brilliantly through at least 2022.
The Breuer family has bottled a host of formidable collections over the decades, but I must say that Theresa Breuer and her team have very lately been on a roll. When I visited her in the third week of September, 2011, the Riesling harvest was already in full swing even as it rained intermittently. Thankfully, that rain soon stopped definitively, and in the end the Breuer Riesling harvest was not entirely finished until almost a month later. Relatively early picking, though, has typified this estate ever since I began visiting it in the mid-1980s, and young Theresa Breuer was quite confident that her viticulture regimen in 2011 would guarantee longtime cellarmaster Hermann Schmoranz fruit of more than sufficient ripeness and health, a confidence that the results in bottle more than bear out. “Yes we picked earlier, but,” she points out, “the entire season was early. Then it cooled off; we didn’t have to select nearly as laboriously as we had anticipated, and the wines have kept a certain freshness precisely because we started earlier.” That’s hardly the half of it: these wines’ remarkable levity by contemporary dry German Riesling standards – not to mention the standards of recent Rudesheimer Berg wines or the vintage – is coupled with ravishing complexity and vintage-typical sheer generosity. And that last trait is not one I usually associate with youthful Breuer crus. Virtually all of the 2011fruit was pressed directly to enhance clarity and vivacity; only that from Rauenthal plus a very few Rudesheim lots having received brief pre-fermentative skin contact.
Imported by Classical Wines, Seattle, WA; tel. (206) 547-0255
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