Weingut Max Ferd. Richter Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese, Mosel, Germany

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Effusive pineapple, pink grapefruit, and liqueur-like herbal concentration lend Richter’s 2007 Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese a flattering aromatic resemblance to Scheurebe. Richly-fruited; subtly creamy in texture; and underlain with nut oils, this nonetheless offers bright refreshment as well. A fine balance is also struck with the wine’s high residual sugar, so that it doesn’t become cloying, indeed the long finish is dominated by layers of nut paste, citrus, herbal concentrate, and sheer wet stone. This has 25 year potential. Dirk Richter is an historian of the Mosel as well as one of the region’s foremost growers, and he claims that on five occasions in the eleven years between and including the epochal vintages of 1911 and 1921, flowering on the Mosel took place in May ... but then not again until 2007. He started picking already in early October, but only as a means of thinning (“pre-harvesting”) his Brauneberg vineyards, and the resultant Kabinett is rather green in flavor. Harvest did not begin in earnest here until mid-October, and save for the two T.B.A.s that he painstakingly collected, Richter insists there was scarcely any botrytis. Interesting, the yields from Richter’s Wehlener Sonnenuhr vineyards – his only remaining ungrafted vines – were the highest this year that he has ever experienced, and the wines are by no means disappointing (although Auslese was not possible). The grip exhibited by his dry-tasting wines may in part come from the skin contact Richter gives most of them, in part to buffer their acids. Still, as he puts it, “with the intense minerality, strong acidity, and very low pH of Mosel Riesling, some residual sugar is needed. And here, with feinherb-as-trocken, that need is borne out quite clearly, and the wine tastes dry, and people drink it as ‘dry’.” What’s more, lower alcohol helps these “dry” Riesling dance. If feinherb (often as high here as 25 grams in residual sugar) works on Richter’s German customers, halleluiah! For anybody else, these feinherb Kabinetts should be no-brainers, especially at his prices. Richer shares my enthusiasm for the undeservedly obscure and misunderstood Pinot Blanc (a.k.a. Wiesser Burgunder), and is in process of doubling his acreage and planning to produce some Sekt from it as well Importer: Langdon-Shiverick Cleveland,?OH; tel. (216) 861-6800

Elegant and mouthwatering, with apricot, apple and lime notes revolving around a core of bright acidity. It remains light on its feet, despite the concentration, ending in a long reflection of nectarine and mineral. Drink now through 2032. 250 cases made, 75 cases imported.??–BS??Region: Germany / Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Select to Add