With Vollenweider’s 2005 Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling Auslese, we jump up to 70 or 80% botrytised fruit, but this was clearly noble, “clean” botrytis, and was never rained on, because the harvest here was finished already on October 26. Aromas of apricot, pear nectar and nutmeg lead to an elegant, delicate palate – despite the wines enormous ripeness and richness – incorporating lightly cooked and subtly caramelized apricot and pear, brown spices, and a rich, almost chocolaty undertone. A generous, quite sweet and faintly bitter finish reprises the wine’s principal themes.
Importer: Vineyard Research, Inc., Lunenburg, MA; tel. (617) 686-8052; Ewald Moseler Selections, Portland OR; tel. (888) 274-4312; Old Vine Imports, San Francisco, CA