Clemens Busch Pundericher Marienburg Riesling Spatlese Raffes

點擊次數(shù)：2010

From a parcel of grey slate within the Falkenlay, conducive to its own distinct personality, Busch’s 2005 Pundericher Marienburg Riesling Raffes smells of lemon zest, honey, and yellow plum; coats the palate imposingly with creamy yellow plum, melon, and a waxy texture; then finishes with a zesty pungency, spicy pungency of botrytis reinforced by faint alcoholic warmth. Clemens Busch – among the Mosel’s few organic vintners, and the undisputed champion of the Lower Mosel’s steep Pundericher Marienburg – is also rapidly demonstrating that he is simply one of the collective Mosel, Saar, and Ruwer’s exceptional talents, not to mention stylistically free spirits. Most of his top wines are labeled with their old pre-1971 site names. Nature thrust on him in 2006 an unprecedented 9 Auslesen (many distinguished only by number), 3 Beerenauslesen, and single T.B.A. (most of which were reviewed in issue 179). In 2007, an at least slightly more normal – not to mention more marketable – balance of dry-tasting (though not always legally trocken) wines was restored, but success, Busch insists, was possible only by dint of great patience and then, when the time was ripe for picking, in great haste. A considerable number of overtly nobly sweet wine was picked in the process, as there was no lack of botrytis in this fungicide-free zone.Mosel Wine Merchant selections (various importers), Trier, Gemany; fax 011 49 (0)651-14551 39; also imported by by Ewald Moseler Selections, Portland OR tel. 888 274 4312

From a plot in the Falkenlay that could not be harvested until November – long after his other vineyards – Busch’s 2005 Pundericher Marienburg Riesling Spatlese Raffes displays fascinatingly complex, pungent aromatics: lemon and grapefruit zest. yellow plum, gooseberry, wood smoke, yeast, and crushed stone. This hits the palate with almost smarting intensity, yet for all of its suggestions of sur-maturite and what Busch reports was an achingly slow fermentation, it’s admirably clear, bright, and much less creamy than most of its siblings. In a finish marked by decisive stoniness, one reaps the consequences of 14.8% alcohol in heat. I would not bet on this wine’s future, still, it would be fascinating to return to over the next couple of years, perhaps to reassess, and meantime to consider its strength when matching with foods. Clemens Busch farms the steep slopes of the once-famous Pundericher Marienburg on the Lower Mosel entirely organically, which make him unique in the region and a source of wonder for his fellow vintners. Most of his top wines are labeled with their old pre-1971 site names. (Increasingly many growers are managing to get away with this.) Busch has been bottling nobly sweet Riesling since 1999, but never before – he hastens to inform me – in quantities remotely like those that nature imposed on him in 2006: Nine Auslesen, three Beerenauslesen, and a T.B.A.! Like Reinhard Lowenstein (and in a similar style), Busch is best-known inside Germany for his dry (or near-dry) single-site wines, which are not released for more than a year after harvest. (In fact, most of the 2006s had not finished fermenting yet when I visited last summer.)Mosel Wine Merchant selections (various importers), Trier, Gemany; fax 011 49 (0)651-14551 39; also imported by by Ewald Moseler Selections, Portland OR; tel. 888-274-4312