Max Ferd. Richter Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese

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Selected from the Auslese bucket, the TBA raisins were pressed with 200° Oechsle and gave no more than 30 liters of the 2021 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese. This is brilliantly clear and aromatic as well as savory on the rich and concentrated but utterly precise nose that is more on the lemon side rather than the tropical fruit side. Enormously rich and viscous on the highly refined and elegant palate that integrates the acidity of 16.8 grams per liter perfectly, this is a fantastic TBA that doesn't really taste sweet (I mean it certainly does) because the savory and citric finish makes it so digestible and fresh. This is definitely a star of the vintage.

There was hardly any botrytis in 2020, but from the old vines in the Wehlener Sonnenuhr Richter, MFR could actually wring 25 liters of TBA out of the almost 200° Oechsle sweet grapes that were affected by perfectly clean botrytis. The golden-colored 2020 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese is extremely clear and precise on the deep, intense and elegant nose that has a perfect boar aroma intertwined with noble fruit aromas. On the palate, the sweetness and richness are very well balanced by not less than 15 grams per liter of total acidity, which give this enormously sweet wine stunning finesse and elegant lightness. In 10 to 20 years, this should be an ethereal TBA with 5.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted from AP 3421 in November 2021.

Based on single berries affected by an early botrytis, the raisin selection of the three-starred Auslese is the 2019 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese. Intense, very precise and spicy on the nose, the 2019 displays concentrated peach, almond and biscuit as well as lemon chutney, tea and ginger aromas. Silky, refined and highly delicate on the palate, this is a super precise and elegant TBA with great precision, finesse and salinity. The sweetness is certainly palatable but balanced by the clarity, precision, finesse and seamless texture of this crystalline and stimulating TBA that is extremely hard not to score 100 points. Maybe later, after some years of bottle aging? This wine has all the potential to become a legend. Bottled with roughly 400 grams of acidity, 6.5% alcohol and high acidity that was at 16 grams per liter in the must stage. 70 liters produced. "You create a TBA because you can do it, not because you have to. With 200 euros for a half-bottle, however, one remains clearly underpaid. Such an elixir should actually cost 400 euros, but who pays for the hot stuff?" asks Constantin Richter rhetorically. Tasted at the domain in September 2020.

Exclusively from the family's oldest plot and from 80- to 120-year-old vines, the intensely citrus-yellow colored 2018 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese is dense and concentrated on the nose and palate but, at the same time, also incredibly clear, tight and fresh. Picked at 235°- 240° Oechsle and fermented in stainless steel until the end of March, the spicy, grapefruit-tinged nose is insane in its freshness, precision and piquancy. This is so clear! Any botrytis here? "Yes," says Constantin Richter. "Botrytis set in in late August when the berries were already fully ripe but still had a good share of acidity. Since the rest of the autumn was dry and sunny, the ingredients were more and more concentrated so that in the end we got relatively high must weights and high acidity levels. The botrytis was perfectly clean; I guess I never saw a better one. We immediately tasted the extraordinary character of the extremely clear and healthy juice after the pressing and after we had stopped the fermentation, which went through quickly given this highly lively concentration. Because everything was so clear, bright and fresh, we didn't need as much sulfur as we normally do. Thus, I even taste the Sonnenuhr character here, if I may say so about such a sweet and concentrated wine." Viscous and certainly very sweet on the palate, this is a highly elegant and refined TBA with remarkable freshness, piquancy and great balance. It really drinks beautifully already, so take a glass instead of a spoon. This is a highly filigreed, playful and homogeneous TBA that flows quietly and serenely over the palate. The finish is terribly stimulating. This is going to be expensive drinking fun... Tasted in July and August 2019.

Boasting – at ten grams – more acidity than either Eiswein in his collection, Richter’s 2009 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Trockenbeerenauslese offers a heady, high-toned aromatic display of mango, sultana, brown spices, apple jack, vanilla, bread, and truffle. Viscous and buttery in texture yet shot-through with bright, fresh citrus and almost weightlessly buoyant, this parades its exotic and gaudy – but somehow not quite excessive – array of super-ripe and borderline-volatile elements (joined by glazed pineapple and white raisin) in a penetratingly persistent finish poised between soothing and invigorating. It ought to be well worth following for at least three decades, and represents a memorable exception to the trend among wines of its vintage to often disappoint just a bit at the apex of Oechsle. The two Richter T.B.A.s of this vintage each amount to around 100 liters from berries separated out in the course of the corresponding Auslese harvests. While yields were down significantly in Muhlheim and Brauneberg – particularly due to peronospora – and sorting almost universally required, Dirk Richter reports that his overall 2009 crop was above- average volume, though he acknowledges that due to the need for relatively intensive spraying against fungal pests, both its ripening and the evolution of the resulting wines were retarded. Kabinetts were not picked until the last days of October; acid levels of most wines are well above vintage average; there was little Auslese; and some wines (Kabinetts, as it happens!) had not yet bottled when I visited in September. Richer – whose Rieslings from top sites continue to be bargain-priced – has just taken over a section of Erdener Treppchen that is in the family of his cellarmaster, who has no heirs. While there were still stocks of some 2008 vintage Rieslings available when I visited in September, the 2009 Richter Pinot Blanc had already been sold out without remainder, so I did not get chance to taste that of-late often promising bottling. Importer: Langdon-Shiverick Cleveland, OH; tel. (216) 861-6800