Joh Jos Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese 2022

Usually the Auslese bracket wines can perplexing when young - not so for the 2022s; as they're already showing sublime balance. The 2022 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese is a master-class in restraint. Beginning with fresh herbs on the nose, earl grey tea, candied tropical fruits that are layered with smoke and juniper. Cooked peach washes over the palate, expressive and sweet but still dialed back. Very long finish.

In terms of food matches, this Auslese still too delicate for sweet desserts (although they can work with light, fruit-based dishes that are not overly sweet). Match them with whatever works for you, but don't overlook its potential with savoury food, it's heavenly match with pork, game birds, savoury tarts, roast chicken, ceviche, sausage, and venison. They are also brilliant with almost all Japanese and Chinese dishes and terrific with a wide range of cheeses.

Situated in the Mosel wine region, along the Mosel River in Germany. The Wehlener Sonnenuhr vineyard is now synonymous to the name of Joh. Jos. Prüm. The Estate owns healthy five hectares of this majestic site. It offers perfect growing conditions for the Riesling grape with its deep, weather-beaten grey slate soil, good water support, extreme steepness of up to 70% gradient, and its optimal south-south-west exposure. A fun fact - The two sites Zeltinger Sonnenuhr, Wehlener Sonnenuhr are named after the sundial erected in the vineyard in 1842 by Jodocus Prüm, an ancestor of J.J. Prüm, to give the workers a better time orientation. The wines of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr generally possess excellent structure, show beautiful, ripe aromas and flavours (typically stone fruits, like peach, nectarine, apricot), a fine minerality and great depth and length. Especially after having been aged for some years, the harmony, finesse and expression of these wines are next to none.

It is impossible to describe JJ Prüm wines without mentioning the German Pradikatswein Wine Classifications that indicates the ripeness level of the Riesling grapes. Auslese wines are made from grapes that have been handpicked according to their ripeness and level of noble rot. The wines are usually sweet and unctuous with great development potential given time in the cellar. Yet the style remains pure and ultra-fine, and while the Spätlese wines shine with juicy intensity, this bracket offers more power, flesh, complexity and length. 

To put that into context, the lightest in the German Riesling spectrum is Kabinett (picked at full ripeness), moving on to Spatlese (Late Harvest), Auslese (Select Harvest), Auslese (Select Harvest) Goldkapsel, Auslese (Select Harvest) Lange Goldkapsel, Beerenauslese (Select Berry Harvest), and then the ripest being Trockenbeerenauslese picked as single berries that are almost raisinated by noble rot and selected by hand, further these berries are dried on straw mats further concentrating the sugars and flavour/aroma compounds.