Joh Jos Prüm Bernkasteler Lay Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel 2022

Only a tiny amount of Goldkapsel this year. For this rare style, multiple passes and draconian selections were required to harvest fruit at precisely the right level of ripeness. Katharina Prüm explains the Goldkapsel wines in this way: “Think of them as limited edition, small production lots of the best Auslese of a vintage. They are made from stronger, selected grapes containing more concentrated juice, usually affected by a certain amount of botrytis. They can age even remarkably longer than ‘basic’ Auslesen, lasting for many decades. Over time, they lose some of their sweetness, gain more and more elegance and harmony, and the complex profile and depth come to the forefront.” On the nose, an explosion of candied yellow fruits but tempered by aromatic citrus. The palate has a broad range of fine exotic elements (mango, guava, passion fruit). Staggeringly fresh finish, very racy and wet stone minerality cuts through. A rarity.

Goldkapsel wines can work very well with desserts - ideally fruit-based dishes or crème caramel, typically nothing too sweet or chocolate-based. However, they are again better paired - especially with age - with robust, savoury food and especially cheese. With savoury dishes, you can throw anything at them, even very spicy dishes, red meat. These wines are far more versatile than most dry whites and certainly more so than all red wine styles.

Situated in the Mosel wine region, along the Mosel River in Germany. This region is renowned for producing some of the best Riesling wines in the world. Bernkasteler Badstube is the last of the vineyard sites that can appear on a J.J. Prum label. This vineyard borders those of the Graacher Himmelreich on the latter’s southern edge. The Bernkasteler Badstube slopes are on a marginally shallower gradient, with deeper soils than the more established Graacher and Wehlener, while the western orientation allows the vines longer exposure to the afternoon sun. Kabinett Riesling has a sweetness level that can range from dry to off-dry and can exhibit flavours and aromas of citrus, stone fruit, floral and mineral notes. In regards to the ripeness level, Kabinett Riesling is prized for its lightness, balance and for being delicious when paired with a variety of foods.

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 Goldkapsel - While not strictly within the Pradikatswein Classifications, a producer may use a gold capsule or foil to denote a wine made with fruit that is of an even higher level of selection than the standard Auslese.

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. Generally speaking, the later the harvest, the longer the wine can live, so Spatlese is more age-worthy than Kabinett, Auslese more so than Spatlese, and so on.