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wehlener sonnenuhr

Michelin silver medal

Studert-Prüm 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese ** 11 04 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – 375 ml, cork soaked through, and a wine that may or may not be showing signs of that damage. I’ve had it intact before (cork-wise; I can’t speak for the wine), and it was good-but-only then. This seems pretty much the same. Maybe a slight whiff of caramel to start, but that blows off rather abruptly. What’s left is creamy, but it’s not the cream of riesling maturity, it’s the cream of sucrosity. This is a very sweet wine. (I initially wrote “powerfully” there, but there’s nothing powerful about this wine; it’s girthy without much force or pressure, and to its detriment. There’s peach, orange/vanillasicle, a very long finish, some brushes with the faintest ground iron. Maybe in time? A lot of time? Perhaps. I’m dubious, though. (8/11)

Wehl, en, let’s take a look

[vineyard]Studert-Prüm 2006 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese 2 07 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Sweet flowers made of metal and cold sunshine, but it’s the steel that’s growing ever more dominant in this wine, which is insistent and powerful despite the apparent lightness of its carriage. It’s still difficult for me to accept that this is the weight one must expect from a Spätlese, but I guess that’s the modern paradigm. Drink very soon, or let it age. (8/09)

Michelin fail

[vineyard]Studert-Prüm 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese ** 11 04 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – 375 ml. Makrut lime leaf and iron dust, extremely sweet, and not acidic enough. In a vacuum, that wouldn’t be so bad, but knowing what it is kinda detracts from the impression; in that absence, it tastes a lot like a vendange tardive Alsatian riesling from a middle-tier producer in a middling year. Knowing the vintage mitigates the disappointment a bit, but this is still not a wine one will want to have bought in quantity. The finish is shortish, as well. Still, there’s hardly anything wrong with it, it does speak (to an extent) of its place and its grape, and one could drink a lot worse. (4/09)

Wehlen’ up

JJ Prüm 1995 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese 08 96 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Carries the lithe lightness of a kabinett, with the power of its full pradikat held in reserve. Gorgeous balance. But it’s an infant. An embryo. (6/08)

Kerpen it real

[cellar]Kerpen 1998 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese * 11 99 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – There’s more openness here than one might expect, but it’s a window open to the void. I’m not quite sure how that works; the wine feels generous, it says all the right things, but what it’s actually saying is elusive. Maybe it’s running for office. There’s good precision and a lot of steel-jacketed apple – and no lack of thick sweetness, though the wine carries nice crispness – but it needs further development of its language skills before it’s worth a conversation. (8/08)

Here comes the Sonnenuhr

JJ Prüm 1998 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese 5 00 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Still sulfurous, though no longer undrinkably so, and while it’s developing a good portion of cream and gentility, it’s not budging much in the direction of aromatic maturity. No surprise there. (8/08)

A new Prüm sweeps clean

JJ Prüm 1990 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Fully past its primary (and sulfurous) phase, but giving only teasing hints of what’s to come…other than the texture, which is already silky and luscious. There’s length and prominence, but there’s also firm conviction and a pressing insistence. Minerals, yes, and also very ripe apples bathed in clotted cream, but mostly just texture and incessant promise. (8/07)