Product Information:
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.
Maker:
The Prüm family story in the Mosel dates back to 1156, beginning with was Johann Josef Prüm (1873 - 1944) who founded the estate in 1911. By the mid-1930s Johann Josef’s son, Sebastian, forged the distinctive style of the Prüm wines. From 1969, the imitable Dr Manfred Prüm would elevate Joh. Jos. Prüm to even greater heights, today the estate is run by Manfred’s daughter Katharina Prüm who watches over 13.5 hectares of vines on the harrowing slate-rich slopes of the Middle Mosel. In The Wines of Germany, Stephen Brook writes “With the rise of so many excellent winemakers in the Mosel, one might have supposed that Joh. Jos. Prüm, with its profound conservatism, might have been overtaken and left behind. Not a bit of it. The Estate remains where it has been for decades: at the summit.” Which begs the question, what is the secret to J.J. Prüm's continued success? How do they stand out among top Mosel producers? It’s all about their exceptional vineyards: old vines at great sites, keeping the lowest yields, daring but calculated late harvesting, and a careful selection of the finest berries.
Joh. Jos. Prüm's vineyards are at forefront of the estate's success. Their holdings include vineyards - Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Graacher Himmelreich, Bernkasteler Lay, Bernkasteler Badstube and Zeltinger Sonnenuhr. All of these sites are exclusively dedicated to growing and harvesting Riesling grapes for Joh. Jos. Depending on the specific vintage, the average annual production of wine is typically between 10,000 to 13,000 cases.
Vineyard:
Balance is key to understanding the quality of Prüm’s 2022 Auslesen. These wines can sometimes be tricky to understand fully when young - not so for the 2022s; they already have the wow factor. Again, there is a big step up in intensity, and the difference between the vineyards shines through even more.
Prum’s four key vineyards are all located on the same continuous slope, all on a mixture of grey and blue Devonian slate soils with varying south-to-south westerly aspects. Positioned in the heart of Mosel the vineyards are named from south to north: Bernkasteler Badstube, Graacher Himmelreich, Wehlener Sonnenuhr, and Zeltinger Sonnenuhr. These vineyards have been in continuous production for some 2000 years.
The major differences between the sites have to do with the variation in the aspect (from south to southwest) and the steepness and the depth of the soil. These are subtle differences, but make for wonderfully distinctive wines. Of course all the vineyards of J.J. Prüm are renowned, but the majestic Wehlener Sonnenuhr vineyard that is the most famous. The revered site lies opposite the village of Wehlen and the Estate owns seven hectares - largely planted to ungrafted wines - which has very thin topsoil over Devonian slate (in some areas of the vineyard the plants grow out of pure rock!). Wehlener Sonnenuhr has the highest pure stone content of all the Prüm vineyards, and along with neighbouring Zeltinger, the steepest of Prüm’s vineyards - with a dizzying 65-70% gradient in places. Wine writer Stuart Pigott summarises perfectly, “In top vintages the Wehlener Sonnenuhr yields the richest, silkiest, most seductive wines on the Mosel. The fame of these Rieslings is inextricably linked with that of the Joh Jos Prüm estate.”
Nose - Yellow Flowers, Mangosteen, White Mint
Nose of fresh herbs, white mint, bergamot, yellow flowers, pineapple, candied grapefruit, smoke, and juniper.
Palate - Peach Compote, Honeyed Fruits, Caramel
The wine has great presence and is still on the sweeter side on the palate, where ripe yellow and slightly honeyed fruits with a touch of exotic presence come through.
Finish - Candied Grapefruit, Orange Zest, Slatey Acidity
The finish is slightly broader yet captivating and hugely long. The aftertaste shows candied grapefruit and orange zest. This is a gorgeous, ripe, and refined Auslese.
Still very youthful on the nose, this is crammed with ripe peach, plus more delicate notes of pineapple and mangosteen. It’s a minor miracle that this kind of concentration can be packed into such a sleek, medium-bodied palate. What an amazing mouthfeel this has thanks to the seamless integration of slatey acidity and ripeness. Very long finish with spot-on balance. Drinkable now, but best from 2025. - Stuart Pigott, Jamessuckling.com, 97 Points.
The 2022 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese has a beautifully engaging and captivating nose of fresh herbs, white mint, bergamot, yellow flowers, pineapple, candied grapefruit, smoke, and juniper. The wine has great presence and is still on the sweeter side on the palate, where ripe yellow and slightly honeyed fruits with a touch of exotic presence come through. The finish is slightly broader yet captivating and hugely long. The aftertaste shows candied grapefruit and orange zest. This is a gorgeous, ripe, and refined Auslese. - Jean Fisch and David Rayer, Mosel Fine Wines, 95 Points.
The 2022 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese opens with a notion of baked peach, especially baked peach skin, aromatic, slightly caramelized with concentrated fruit. Peach compote sweeps onto the palate, ripe and still with bite, just as cooked peach flesh appears, expressive and sweet but not overdone. This entire flight is a lesson in restraint. The long finish and aftertaste are tempered with citrus, corralling that expressive peach. Lovely, restrained, elegant. (Sweet) - Anne Krebie, 94 Points.
The Finer Details
Style - White Wine
Varietal - Riesling
Country - Germany
Region - Mosel
Vintage - 2022
Bottle Size - 750ml
ABV - 8%
