J.J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese 2013

“The 2013 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese offers a noble sweet, very fine aroma of wet and flinty stones intertwined with grapefruit and lemon aromas. Lovely sweet and intense, but also delicate on the palate, this medium to full-flavored 7.5% alcohol wine reveals a great elegance and finesse and finishes with delicately juicy, grapefruit aromas. (I tasted AP number #15 14.) Drink: 2020-2040. 95 points

“2013 was an Auslese vintage,” says Dr. Katharina Prüm when she served me nine (!) Auslesen and just one Spätlese from this difficult vintage (plus several 2012s that are still in the market and on which I report on our website eRobertParker.com). Whereas normally Auslesen are rare vineyard selections made from overripe and botrytized berries, in 2013 the Spätlese was the fastidiously picked “selection of ripe but healthy green and yellow grapes,” Katharina went on. “These were rare in our vineyards, but when we picked enough of them to produce a Spätlese in the style we love, we decided to auction it as ‘the rarity of the 2013 vintage’.” In the end the total quantities were extremely low (just 1/3 of a normal harvest) and the Prüms had to allocate their wines with great caution. They started picking on October 23, so quite late since “the berries were unripe and the acidity too high for a long time. But when we started harvesting also botrytis came and we really had to rush.” The results, however, are stunning and the Prüms presented some outstanding wines is one of the most difficult vintages of the last 25 years. 2014 was better because the loss was “only 50 per cent”.”

Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate (217)