J.J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese 2016
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The J.J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese has excellent structure, ripe aromas and flavors of stone fruits, like peach, a fine minerality, great depth and length. There is a unique harmony, finesse and expression after aging with this wine. There is also a beautiful balance between pronounced minerality, vibrant acidity, expressive fruit aromas and flavors.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Welcome to the heart of the Mosel! A great floral beauty with an extremely precise balance of delicate fruit sweetness and filigree acidity. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese (AP 23 17) is still discreet, floral and finely mineral rather than fruity on the nose compared to the other 2016 Spätlesen. Lush, piquant and juicy on the palate, this is a firm but sensual Sonnenuhr with remarkable finesse, lightness and lingering salinity. Tasted March 2018.
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Wine Spectator
Intense but lithe, with lively acidity that provides fine cut to the mango, slate and chamomile flavors. A savory mineral note stands out toward the end, with graceful floral hints lingering on the pure-tasting finish. Drink now through 2038.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Revealing a hint of green in its color, the 2016 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese is rocking stuff that delivers mouthwatering notes of sweet peach, sugared citrus, and mint in a medium-bodied, off-dry, balanced style. It’s one of the more fruit forward efforts here yet stays vibrant, clean, and balanced.
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Wine & Spirits
This is just beginning to settle into itself, the wine’s reductive scents turn- ing toward kelp and umami, the fruit finding crisp definition among notes of peach jam and red-blushed mangos. It’s earthy, fruity and fascinating, and structured to age well.
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Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
Following the Mosel River as it slithers and weaves dramatically through the Eifel Mountains in Germany’s far west, the Mosel wine region is considered by many as the source of the world’s finest and longest-lived Rieslings.
Mosel’s unique and unsurpassed combination of geography, geology and climate all combine together to make this true. Many of the Mosel’s best vineyard sites are on the steep south or southwest facing slopes, where vines receive up to ten times more sunlight, a very desirable condition in this cold climate region. Given how many twists and turns the Mosel River makes, it is not had to find a vineyard with this exposure. In fact, the Mosel’s breathtakingly steep slopes of rocky, slate-based soils straddle the riverbanks along its entire length. These rocky slate soils, as well as the river, retain and reflect heat back to the vineyards, a phenomenon that aids in the complete ripening of its grapes.
Riesling is by far the most important and prestigious grape of the Mosel, grown on approximately 60% of the region’s vineyard land—typically on the desirable sites that provide the best combination of sunlight, soil type and altitude. The best Mosel Rieslings—dry or sweet—express marked acidity, low alcohol, great purity and intensity with aromas and flavors of wet slate, citrus and stone fruit. With age, the wine’s color will become more golden and pleasing aromas of honey, dried apricot and sometimes petrol develop.
Other varieties planted in the Mosel include Müller-Thurgau, Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) and Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), all performing quite well here.