Winemaker Notes
Classic, young Prum leesiness. Flavors are spicy with depth and purity. Very versatile and pairs well with different dishes including seafood, poultry, and Asian cuisine.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese is deep, intense and complex on the saline and mineral nose that shows ripe, bright as well as yellow stone fruit aromas intertwined with floral and seed notes. Dense and juicy on the savory and crystalline palate, this is a clear, pure and tensioned Spätlese with a long, salivating saline, almost dry and lemon-fresh finish. 7.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork.
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James Suckling
Here’s a very classic Mosel Spatlese with exactly the combination of richness, elegance and delicacy that makes this category unique. Such delicate white peach and sliced pear, rose and honeysuckle aromas. Very long finish that is as succulent as it is refined. You just want to linger there for as long as you can. Drink or hold.
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Decanter
Tasted young, this sprightly spätlese announces itself with strikes of flint and an intensely smoky, earthen veil of reduction. With a bit of time and aeration (even 15 minutes introduces a remarkable transformation) you'll find deep, dazzling layers of crisp white peach, lime and lemongrass speckled with salt and stone. It's a leaner expression of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr, with a delicacy of texture that juxtaposes a piercing, pure fruit profile. A thirst-quenching sip with just a hint of sweetness that lingers on the finish. Hold until 2026 if possible, it will develop stunningly for decades.
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Wine Spectator
There's a litheness to this elegant version, with a finessed, angular feel to the notes of green plum, star fruit and nectarine underscored by crushed slate accents and a hint of chamomile. Focused and pure, with an inner density that builds, this compact and tightly wound white is one for the cellar. Best from 2025 through 2042. 280 cases imported.
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.