Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A very great Mosel Auslese with the combination of enormous concentration, exotic ripeness and vibrancy that we expect from the very top producers of this style. What a fantastic interplay of grape sweetness and aromatic richness with an underlying slatey acidity that makes this so pure and straight.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Graacher Himmelreich Auslese (Gold Capsule) is clear, precise and clayish on the coolish and spicy, finely tannic nose that reveals very fine raisin and candied lemon aromas. Intense, lush and savory on the palate, this is a rich and intense, piquant, mouth-filling yet also grippy and mineral-structured Auslese with very fine botrytis features on both the nose and palate, and it has a generous and refined texture. The finish is stimulating saline and crystalline in its crunchy slate and lemon fruit expression. This is a great Auslese that needs a decade to show all of its talents. 7.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork.
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Vinous
The 2022 Riesling Graacher Himmelreich Auslese Goldkapsel, made with about 30% botrytis, does not give much away on its closed nose. Still, the ripest peach, edged with orange zestiness, is luminous on the palate, encompassing tart-sweet fruit and the slightest lift of botrytis. Concentration and slight viscosity with intense sweetness and honey are edged with citrus. (Luscious)
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.