The relatively late-picked, multi-parcel Fritz Haag 2010 Braunebeger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Beerenauslese definitely displays the sweet-sour aspects of its vintage, with a blazing intensity of diverse citrus allied to prominent residual sugar; piquant citrus rind and tart apple skin setting up an edgy dynamic with botrytis honey. This fuel-rich ball of energy is apt to burn brightly for four or more decades, and if it lacks the differentiated or intriguing complexities of some of its siblings, I don’t count that a weakness for the long term.
“You had to wait to pick,” comments Oliver Haag picked, “but not too late. Because after the end of October we had more rain, and by then the stems weren’t just ripe but just about shot (fertig), so that the grapes were literally hanging by a thin thread.” Different degrees of double-salt de-acidification were essayed (always on must), frequently only on certain lots of an eventual blend; but of the unabashedly residually sweet bottlings, Haag insists that only the Kabinett reflected a significant degree of de-acidification. Haag in my view quite correctly characterizes his generic bottlings as most illustrative of the vintage’s challenges and his selectively-picked residually sweet wines as being above-average ... “average” at this address, of course, having over the past several decades designated a very high quality indeed. “There were a lot of tough decisions to be made this year,” he relates. “Should we harvest this parcel or that? Pick now or later?” I share Haag’s opinion that as a group these wines will need longer than usual in bottle to really show their stuff.
Importer: Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA; tel. ( 800) 596-9463
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