帕克團(tuán)隊(duì)
92
WA, #206Apr 2013
“In a normal year,” notes Adam of his 190 Oechsle 2011 Dhronhofberger Riesling Beerenauslese, “this would be a T.B.A.” But seeing as the most rigorous sorting of botrytis material resulted in another lot nearly a hundred degrees higher in Oechsle than this (and still fermenting last fall) this bottling was declassified. A bread-like whiff of yeastiness along with penetratingly sharp radish and lemon rind notes reminiscent of Eiswein (as well as, unsurprisingly, of the corresponding starred Auslese that resulted from the same picking and sorting) usher-in a viscous, oily, downright buttery palate suffused with white raisin, preserved fig, and dried date. A faint rivulet of fresh orange and lemon as well as a lick of salt add a bit of liveliness and refreshment to the finish, but the confitured and buttery aspects of this elixir are in the ascendance and for now at least very slightly at odds with the wine’s volatile and prickly elements, though the resulting tension is above all mouthwatering and stimulating. You could wait a long time for this to shape itself into something harmonious, but that might not be the point. I don’t doubt it will “l(fā)ive” for at least 30 years, but it displays undeniable, attention-getting appeal already. In commencing his tenth harvest on October 1, Andreas Adam was setting a record. “But it was good I did,” he notes, adding that “early in the month we picked exclusively for Kabinett and Qualitatswein. We were in shorts and tee shirts. It was 28 degrees (82 F.) and we only picked in the morning. But by the time we finished on November 1, we were all in heavy jackets.” Mid-October brought some fine botrytis that Adam wasted no time in picking-out and sorting for small volumes of nobly sweet elixirs, the culmination of which is a 280 Oechsle T.B.A. that was not finished fermenting yet last autumn. “Honestly, I had some anxiety as fruit was coming in,” he confesses, “because there was really a large volume of grapes. I can tell you, our cellar was full. What we changed in terms of cellar technique in 2011,” he explains, “is that we didn’t permit any skin contact, didn’t even crush, but instead pressed (whole clusters) directly, like for Champagne.” Despite his success in 2011, the period of elevage was beyond merely stressful for Adam, as his cellar was shockingly vandalized right after his principal, March bottling, and his top dry wines (which he refers to as Grosse Gewachse) along with the barrels that held them, were contaminated and ruined. But speaking of barrels, Adam also got lucky in that respect last year, tapping a cache of impeccably-kept Fuder from a retiring grower. These will definitely come in handy, since in addition to recent plantings (some, sadly, lost to a deep February, 2012 chill), Adam continues to add parcels – for a total of nearly three dozen now – provided they possess old vines and/or outstanding exposure. He doesn’t want to get so big that a hands-on approach is precluded, but his Geisenheim-trained sister will soon join him full-time, and he says he’ll meet the problem of too many superb old vineyard parcels and the need to jettison something less good when and if he comes to it. Speaking of March bottling, you can see from my notes that no matter how much sense it makes – indeed, how true it may be in many such instances – to say that extended lees contact and late bottling were critical to conveying to 2011s the necessary structure and complexity, Adam’s collection is a deliciously definitive if gentle counterexample. He has always been at pains to retain healthy lees, but captured fantastic results bottling after barely five months.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300
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