Georg Breuer Rudesheimer Berg Roseneck Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel, Rheingau, Germany

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In all but name a Beerenauslese, Breuer’s 2008 Rudesheimer Berg Roseneck Riesling Auslese Gold Capsule – of which there are 350 half-bottles – smells of peach and yellow plum preserves with lychee and marzipan, all of which are joined on a silken, subtly creamy, rich yet persistently refreshing palate by a liqueur-like essence of rowan, honeysuckle, fennel pollen, and lily perfume. This finishes with impeccable balance (its sweetness hardly what you notice); ethereal lift; yet stunning richness of flavor and subtle diversity of noble botrytis inflections. What’s more, it will leave you not only exhilarated, but refreshed. This great liqueur of Riesling should be worth following for at least 30 years. At more than 9,000 man hours including the time spent on intensive selection, Heinrich Breuer says this was one of the most labor-intensive and expensive harvests in the estate’s history. “We have 80 parcels in Rudesheim and are very conscientious about checking each one every couple of days to make sure the acidity doesn’t drop too low, to check the must weights, and to deal with any issues that might arise. We were in fact happy to have gotten around a half a gram more acidity at harvest than in the 2007s,” continues Breuer, who says it was really the phenolics and not the quality of acids or levels of sugar that changed while they picked in the course of October. Reports have reached me of the extent to which the top 2008 vintage Rieslings here are said to have became more harmonious and complex in the course of last autumn, so I may well have underestimated them based on my September tastings. But I was already totally disarmed and amazed by the quality of the several best nobly sweet wines, coming as they do from an estate that treats that genre very much as an afterthought (or, more accurately, as a part of pre-harvest provided noble rot is already there) and from a vintage in which so few such wines were essayed nation-wide.Importer: Classical Wines, Seattle WA; tel. (206) 547-0255

The Breuer principle has consistently been early selection rather than late harvest for botryits, and this has often resulted in nobly sweet Riesling of remarkable delicacy and refinement. But the weather of 2006 precluded that strategy, and amid the botrytis that spread so widely and rapidly after the October rains, the team was still able to pick out some surprisingly successful elixirs. They also bottled a generic Rheingau Auslese, but did not show it to me. Smoke, musk, quince preserves, honey, and brown spices waft from the glass of Breuer 2006 Rudesheimer Berg Roseneck Riesling Auslese Gold Capsule signaling an advanced state of botrytization confirmed by a creamy texture and a caramelized edge to its quince, and over-ripe pear fruit. One misses some sense of refreshment and a bit of clarity, and the finish is rather over-riding in sweetness. But this will serve impressively over the next 5-7 years with the right desserts or foie gras preparations, and perhaps sheer ripeness and residual sugar – along with the inherent pedigree of its terroir — will carry it for longer than I think. Heinrich Breuer and Hermann Schmoranz began their Riesling harvest October 6, and finished in record time. Selective picking and watchful decantation and selection of the musts, rather than the use of treatments, was the approach taken here to the problematic health and botrytis of the vintage. The results included a 40% reduction in volume over their recent average.Imported by Classical Wines, Seattle, WA; tel. (206) 547-0255