Clemens Busch Pundericher Marienberg Riesling Auslese Long Gold Capsule

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Busch’s 2011 Pundericher Marienburg Riesling Auslese Long Gold Capsule essentially represents the material pulled out in the process of preparing the corresponding Beerenauslese. Candied orange and grapefruit rind mingled with caramel, brown-spiced mirabelle preserves and honey make for a palate impression far-gone on noble rot, yet also one with at least some sense of cut and welcome push-back to the wine’s sheer sweetness. A bit of primary juiciness helps engender the next sip while a hint of white raisin in the finish points toward the prominent yet pristine nature of the botrytis and shriveling that underlie this luxuriant libation. I suspect it will be worth following for the better part of two decades if not beyond. Still, in the final analysis this is another botrytis bottling that leaves behind an awkwardly sticky residue. For its aggregate of quality and quantity, insists Clemens Busch, 2011 was about as good as he’s ever gotten, even allowing for crop lost to downy mildew, to the late August hail storm, and to the consequent need to eliminate some early, negative botrytis. But he readily admits that the thin-skinned berries wouldn’t have held out more than a few additional days if the September rains hadn’t stopped. While a bit of wine was harvested already in the first days of October, he reports that the weather turned so warm he declared a week-long moratorium on picking. That, he says, was the second existentially critical point in this vintage’s history, because had the October heat continued, it, too, would have spoiled success. That there was considerable botrytis is testified to by this year’s range of ennoble bottlings – largely late-picked, and even those gold capsule designated approaching 200 liters each – and is probably connected with Busch’s organic and biodynamic vineyard regimen. For whatever reason, notes Busch, botrytis-affected musts this year seldom exhibited enhanced acidity; and that proved, to my palate, a handicap for some of them. Picking continued until November 20, which is about as late as any German grower was still at it in 2011. Passive lees contact, Busch opines, was key to providing needed structure and flavor definition to wines from this vintage’s high-sugar, relatively low-acid musts from thin-skinned berries, and I can only add that it almost surely helped in buffering the several bottlings that strayed into 14% alcohol territory. Most of the Busch 2011s were not bottled before mid-summer, and high-sugar musts were still fermenting or had only just ceased fermenting last September and were not to be bottled until after the harvest or possibly even after the new year, so that among dry-tasting single vineyard wines I could not taste Fahrlay-Terrassen, Felsenterrasse or Raffes. (By the same token, I report below on a couple of 2010s that had not yet been amenable to assessment when I reported on the bulk of Busch’s 2010s in issue 199.) Busch has acquired the excellent former local Lenz-Dahm cellar, where his stocks will henceforth be more adequately accommodated than they were in warehouse-like conditions, but vinification will continue to take place at the familiar home venue. As part of the deal, yet more vineyards were acquired, reinforcing what is now Busch’s overwhelming dominance of the Marienburg. As he never tires of pointing out, other growers could have made something of their precious legacy but found the rigor of farming such steep, terraced sites – effectively accessible from the village only by boat – too onerous; and sold-out to him over the years. Both Busch sons have become increasingly involved in their parents’ labors in recent years, the elder having focused on the evolution of the estate’s biodynamic regimen, and currently embarked on an extended work-residence in France.Imported by Louis/Dressner Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 334-8191

Scheduled to have been auctioned, the Busch 2010 Pundericher Marienburg Riesling Auslese Long Gold Capsule (A.P. #17 – just in case the length of capsule in question were to leave doubts about its identity) represents material separated-out alongside this year’s B.A.s and T.B.A.s A tart combination of fresh lime and lime peel plays against honey and peach concentrate in this viscous yet almost electrically-charged performance. There is a certain sense of finishing severity, though Busch says that this was much more open in early summer soon after it finished fermenting. I even imagine a kiss of classic Mosel wet stone. Despite its present tensions and inhibitions, this is a profoundly, penetratingly persistent Riesling concentrate that will no doubt retain its stamina for 25 or more years, and won’t surprise me if in the process it gains considerable complexity and allure. In contrast with most of his Riesling-growing countrymen, Clemens Busch claims that despite the vicissitudes of vintage 2010 and a harvest that lasted through the third week in November his (as always organically-raised) fruit was largely botrytis-free and amounted to a volume only 20% below long-term norms. What’s more, he claims to have harvested scarcely any (save botrytized) grapes at more than a high but manageable 11 grams of acidity and with a good 50% of that being tartaric. Of course, for wines to undergo malo-lactic transformation is not in the least unusual at this address and that was the case once again this year. But virtually all of Busch’s wines had finished both primary and malo-lactic fermentation (in some cases simultaneously – which he prefers – in others sequentially) by June, which is early for his estate. (Exception: one of three Trockenbeerenauslesen was still fermenting and had only reached 3.5% alcohol when I visited in September.) Low sulfur elevage with long lees contact is also normal here, but Busch believes that was especially critical for quality in 2010, guaranteeing that the wines would not harden and that healthy lees would perform a fining and imperfection-healing role such as he claims was taken for granted by Mosel growers two or three generations ago. Careful canopy management, notes Busch, was also critical to 2010 success as a condition for being able to sufficiently postpone picking. This year’s as usual long line-up, incidentally, should not be permitted to deceive: while there are many residually sweet wines in this latest collection, they make up only around 20% by volume of the estate’s 2010 crop. Busch testifies that there is quite a scramble now among young Punderich growers to get a toehold in the Marienburg’s steep slopes that he has in the meantime gone a considerable way toward monopolizing. “The fact is,” he points out, “that at least in their father’s generation such growers’ families had ample opportunity to rescue and cherish these steep slate slopes, but often instead heeded the call of fashion and invested in Dornfelder on the flat side of the river.”Mosel Wine Merchant (various importers); tel. (413) 429-6176; dm@moselwinemerchant.com ; +49 (0) 6742 8980 50; also imported by Ewald Moseler Selections, Portland OR tel. 888 274 4312

Slated for auction, the Busch 2009 Pundericher Marienburg Riesling Auslese Long Gold Capsule (A.P. #15 – just in case the length of capsule in question were to leave doubts about its identity) represents a separate, wide-ranging picking from the A.P. #14. While it is hardly the most complex of the estate’s Auslesen – for now at least – it is striking in its rich, lush meld of salted caramel, nut pastes, browned butter, vanilla cream, as well as peach and pear preserves. Like its close siblings, this is extremely light-weight for all of its richness. Here is one of those not infrequently encountered nobly sweet Rieslings (especially from 2009) which appear to have rescued themselves from extreme confection by tapping a mysterious source of just enough primary fruit juiciness, in this instance saving an unquestionably long finish from becoming saccharine or cloying. Look for 30 or more years of “health” (a nobly rotten context understood) and quite possibly further complexity. “It was no lovely autumn,” notes Clemens Busch candidly. “We had to pick our botrytis wines very early. We had regular rain from the end of October on, and one really had to take great advantage of the dry days to finish.” Busch reports that while his lower-tier lots largely fermented unproblematically to dryness, his riper single-vineyard bottlings were sluggish, several ending up in the legally halbtrocken territory that I have personally tended to prefer at this address, not least because of the tendency for the trocken lots to betray elevated alcohol. Busch – for more about whose methods, style, and vineyards consult the estate introductions as well as the tasting notes in others of my recent Mosel reports – is unwilling to employ cultured yeasts or otherwise intervene to achieve legal dryness. In view of an unfounded and frankly uninformed phobia many Riesling lovers have when it comes to the very idea, it should be pointed out that most of Busch’s dry-tasting Rieslings have since 2001 undergone malo-lactic transformation. That did not however happen with his 2008s (whose high pH levels precluded it) and only selectively with these 2009s. Furthermore, in Busch’s cellar, this transformation – normally not profound, as his ripe fruit is typically not high in malic acid – generally takes place as an interruption during – rather than subsequent to – the alcoholic fermentation. This peculiarity, he contends, explains the absence of diacetyl or other problematic potential byproducts. Even the lighter cuvees here were not bottled until the three weeks leading up to my mid-September visit, and among those wines then being prepped for bottling were a Felsterrasse and Raffes too shaken-up from filtration for me to judge. That the nobly sweet wines here are as notable for their high quality as their abundance I suppose doesn’t need repeating, provided you survey my ratings.Mosel Wine Merchant Trier, Germany (various importers); tel. (413) 429-6176; +49 (0) 651 14551 38; also imported by Ewald Moseler Selections, Portland OR tel. 888 274 4312

A cuvee auctioned last September in Trier, Busch’s 2007 Pundericher Marienburg Riesling Auslese Long Gold Capsule features smells and paste-like palate concentration of pineapple, yellow plum, peach, and grapefruit. A nip of horseradish hangs over the glass, not that one needed a further reminder that this wine is far gone on rot and sheer ripeness. With more subtle caramelization than several of the other nobly sweet wines in this collection, it exhibits a rather candied overall cast, largely due to its sheer sweetness. Rich and pure, yes, but this lacks any intimation of inner dynamic or refreshment. That it will keep for 12-15 years I have no doubt, but I can’t pretend to an intuition about the sort of wine that will emerge from such a spherical, inscrutable embryo as this. Clemens Busch – among the Mosel’s few organic vintners, and the undisputed champion of the Lower Mosel’s steep Pundericher Marienburg – is also rapidly demonstrating that he is simply one of the collective Mosel, Saar, and Ruwer’s exceptional talents, not to mention stylistically free spirits. Most of his top wines are labeled with their old pre-1971 site names. Nature thrust on him in 2006 an unprecedented 9 Auslesen (many distinguished only by number), 3 Beerenauslesen, and single T.B.A. (most of which were reviewed in issue 179). In 2007, an at least slightly more normal – not to mention more marketable – balance of dry-tasting (though not always legally trocken) wines was restored, but success, Busch insists, was possible only by dint of great patience and then, when the time was ripe for picking, in great haste. A considerable number of overtly nobly sweet wine was picked in the process, as there was no lack of botrytis in this fungicide-free zone.Mosel Wine Merchant selections (various importers), Trier, Gemany; fax 011 49 (0)651-14551 39; also imported by by Ewald Moseler Selections, Portland OR tel. 888 274 4312

Representing a severe selection from the material of the gold capsule Auslese, Busch’s 2006 Pundericher Marienburg Riesling Auslese Long Gold Capsule is nevertheless now cut from very different cloth. Green tea, lime, and honey mark the nose, although herbal-floral essences and pungent spice and musky, meaty notes from botrtyis enter in as well. Another level of citricity and liveliness is achieved here than in the other Auslesen of this collection, and the rich, honeyed, spicy and mineral-marked finish is downright unquenchable. As this evolves, it bids fair to prove exceptional, but the pace will probably be very slow. Revisit this wine in 12-15 years and anticipate a 30+ year trajectory. Clemens Busch farms the steep slopes of the once-famous Pundericher Marienburg on the Lower Mosel entirely organically, which make him unique in the region and a source of wonder for his fellow vintners. Most of his top wines are labeled with their old pre-1971 site names. (Increasingly many growers are managing to get away with this.) Busch has been bottling nobly sweet Riesling since 1999, but never before – he hastens to inform me – in quantities remotely like those that nature imposed on him in 2006: Nine Auslesen, three Beerenauslesen, and a T.B.A.! Like Reinhard Lowenstein (and in a similar style), Busch is best-known inside Germany for his dry (or near-dry) single-site wines, which are not released for more than a year after harvest. (In fact, most of the 2006s had not finished fermenting yet when I visited last summer.)Mosel Wine Merchant selections (various importers), Trier, Gemany; fax 011 49 (0)651-14551 39; also imported by by Ewald Moseler Selections, Portland OR; tel. 888-274-4312