Graacher Domprobst Riesling Auslese A P #11 2009 (75 CL)

Exhibiting as much buoyancy and refreshment as any of their current crop of Spatlesen, the Schaefers’ 2009 Graacher Domprobst Riesling Auslese A.P. #11 resembles some hypothetical, ethereal Normandy sydre laced with honeysuckle, peony, lily, lemon, and crushed stone. With silken refinement, seeming near-weightlessness, and subtle spritz, the palate here truly uplifts, and the cloud-like, musky, floral profusion seems to exert a direct hormonal appeal. Alkaline and saline notes add intrigue and saliva-inducement to a finish that simply won’t quit. Anticipate at least three decades of age-defying delight. (There are no other German Auslesen from 1971, 1973, 1975, or 1976 that I’ve known to hold up better – indeed, they’re still very much with us – than those of Schaefer.) Most of the harvest of 2009 here was accomplished during the second half of October. "We'd actually reckoned with an earlier start," remarks Christophe Schaefer, "but although the grapes looked beautiful, when we tasted them we thought, 'no we really need to – and we can – wait.'" "The grapes were very stable," adds Willi Schaefer, "and when we did get botrytis – encouraged by a bit of October rain – it dried up nicely. And when you get this sort of late botrytis, it can really concentrate already high acids." Furthermore, parcels in Graach had retained their foliage after the one-night cold snap in early October. All of this year's wines remained on their fine lees at least through March, and the Schaefers pointed out that choices about which to bottle at what Pradikat level were usually made only from cask as the wines evolved, since with the exception of late pickings notably influenced by botrytis, the character of fruit was remarkably uniform. Another feature of 2009 that the Schaefers emphasized was high skin-to-juice ratios, something I certainly thought discernable even before they mentioned this. As a result their yields ended up being even lower than they had been anticipated on the basis of eyeballing and measuring the incoming volume of grapes. (DC, 12/2010)