Joh Jos Prüm Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Spatlese 2020

Joh. Jos. Prüm needs no introduction to Riesling lovers, having already become a Mosel icon during the nearly five decades during which its namesake’s son Sebastien was in charge. Katharina Prüm has been active alongside her father, Manfred, since early in the new millennium, and the two of them perpetuate a house style that has itself become a Mosel archetype: wines of delicacy and restrained sweetness, often strongly marked in youth by yeasty and otherwise fermentative aromas, and tingling with dissolved CO2. Their longevity is legendary, and the Prüms personally don’t care to drink their own wines – even the Kabinetts – with less than a dozen, and usually many more, years in bottle. The aromas of youthful Prüm wines make it obvious that fermentation here is entirely spontaneous. Manfred makes no secret of his longstanding disinterest in legally dry wines. These are uncompromising, benchmark Mosel wines.

Graacher Himmelreich directly borders the southern edge of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr vineyard. The wines from this site often rival the quality of those from its more famous neighbor, especially in hot, dry years. Graacher wines attract with their racy acidity, a pronounced minerality (that reminds of crushed rock) and slightly different fruit aromas and flavors (more citrus). Often, the wines become accessible slightly earlier than the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and are deliciously mouth-watering when young. The vineyard has a south-west exposure and it is a little less steep with deeper soils that act as excellent water reservoirs.