Joh. Jos. Prum Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Auslese 2021

Graacher Himmelreich is one of the four legendary vineyards that built the Joh. Jos. Prüm reputation — and at the Auslese level, the estate's particular genius for combining sweetness with cut and precision comes fully into focus. Prüm produces outstanding wine from this benchmark site in Graach alongside its other great vineyards, Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Zeltinger Sonnenuhr and Bernkasteler Badstube — wines that are notoriously difficult to pick apart in blind tastings, each subtly expressing the unique personality of its vineyard in a given year. The harvest at J.J. Prüm is always extremely late, with daring but calculated picking and a careful selection of the finest, most concentrated berries — the Auslese designation reserved for the ripest selections, fermented slowly and naturally in the estate's historic cellars to a delicate, harmonious balance of sugar and acid.

Graacher Himmelreich Auslese is where the Prüm range begins to stretch out — richer fruit, more layering, a deeper sense of calm — yet even with the extra ripeness Auslese implies, the wine remains anything but heavy: clean and lifted, with fine citrus and yellow plum flavours, a cool herbal edge, and the kind of pinpoint acidity that keeps every part of the palate alive. Aromatically precise and vibrant, soaring from the glass in a mix of pineapple, fresh lime, white cherry, bee pollen, a crystalline base of slate minerality, a hint of honeycomb and a potpourri of citrus blossoms — zesty, medium-full and filigreed on the palate, with lovely depth and complexity, a beautiful girdle of acidity and a very long, impeccably balanced finish.