2000 Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Beerenauslese

(for 375 ml.) Peach jam, almond paste, vanilla and orange marmalade characterize the bouquet presented by this very subtly botrytized, refined and elegant wine. Creamy and polished in texture, this is shot through with ripe, persistent, but not at all sharp acidity. Pineapple, peach, lemon, orange and white raisin flavors swell into the finish. A firm note of slate is much more evident here than one would expect at this level of ripeness. This wine, the result of sporadic selection over nearly a month, marries the creamy, elegant, enveloping character of Haag's "regular" Auslese (A.P. #6) with some of the overt citricity and drive of the long gold capsule Auslese (#13). 2 stars. (I defer judgment on Haag's viscous and concentrated, yet prickly and dry-fruited, 2000 TBA.)