2016 Brauneberger Juffer Auslese

“The fruit was extremely ripe, but there was only perhaps 5% botrytis,” reported Oliver Haag of a bottling that perpetuates and accentuates the floral notes found in so many of this collection’s residually sweet offerings while picking up on the raw-scallop-like, mouthwatering mélange of mineral and animal savor that emerged from this year’s two Juffer-Sonnenuhr Spätlesen. Quince and white peach in fresh and jellied forms are mint-infused, studded with candied grapefruit peel and garlanded in honeysuckle. The palate is almost weightlessly delicate, subtly creamy yet animatingly juicy. On a caressing, clinging finish, neither the wafting floral perfume nor the mouthwateringly umami-rich saline savor let up, and the quince morphs into a soothingly honeyed glaze.