2006 Wolfer Goldgrube Auslese Goldkapsel

Vollenweider’s 2006 Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling Auslese gold capsule (A.P. #6) represents a selection from various parcels. Ester-rich, high-toned, faintly volatile aromas signify how far-gone this is in ripeness and botrytization. While not obviously viscous on the palate, and with a sense of underlying firmness, it boasts superb intensity of caramelized peach, tropical fruit essences, white raisin, along with refreshing, lemony acidity. As fructose- and botrytis-rich as this is and as stuffed with over-ripe fruits, it would be easy to underestimate its incipient complexities. This has the structure and over-abundance of material to age for three decades. “We started picking immediately after the October 3rd rain, and then under high pressure,” relates Daniel Vollenweider. Already then, there was little to be harvested below Auslese, not surprising considering the general trends this vintage and the fact that Vollenweider, as a friend to botryits in normal times, never sprays to keep it at bay. But in a departure from the norm, one cask had reached ten grams of residual sugar by the end of last summer and Vollenweider decided he might as well taste what a truly dry Wolfer Goldgrube Spatlese would be like! (I have not connected with the bottled wine.) A second major vineyard reclamation project in the Schimbock – a once-renowed riverside parcel within today’s Trabener Wurzgarten – is where Vollenweider intends to specialize in dry Riesling. Importer: Vineyard Research, Inc., Lunenburg, MA tel. 617 686 8052; Ewald Moseler Selections, Portland OR tel. 888 274 4312; also A Bill Mayer Age of Riesling Selection Imported by Valley View Wine Sales, Glen Ellen, CA; tel. (510) 549-2444