JJ PRÜM - Graacher Himmelreich Auslese 2003
JJ Prüm (Joh. Jos. Prüm) is located in the village of Wehlen on the banks of the Moselle in Germany . The Prüm family has been producing wine in the Moselle for several hundred years, but the estate was founded in 1911 by Johann Josef Prüm . The estate was taken over by his brother Sebastian in 1920, the year JJ Prüm created his first sweet wine Auslese, and became one of Germany's best known and most respected wines. Since then, the estate has remained family owned. John. Joe. Prüm has around twenty hectares of vines spread over several Erste Lage vineyards. Almost half of these are in the vineyard of Wehlener Sonnenuhr , who craft a range of styles under the Prädikatswein system, including Auslese, Beerenauslese, Eiswein and Trockenbeerenauslese.
Graacher Himmelreich ("Kingdom of Heaven") is a large 87 hectare vineyard of steep, weathered clay and blue slate. This terroir makes it possible to produce wines that show great minerality and aging capacity.
Auslese is made from grapes that have a must weight of 83-110 Oechsle (the hydrometric scale measuring the density of grape must) which equates to 191-260 g/L of residual sugar, and where the grapes are manually harvested with noble rot.
The 2003 vintage in Germany was superb. The growing season experienced the same heat wave as the rest of Europe. The grapes ripened quickly in the heat but also suffered from drought stress as no rain fell for eight months. The rains at the beginning of September were a blessing for the Moselle and other neighboring regions.
Varietal: 100% Riesling