Joh Jos Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese (375ml) 2005

97 POINTS

Wine Spectator

Peach, lime and floral aromas and flavors are highlighted by a golden apple tone in this pure, focused Riesling, with a juicy, lime- and mineral-tinged aftertaste. Has great definition, based on the vibrant structure and precision balance.

95 POINTS

Joel B. Payne - Vinous

Pale golden yellow. Subdued bouquet of passion fruit, nut oil and acacia blossom.The lusciously sweet tropical fruits are highlighted by a refreshing gingery acidity that keeps the palate light in spite of the wine's impressive density. Elegant, airy and aristocratic rather than overblown, this auslese finishes astoundingly long, on a note of spicy botrytis.

95 POINTS

Joe Czerwinski - Wine Enthusiast

Tasted blind in the same flight as Prüm's Bernkasteler Badstube auslese, this wine is flashier, more of an attention-grabber, with amazing purity and intensity of fruit backed by great length. The fruit flavors of green apple, pineapple and lime are underscored by slate-driven minerality, and the wine, although plump and amply endowed, is well balanced, with superb posture provided by sinewy acids. Surprisingly approachable now, but could last as long as 50 years.

94 POINTS

Joel B. Payne - Vinous

(auction wine) Pale golden yellow. Fine bouquet of blackcurrant, tropical fruits and sweet herbs.Rich on the palate, with a compelling tension between its lusciously sweet apricot fruit and sizzling salty minerality.Unctuous yet lively, with a long, complex finish. Maybe even better than my score suggests.

93 POINTS

David Schildknecht - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2005 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese, unlike its Himmelreich counterpart, was relatively shrouded in fermentative aromas on the occasion of my tasting, but site- and vintage-typical suggestions of baked apple and vanilla were clearly in evidence, and even more so on the palate, where dripping florality, vanilla cream, and nut paste add considerable allure. The finish here is formidably long and polished, with complexities of flowers, spices, and mineral already very clearly in evidence. This is another sure bet for at least three decades of bottle maturation from an impeccably consistent source. “We made what I think was the right decision to harvest relatively early,” says Manfred Prum, before botrytis became the most prominent element in the wines’ character as in his opinion had been the case in 1976. Still, the Prums were blessed this year with terrific quality but cursed with a dearth of material that could legitimately be bottled even as Spatlese let alone Kabinett. (Note: There is usually more than one bottling and therefore more than one eventual A.P. number chez Prum for any given Kabinett or non-auction Spatlese and even some Auslesen. The differences in character, they promise, are kept to a minimum, and indeed in many cases it is a matter of the same base wine temporarily stored in more than one tank. For that reason, I was as usual not privy to the A.P. numbers of the un-bottled, non-auction wines that I tasted.) Various importers including P. J. Valckenberg International, Tulsa, OK; tel. (918) 622-0424 and Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA; tel. (800) 596-9463 Points: 92-94