2010 Eitelsbacher Karthauserhofberg Beerenauslese 53

The 2010 Eitelsbacher Karthauserhofberg Riesling Beerenauslese Nr. 20 reflects early picking across numerous parcels, as well as a leap to nearly twice the residual sugar (at a mere 6.7% alcohol) as was harbored by any of its Auslese siblings, while 13 grams of acidity are largely hidden. Peach preserves, salted caramel, nougat, melon liqueur and white raisin inform the nose and lusciously sweet palate, and like this year’s Auslese “Nr. 37” high acidity only shows itself in the finish, here as a sort of tingling that manages fortunately not to be jarring in an otherwise confectionary context and not to prevent some genuinely mouthwatering next-sip enticement. This is almost surely hiding as much as it is showing, and Tyrell wryly suggests that if one wants to sense the high acid it harbors, the trick would be to try putting it up against a dessert. I imagine that four decades of pleasure are likely. (There is also an auction B.A. “Nr. 25,” which I did not get to taste.) ”For the dry wines, it was clear that the musts had to be de-acidified,” asserts Christoph Tyrell, for whom trocken bottlings form not only the majority of his production but also the portion closest to his own palate and heart. The results are less vintage-typical than at many addresses, but one could get a good argument going as to whether or not that is a compliment when it comes to Riesling trocken. “It was painful,” Tyrell narrates, “to witness blocks that were healthy one day and rot-afflicted the next, yet to have to keep waiting to pick. I don’t want to experience any more of this kind of pressure from Nature!” The glory of this year’s collection is its nobly sweet wines which were for the most part picked ahead of the rest. As Tyrell likes to emphasize, waning days, cooler nights, and an increasing dew point all work against retaining really noble rot in the late innings, even assuming it doesn’t rain (which obviously one couldn’t in 2010). That said, Tyrell’s couple of later-picked vintage 2010 elixirs are quite distinctly delectable. Importer: Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA 800 596 9463