2001 Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Spatlese

Wow, that wine title sure has a lot of words huh?  But it actually does convey quite a lot of useful information.  The producer is Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch winery using grapes from the Bernkasteler Badstube grosslage (a grosslage is a collection of individual vineyards with similar environmental attributes which allows them to produce grapes of comparable quality).  This wine is 100% Riesling picked at the Spatlese level (late harvest) and is from the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer region, which is on the western edge of Germany.  The wine is also a Qualitatswein mit Pradikat (QmP)or quality wine with special attributes.  This is a the highest class of German wine and has strict laws concerning production of the wines.

Within the QmP there are 6 categories which designate the ripeness of the grapes when picked.  Many people equate the category with the level of sweetness.  This is not necessarily true as many later category wines are very dry.  The 6 categories are:

• Kabinett - grapes picked during the normal harvest make wines that tend to be lighter, low in alcohol and dry.
• Spatlese - literally meaning late harvest, wines made from these grapes have a greater intensity and strength that Kabinett.  These can be dry or have a touch of sweetness.  They also tend to be high in acidity.
• Auslese - meaning selected harvest, these grapes are extremely ripe when picked and are very carefully selected in bunches.  This adds yet another layer of complexity and richness to the wines.  They tend to be lush with some sweetness, and because of the selecting of individual bunches they also can be quite expensive.
• Beerenauslese - These wines are rare as the individual grapes are hand selected.  Generally these have been infected with Botrytis cinerea (the noble rot) giving a deep, honeyed richness.
• Trockenbeerenauslese - Again, hand selected grapes are used only in the best years to produce these wines which are the sweetest, richest, rarest and most expensive of all German wines.  The grapes are fully consumed by Botytis and are shriveled almost to raisins when picked.  It is said to take one person an entire day to pick enough grapes for one bottle of wine!
• Eiswein - these wines are made from grapes which are very ripe and actually frozen on the vines.  They are hand picked and are generally the ripeness level of a Beerenauslese.  The grapes must be frozen on the vines naturally.  These wines are incredibly rich, sweet and high in acidity.

The other great thing about these wines is that they can age for decades!  This is a 2001 and it was full of rich apricot flavor that seemed to explode in the mouth.  The fruit was balanced by tons of acidity which made this a perfect wine to go along with some spicy shrimp etoufee.

I encourage you to sample some quality German rieslings if you have not done so.  Yes, some of them can be sweet but many are actually quite dry.  The acidity also balances out the sweetness, when it is there, and make these wines very food friendly especially with spicy dishes.

Cheers!