Ansgar Clusserath Trittenheimer Apotheke Riesling Auslese, Mosel, Germany

安斯加爾克魯斯拉斯特里登海梅爾雷司令精選葡萄酒

點(diǎn)擊次數(shù)：3423

Featuring, like its Spatlese counterpart, a small measure of botrytis – small because, she reports, there simply wasn’t much this year – Eva Clusserath’s 2011 Trittenheimer Apotheke Riesling Auslese was picked-out over a range of parcels. Scents of sassafras and apple lead to a rich yet juicy palate suggesting quince preserves, apple jelly, fresh apple, and lemon, with apple pip bitterness offering some counterpoint to this bottling’s over sweetness. Notably pure, polished and persistent, this ought to be well worth following for at least a quarter century, though personally I would leave it untouched for a decade in anticipation of its sweetness moderating. Eva Clusserath has seldom if ever shown me a more consistently fine collection than from this vintage and it’s too bad that until now only a small representation of her wines – this year bottled in mid-summer – has shown up Stateside. Rather than do a green harvest, Clusserath elected to instead organize a massive “pre-harvest” the third week in September that thinned her vineyards of bunches that had been affected by August hail, but whose results otherwise proved serviceable. Most of her best material, though, was picked close to a month later.Importer: Domaine Select Wine Estates, New York, NY; tel. (212) 279-0799

If anything, there seems to have been less botrytis in the parcel that informed Clusserath’s 2008 Trittenheimer Apotheke Riesling Auslese than there was in the corresponding (and equally late-harvested) Spatlese. Honeydew and watermelon, sassafras and wisteria seduce the nose and inform a rich yet buoyant, quite sweet but luscious palate. The finish here lingers caressingly rather than emphatically. This should be worth following from 15-20 years. Ansgar Clusserath’s acreage has been expanded into Dhron, Piesport, and Muhlheim at the expense of Trittenheim because, as Clusserath wistfully admits, after the communal grubbing-up, restructuring, and near-total clonal replanting of Trittenheim’s steepest slopes (a process collectively known as Flurbereinigung), she could not hope in her lifetime to make more of the sorts of Riesling that come from old, ungrafted, selection massale vines. That said, her new vineyards left her a bit in the lurch this year, inexplicably plateauing in Oechsle in November, whereas her remaining old vines in Trittenheim benefited from a late-inning surge in ripeness.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

The Ansgar-Clusserath 2007 Trittenheimer Apotheke Riesling Auslese is based on a combination of goldenly ripe and botrytized berries akin to that which informed the corresponding Dhroner Hofberg, but here the net result was riper if not quite so uncannily elegant, transparent, and irresistible. Grilled pineapple, grapefruit, and honey dominate throughout, with a glossy, slick texture and hints of white raisin and marzipan emerging in an almost liqueur-like finish. No doubt this will keep for up to two decades but I doubt it will ever approach the allure of the Dhroner. Despite the ravages of hail in her Altarchen vineyards, Eva Clusserath triumphed in this vintage.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel (516) 677-9300

Clusserath’s 2006 Trittenheimer Apotheke Riesling Auslese is yet riper and more botrytized than its fellow Auslesen in this collection, with over-ripe peach, tropical fruits, and honey. Flatteringly creamy and rich, its palate-coating virtues extend to an impressively long finish. But the uncanny delicacy, the interplay and complexity, and the distinct minerality possessed by the best wines here today is – for now at least – missing. That this will last long seems a foregone conclusion; perhaps too it will offer more nuance in time.Eva Clusserath keeps going from strength to strength, and made a success of 2006 (if one overlooks very small yields). This year, parcels of old vines she has acquired in Piesport and Dhron supplement her portfolio. The bad news is that she did this to compensate for many wonderful old vineyards she lost as part of the just-completed communal restructuring and replanting in Trittenheim. A prohibition is now (at least temporarily) in place against planting ungrafted vines, and there is not enough old plant material available. Even were clonal selections that she could have planted today to reach maturity (and she late middle age!), says Clusserath, they would never approach the quality of what she lost.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel (516) 677-9300

Clusserath’s 2005 Trittenheimer Apotheke Riesling Auslese was a byproduct (and what a bonus!) of scrupulous pre-harvest for her Apotheke trocken. It displays a colorful aromatic melange of mirabelle, litchi, apple jelly, wood smoke, and oriental spices. On the palate, this has density, sap, almost a pulpy feel to it, and the lively acidity and phenolic cut to successfully push back against a lot of residual sugar (less successfully accomplished in this year’s Apotheke Spatlese). Fresh apple and plum drenched in honey inform a rich yet refined finish, managing also to display subtle spiciness and transparency to what, for lack of a better word, I can only term “minerality.” This gorgeous Auslese opens up considerably in the glass and has, I suspect, an excellent 20 or more year potential in the cellar. Also recommended: 2005 Trittenheimer Apotheke Riesling Kabinett ($22.00; 84), 2005 Trittenheimer Apotheke Riesling Spatlese ($30.00; 86).Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300