Weingut Fritz Haag make extremely distinctive wines, which I hope I do a good job of blind tasting. They have a brilliant purity of expression which, whilst you can sometimes confuse with Prum or Thanisch wines, you’d hope to get right. This is because there is a very strong vineyard character which is recognisable vintage after vintage.
Riesling Auslese Brauneberger-Juffer Sonnenuhr 2007, Fritz Haag
An intense, pure nose of lime fruit and slate minerality. This is very focussed and direct. Very beautiful, too, in a linear sort of way. Just smell this and you’ll love it. I love it. The palate is certainly sweet, but it fizzes with fresh acidity and an incredible minerality. There is a real streak of complexity and an wonderfully long finish. The focus is arresting and enlivening. This is a finely sculpted entity of stunning brilliance and as such, this is the kind of thing we really seek out when it comes to German wine. Thrilling.
That top chap and ex-captain of the Oxford blind tasting team would have us think that German Riesling deliveres most pleasure when it is young. When you try wines as thrilling, exciting and generally sex-tastic as this you can see what he means.
I crave young German Riesling. That’s not to diminish the delight to be had when it is older. But oh what a delight when it is young and frisky.