Wine & Spirits - Winter 2019 - 59

O LD WO RLD

Top 100 Wineries

Fritz Haag

Joh. Jos. Prüm

GERMANY | MOSEL
Oliver Haag captures the sun, wind and air of his Mosel vineyards in his transparent, precise rieslings.

GERMANY | MOSEL
The Prüms put out wines that are the archetype of Mosel riesling.

THE BRAUNEBERGER JUFFER VINEYARDS stand out
along the Mosel, hanging onto a precipitously
steep slope marked by a craggy outcropping of
stone in the middle of the hill. It's in this sunny,
warm swath of brown-slate soils that the Haag
family has made its name, growing intense, elegant rieslings. While it was Wilhelm Haag who
made wine the estate's calling card, it's his son,
Oliver Haag, who has clarified the personality of
the family's rieslings since he took over in 2005.
His care for his vines is meticulous, based on frequent passes through the vineyard to drop fruit
and split bunches so as to keep fresh air flowing
through the vines. He doesn't allow any botrytis
into his wines until the Auslese Gold Capsule
level. In the winery, he uses only stainless-steel
tanks, save for some old füders for vinfying his
high-end dry wines. Whereas some Brauneberger wines play up the warmth of the vineyard
in ripe, rich fruit flavors, Haag's always stand out
for their clarity, briskness and precision; their
power is in their length and definition. -T.Q.T.

OLIVER
HAAG

DR. KATHARINA
PRÜM

2017 Mosel Brauneberger Riesling Kabinett
($27, 94 points) Oliver Haag's frequent passes
through his vineyards allow him to make a range
of wines at different ripeness levels. He makes this
Kabinett from some of the first fruit picked in his
Juffer and Juffer Sonnenuhr vineyards, and it dazzles
with its delicate power, channeling its energy in a
sense of light. It feels numinous, with notes of wildflowers, lemons, herbs and green peaches that last
with clarity and weightlessness.

FOUNDED:

1605

OWNER/
WINEMAKER/
VITICULTURIST:

Oliver Haag
ACRES OWNED:

2017 Mosel Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr
Riesling Auslese Gold Capsule ($56/375m, 94
points) Haag picked this wine later in the season,
after botrytis set in, culling fruit only from the steepest part of the Juffer, where the vines share the
ample sunshine with the sundial that gives the parcel
its name. It's the definition of voluptuous, its sweet
peach and apricot fruit sheathed in golden honey
notes, energized by the thrum of its acidity.

FOUNDED:

1911

CASES PRODUCED:

10,000
ESTATE GROWN:

100%
IMPORTER:

Loosen Bros.
USA, Salem, OR

2017 Mosel Riesling QbA Trocken ($20, 92
points) It's tricky to capture the delicacy and charm
of Mosel riesling in bone-dry wines, but Haag does it
with his 2017 trocken QbA. It tastes like springtime,
of wildflower fields and barely ripe apricots, or herbs
and cold spring water filtered through stones. It's
substantial yet nimble, a wine to drink on its own or
take to a Japanese restaurant for dinner.

2017 Mosel Graacher Himmelreich Riesling
Kabinett ($44, 95 points) Taut and laden with
sheer, stony flavors, this needs time in the glass to
reveal friendlier details, like the pristine flavors of
Meyer lemons and tart gooseberries, green pears
and tangy pineapple. Pulled from old vines, most
of them on their own roots, and vinified in stainless
steel with ambient yeasts, it's regal and restrained,
deserving of a decade or more in the cellar.

OWNERS/
WINEMAKERS/
VITICULTURISTS:

Manfred and
Katharina Prüm
ACRES OWNED:

THERE ARE MANY PRÜMS IN the Mosel, but J.J.
Prüm stands above them all. The "JJ" stands for
Johann Josef, who inherited his family's estate
in Bernkastel and created his own winery in
1911. His son, Sebastian Alois, brought fame to
the estate with the sweet wines he began bottling in the 1920s, when the style was new; now,
it's considered classic, and the family's sweet
wines provide the model to which others aspire.
Today, despite the vogue for dry rieslings, Sebastian Alois's son, Manfred, and granddaughter,
Katharina, remain devoted to Prädikat wines,
sourcing them from some of the most imposing
slopes of the Mosel, like Wehlener Sonnenuhr, a
site so high and steep that Joducus Prüm chose
to install his sundial there in 1842. That analog
timepiece is still essential come harvest, when
vine workers are too covered in sticky grape juice
to access their iPhones. And much of the winemaking here remains analog, too, focused on
low-intervention techniques and long ferments
in the family's cold stone cellars. When the bottles emerge from underground, they are often
grumpy at first; give them time in your cellar to
adjust to the present day, or at least give them a
quick decant. You'll know the wine's coming into
focus when its underlying sweetness extends into
a filigreed line of stony fruit that feels like the
primordial definition of riesling. -T.Q.T.

2017 Mosel Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett ($52, 93 points) This steep blue-slate slope
grew a sleek, elegant riesling in 2017, with floral
notes and juicy apple flavors carried on a smooth,
oily texture. If you open it now, decant; or give it
another year or two in bottle.

CASES PRODUCED:

13,000
ESTATE GROWN:

100%
IMPORTER:

Valckenberg Int'l,
Crystal Lake, IL

2016 Mosel Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese ($60, 90 points) This isn't as much sweet as it
is flavorful, with scents ranging from peach jam and
mango to umami notes of earth and kelp. And yet
it remains buoyant, the wine's power expressed in
length and clarity.
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