Wine of the week: a mind-blowingly exciting aperitif
This riesling is a bargain and a beauty. And at a sniff under 20 quid, it is positively irresistible.
Graacher Himmelreich, Riesling, Kabinett, JJ Prüm, 2018, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Germany
£19.68, Justerini & Brooks, 020-7484 6430, justerinis.com
JJ Prüm is just about the only epic wine estate in the world on my hit list of greats that I have yet to visit. I have travelled to Germany many times and I have asked to visit Prüm (twice), but they have turned me down (both times). I am not sure why, but it hasn’t stopped me drinking gallons of their wines and writing up their finest releases in my various columns.
The rieslings from the Wehlener Sonnenuhr vineyard, across all sweetness levels including the rare goldkapsel (gold capsule) wines, are all celestial, highly sophisticated and extraordinarily age-worthy. This 33-acre estate, with nearly 70% of ungrafted vines, also includes holdings in Zeltinger Sonnenuhr, my featured Graacher Himmelreich, Graacher Domprobst, Bernkasteler Lay and Bernkasteler Badstube, and all of these wines are worth tracking down.
My featured wine is a bargain and a beauty – at a sniff under 20 quid, it is positively irresistible. It tips the scales at a teeny 9% alcohol and this means that it is ever so slightly grapey and off-dry on the palate. It’s like stepping back in time 40 years to an age when we all drank delicate Mosel Rieslings instead of gauche sparkling wines before dinner. Nothing has changed in the Jukes household over this period because we still enjoy this tradition! So try your hand at this mind-blowingly exciting aperitif because it is totally alive with prickly acidity and heavenly, tender fruit.
Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s Communicator of the Year (matthewjukes.commatthewjukes.com)