Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Riesling auslese Gold Cap / 2024 / 375mL

Description:

The Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Gold Cap 2024 is a sweet Mosel Riesling of real intensity that stays light on its feet, with slate and citrus doing as much work as the sugar. In a 2024 season where frost and a wet summer cut yields hard, this was picked as a rigorous selection of the finest berries and sits at the top of the Haag range for the year.

Sweet rockmelon, pink grapefruit and lemon verbena lead the aromatics, with an unmistakable botrytis note running underneath — over 40 per cent of the fruit was botrytis-affected — reading as honeyed apricot and dried mandarin peel rather than anything heavy.

There is genuine richness and pressure across the palate, yet the Auslese carries it weightlessly, the sweetness held in check by taut Mosel acidity. The finish is long, stony and oddly clean, leaving a faint saltiness on the lips and no cloying at all.

Pour it with blue cheese, a fruit tart, roast duck with cherries, or a bowl of ripe stone fruit and thick cream. It also holds its own against Thai and Sichuan heat.

The 375mL format is the sensible way into a wine like this: enough for two glasses after dinner without committing to a full bottle, and a half matures faster, so it will show its honeyed, developed side sooner. Drink from now to 2044, with the smaller bottle likely at its peak a few years ahead of the 750mL.