Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Riesling auslese Gold Cap / 2022 / 375mL

Description:

The Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Gold Cap 2022 is a richly sweet Mosel Riesling in a 375mL half bottle, built on apricot, honey and slate rather than sheer weight of sugar. It carries real intensity, yet stays light on its feet in a way only Mosel Riesling manages at this level of ripeness.

Aromas run to yellow peach, dried apricot, quince paste and orange blossom, with the wet-stone character that marks Riesling grown on the steep blue slate of Brauneberg. The palate is unctuous and layered, honeyed stone fruit shading into mandarin peel, ginger and a touch of botrytis-driven marmalade.

Sweetness is considerable but never cloying, held in check by a taut line of acidity that runs the full length of the wine. Texture is silky rather than syrupy, and the finish is long, saline and clean, closing on citrus rind and crushed rock. The 2022 growing season in the Mosel was warm and dry, and that ripeness shows here in generosity of fruit rather than in any loss of tension.

Serve well chilled with blue cheese, foie gras or a fruit tart built on apricot or peach. It also works alongside spiced Asian dishes where a touch of sweetness cools the heat, or simply on its own after dinner in place of dessert.

A half bottle matures faster than a 750mL, so this will show its honeyed, developed side sooner — drink from now through to around 2040. That makes the format useful if you want an Auslese Gold Cap to open across two glasses rather than commit a full bottle, or to taste alongside older vintages without waiting decades.