Joh Jos Prum Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Spätlese 2022

Established by Johann Josef Prüm (1873 - 1944), the J.J. Prüm estate was born in 1911. Dr. Manfred Prüm had led the estate since 1969 and now his daughter Katharina has taken over the mantle. The 13.5-hectare estate includes some 70% of ungrafted vines (because the phylloxera louse cannot survive in these slate soils.) All of the vineyards of J.J. Prüm are renowned, yet it is the great Wehlener Sonnenuhr vineyard that is the most famous. This site lies opposite the village of Wehlen on a very steep, south-west facing slope between the Graach and Zeltingen vineyards. Stuart Pigott notes; “For wine lovers around the world, the Wehlener Sonnenuhr name is synonymous with great Riesling. In top vintages, the site yields the richest, silkiest, most seductive wines on the Mosel. The fame of these Rieslings is inextricably linked with that of the Joh Jos Prüm estate.” Having said this, Prüm also produces outstanding wine from benchmark sites in Graach (Graacher Himmelreich), Zeltingen (Zeltinger Sonnenuhr) and Bernkastel (Bernkasteler Badstube) and it is very difficult to pick these wines apart in blind tastings – they are all exceptional. Yet they all subtly express the unique personality of the vineyard in a given year. Although the J.J. Prum vineyards all border each other along the same riverbank and share roughly the same soils (Devonian slate), each site has subtle, yet important differences that result in quite distinctive styles of wine.