Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr, Riesling, Grosses Gewächs, 2017
There is something sweetly elemental about this Juffer Sonnenuhr; a wine with lightness and agility; cooling citrus, white flowers some violet and a fine crackling slate, dried herbs and taut tense, saline finish. Intense but also effortless, long and so easy to drink.
critic reviews
A Riesling with a sunny disposition, this one prominently features lemon and grapefruit in a combination of zesty aromatic pungency and bittersweetness with bright juiciness. There is a silken feel and a pleasant hint of textural oiliness, along with a sense of extract-richness allied to buoyancy. As was the case with this collection’s non-Grosses Gewächs dry wines, nutty piquancy and a strong undertone of wet stone serve for finishing counterpoint, but here – in contrast with what one frequently observes in Grosse Gewächse, and despite lower residual sugar – I don’t experience the austerity that accrued to this year’s “SL" Kabinett and Spätlese trocken. Instead, there is a long burst of refreshing, citric juiciness and a hint of salinity that together leave one coveting the next sip. This appears to be one of those frequent instances where I have a decided preference for a wine that its grower prices as his or her “least” Grosses Gewächs; and growers are fond of telling me that I gravitate toward the most accessible bottling. Well, one can only appreciate what is currently accessible, and I sure do appreciate what’s on offer here!
The 2017 Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Riesling GG offers an intense yellow color and a correspondingly deep bouquet of ripe and concentrated fruits intertwined with fine and refreshing notes of crushed stones and a dash of lemon juice. Silky, lush and round on the palate, this is a tightly structured, powerful and persistent Juffer Sonnenuhr that is more masculine and strong than delicate. The finish is juicy, piquant and spicy, piercing the mucous membranes of the mouth. Tasted from a decanted bottle in March 2019.