Mature Ürziger Würzgarten Auslese

As we wrote in the second installment of the L&E Riesling Corner, the 1990s was a magical decade for the Mosel. Grand vintages are usually limited to four or five per decade – the 1990s brought, arguably, eight. And 1992 is perhaps the sleeper of the great vintages. Showing plenty of honeyed fruit, 1992s drank well young; but the finest, as you will see below, are still very much in their prime window of maturity.

The Jos. Christoffel, Jr. estate – run by Karl Josef Christoffel and related to, but separate from the J. J. Christoffel and J. J. Prüm estates – boasts outstanding sites in the middle Mosel’s great Ürziger Würzgarten, Erdener Prälat, Erdener Treppchen and Wehlener Sonnenuhr vineyards. From time to time, the estate releases gems from its vast library which consistently prove the brilliance and uncanny longevity of its wines. Thanks to our local German wine ambassador, the affable Ewald Moseler, Portland denizens have been lavished with breathtaking array of mature vintages from this wonderful producer. Here is one of the finest from the importer’s most recent offering.
—Summer 2009

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1992 Jos. Christoffel, Jr. (Christoffel-Prüm) Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Auslese, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Germany Contact us for pricing and availability Located on a bend in the Mosel River, the grey slate of neighboring Wehlen and Zeltingen transitions visibly to the red slate and red sandstone soils of Ürzig and Erden. Ürziger Würzgarten, which means the “spice garden of Ürzig,” is one of the Mosel’s finest and most compelling crus. Noted for its spicy, pungent bouquet and ability to repay a decade or three of ageing, wines from Ürziger Würzgarten’s top producers are eagerly sought, vintage after vintage, by Mosel wine geeks. Now a venerable seventeen years of age, Jos. Christoffel, Jr.’s Ürziger Würzgarten 1992 Auslese is now at its peak of maturity. A brilliant deep green-gold in color in the glass, the wine offers classic mature Würzgarten aromas of dark brown sugar, petrol, Comice pears and pepper jelly. Still brisk, vibrant and bristling with acidity, the wine expands on the palate with suggestions of sweet Meyer lemons, pine sap, birch bark, slate minerality, and creamy vanilla custard. Showing old-school Auslese texture and richness, the wine is at its absolute apogee of enjoyment: complex, spherical and still amazingly fresh. Perhaps best enjoyed by itself to allow the wine to fully express all its mature nuances, one could certainly find excellent parings with seared scallops, miso-marinated black cod, quiche Lorraine, even not-too-sweet tarte tatin. We urge you to stock up on this rare, brilliant, delicious and laughably inexpensive expression of mature Ürziger Würzgarten Auslese.