2002 Riesling Graacher Himmelreich Auslese

"The qualitative peaks were higher in 2001 than in 2002," comments Manfred Prum. "Perhaps very early there might have been a chance this year to capture some comparable botrytis, but then came rain. It's a shame that, above all, those grapes in the best sites that had already achieved full ripeness and light botrytis were easily spoiled. But the majority of the fruit was healthy and resisted the rain. "And this majority - to judge by the small subset of wines Prum chose for me to taste as representative - produced first-class quality. "Two thousand two does not need to hide itself behind 2001," Prum concluded. But the price to be paid for the rain was a small crop. Among the many future releases here that I did not have the opportunity to taste are a Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese, an auction Auslese from the Wehlener Sonnenuhr, and a significant amount of Eiswein.