2021 Riesling Graacher Himmelreich Auslese

An iconic address indeed that, for many, defines what Mosel style stands for. The Prüm family has been in the region since the twelfth century. They are one of the estates that managed to buy vineyard holdings after Napoleon’s secularization when this part of Germany temporarily became a French département. It was the family ancestor Jodocus Prüm who, in 1842, built the famous eponymous sundial in the Wehlener Sonnenuhr. The riverside villa in Wehlen looks across the river to this storied vineyard. The estate was founded in 1911 by Johan Josef Prüm. His grandson Manfred Prüm, who ran the estate from 1969 onwards, is now 89 years old. As a brief appearance during my visit made apparent, he is still in fine fettle, with a ready smile for any guest who comes to taste (by appointment, of course.) His daughter Katharina Prüm took over in 2005 and now runs the estate with much élan and consistency – continuing its emphatically elegant style. No dry wines are made at Joh. Jos. Prüm and all fruit is estate-grown. Total holdings are 21 hectares, including a big swathe of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Zeltinger Sonnenuhr, Graacher Himmelreich, Bernkasteler Badstube and Bernkasteler Lay. Viticulturist Marvin Bauer leads a crew of seven full-time employees, occasionally assisted by up to 40 seasonal workers for canopy management and harvest. He joined the estate five years ago, working alongside the longstanding viticulturist Karl Josef Heinz who had been in charge of the vineyards for the three decades before his retirement. No herbicides have been used since 2018.