Wine Advocate (97+)

The 2020 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese *** (White Capsule) is deep, super intense and aromatic in its precise and elegant fruit but also refined and nuanced, with slate and chamomile flowers highlighting this utterly complex yet pure and "classic," fruity bouquet. Pure and fresh on the palate, this is a precise, crystalline and saline, very elegant and salivating Sonnenuhr that will need some years on the bottle to refine. The finish is very intense, aromatic and precise, revealing a crunchy slate character and mouth-watering salinity. A great dry Sonnenuhr from Wehlen and incomparable with any WSU I know. 12% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine from AP 52 21 in July 2022.

Wine Advocate (93)

The 2020 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett (Golden Capsule) offers an intense, pure, deep and finely flinty nose that is still discreet and but very fine. Lush and savory on the palate, this is a sweet, fresh and zesty WSU with precise and linear mineral acidity and a salivating finish that indicates excellent aging potential. 7.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted from AP 30 21 at the domaine in July 2022.

Wine Advocate (94)

The 2020 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese (Golden Capsule) started pretty reductive and timid on the nose when I first tasted it straight from the bottle, but it became beautifully pure and refined after three days of aeration. Lush and voluptuous on the palate, this is an intense and sweet yet also very fine, balanced and elegant, subtly concentrated and finely tensioned Spätlese with good mineral length and fine salinity on the finish. The 2020 drinks very beautifully today (if you like it sweet and refined), but it will still taste fine in 10 to 15 years and be more complex. 7.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine from AP 18 21 in July 2022.

Wine Advocate (98)

The dry 2020 Riesling Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese *** (White Capsule) shows great purity paired with intensity, depth and noblesse, exhibiting ripe and concentrated but savory Riesling fruit intertwined with flinty notes of finely weathered blue slate and lush peach aromas. Rich and intense but highly refined and elegant on the palate, this is a crystalline, very delicate and saline-finishing ZSU with great terroir expression and balance. 12% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine from AP 30 21 in July 2022.

Wine Advocate (99)

The 2020 Riesling Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese *** (Golden Capsule) opens with a highly delicate and filigreed bouquet with beautifully clear nuances of apricot and very fine slate on the deep and complex, beautifully refined and precise nose. On the palate, this is a tender, highly finessed and saline Auslese with a concentrated but balanced and seamless texture. Quite sweet still but utterly refined and noble, this delicate, saline and crystalline Auslese doesn't show anything like power or confiture but celebrates its elegance, finesse and definition. A fabulous, pristine Auslese. 7.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine from AP 28 22 in July 2022.

Wine Advocate (95)

The 2020 Riesling Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Kabinett (Golden Capsule) opens with a deep, pure and complex bouquet with concentrated fruit and lemon aromas intermingled with delicate and coolish slate aromas. Full-bodied, crystalline and fresh on the palate, this is a pure, saline and terribly fresh but mouth-watering ZSU Kabinett with fine and precise acidity and a tight and tensioned finish that needs some years to refine. 7.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine from AP 33 21 in July 2022.

James Suckling (99)

Marvelous aromas of crushed berries, tobacco, cedar and mushrooms. Some dried cheese. Then turns to flowers. Very complex. Full and intense with fantastic depth and power. It goes on for minutes. It is a wine that exudes tradition but gives a sense of modernity with precise winemaking. Two years in oak, one in concrete and three or four in bottle. Drink on release and age onwards.

Wine Advocate (100)

I have been terribly excited about this wine since I first learned that (part of) it was still in cement waiting to be bottled in September 2013. I consider the rare white Castillo Ygay one of the greatest white wines ever produced in Spain, and the 1986 Castillo Ygay Blanco Gran Reserva Especial is a great addition to the portfolio of the winery--an historic wine that is coming back to life. I did a vertical tasting of many of the old, historic vintages of this wine, and they are included in a separate article in this very same issue. This 1986 had seen the light as a limited early release bottled in 1992 and sold around 1995, and some bottles might still be found in the market. But most of it remained unbottled and was kept at the winery, where it stayed in oak for 21 years, followed by some six years in cement vats until it was bottled. It has 13.5% alcohol, an extremely low pH of 2.98 and 6.75 grams of acidity (tartaric). It has a very subtle nose and it's a bit shy, a little closed at first. It was only bottled one and a half years ago, and it's not crazy to say that the wine is showing extremely young. The wine shows more open the day after, when it has developed some nuances of mushrooms and verbena tea. This is mostly Viura with perhaps a pinch of Malvasía Riojana (aka Alarije). The palate is both powerful and elegant, with superb acidity and great length, with volume and sharpness, with a mineral, umami-driven finish. It fills your mouth, tickles your taste buds and makes you salivate. There is nothing negative about the wine; there is no excess oak, nothing blurry, nothing to improve... perhaps the bottle used! I think this is a perfect wine. It seems to be getting younger and younger with time in the glass; it seems to be getting more focused and sharper, and I have no doubt the wine will evolve and last for a very, very, very long time in bottle. I kept the opened bottle for almost one week and the wine didn't move one inch--no oxidation or any signs of fatigue. Having tasted many other vintages, including the also perfect 1919 (which is still going strong at age 97), I have no doubt we're talking about a white for the next 50 years. Looking at the older vintages, I might even be underestimating its life span. The potential next release could be the 1998 in no less than ten years' time.

Wine Advocate (95)

The 2019 Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese is fascinatingly pure, bright, refined and flinty on the nose that reveals very fine Riesling, slate and iron aromas. Pure, fresh and filigreed on the palate, this is a crystalline, fresh and piquant, crisp and crystalline JSU Spätlese in the acidity-accentuated MFR style. The finish is pure and salty, piquant and concise and makes this an exciting wine to try again in 20 years. Tasted at the domain in September 2020.

Wine Advocate (94)

From vines planted in the 1890s, the 2019 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling GG "Uralte Reben" trocken is still quite reductive on the nose but very fine, bright and floral on the delicately slatey and intensely fruity yet subtle nose. Intense and powerful on the palate (at 11.5% alcohol!), this is a crystalline, tight and salty Sonnenuhr with still shy mirabelle aromas on the nose. It is beautifully pure and filigreed yet long and intense—a wine that deserves our patience and attention for 20 or more years. Tasted at the domain in September 2020.

James Suckling (98)

This is amazing traditional Rioja with a complexity and beauty of ripe fruit and long aging. Unique. Full body, ultra-fine tannins, tobacco, vanilla, plums and prunes. It lasts for minutes on the palate. Three years aged in oak and three years in bottle. 80% tempranillo with the rest of the classic varieties. All from high altitude vineyards.

Wine Advocate (94-95)

Predominantly vinified in classic foudres, the 2021 Graacher Domprobst Spätlese is clear, deep, coolish and flinty on the nose, yet it's provided with a fully ripe and aromatic nose of yellow-fleshed stone fruits intertwined with notes of crushed, wet slate. Lush and elegant on the palate, this is a linear, saline and tensioned Spätlese with slate/tannin grip and the aromas of fully ripe and juicy red-skinned apples and lemons. 8.5% stated alcohol. Tasted as a sample in July 2022.

Tim Atkin MW (97)

Little by little, this no-expense-spared winery is approaching the peak of Rioja and now deserves to be considered among the region’s leading producers. Fine, perfumed, elegant and well balanced, with notes of blackberry and orange zest, complemented by sweet, aromatic oak and finishing with freshness and balletic poise.