Tasting Notes
Vinous 92+
This auction lot represents, in Schug’s words, "the more shriveled and botrytized berries, progressively picked out in the course of the Auslese harvest." Orange and anise liqueurs on the nose and on a creamy, glycerol-rich, oily palate are offset by fresh lime and orange that lend penetrating brightness and reflect the unusually high acidity, even by vintage standards, that was concentrated in the aforementioned shriveled berries. Those acids get the upper hand on a strikingly-sustained finish of rapier penetration and eye-watering sharpness. Prior to 2004, Loosen and Schug would never have rendered a Prälat Auslese remotely this energetic or fearlessly high-acid. (Being auctioned on September 16, 2016, meant that this wine was bottled a bit ahead of the other 2015 vintage Loosen Auslesen, which may partly explain its embryonic, acid-dominated showing when I last tasted it on September 19. Lest there be any confusion as to what physically constitutes a gold capsule as opposed to a “long” gold capsule, this Auslese carries the A.P. #61.)
Anticipated maturity: 2017-2040
