The 2023 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese opens with a serene, stony, salty slaty breeze. The palate is exquisitely fine and very bright, luminous even, soaring upward as it reaches down into the slate, embodying the total elegance of the site. Slenderness and serenity are exemplary.
- Vinous, 96 pts.
The 2023 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese is concentrated and very intense on the fruit-driven, deep and spicy nose. The wine is very elegant and refined on the dense and seriously structured, salivating palate that is a promise for the future and endlessly salty in the present. 8% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine from AP 08 24 in January 2025. At the renowned winery in Wehlen in January, I had to taste not only the last but also the penultimate vintage, i.e., 2023 alongside the 2022. I tasted both vintages one after the other, not side by side—the 2023 before lunch, the 2022 afterwards. I don't have a favorite, even though I had thought in advance that the 2023 vintage would have an easy time against its predecessor. But far from it. The hot and dry 2022s at Prüm turned out exceptionally well, and more than once I saw the 2022 ahead of the 2023, but I can't give a plausible reason for this. In any case, Katharina and her team have produced two great collections in two very different and challenging vintages.
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 95 pts.
This elegant and attractive white maintains its lightness from start to finish. Aloe and sage smoke infuse this buoyant, bright version's core of guava, apple and pear. There's good tension throughout, with chalky minerality, plus a floral lift that plays out on the long finish, where there's a pleasing snappiness. Delicious and drinking beautifully now. Drink now through 2040.
- Wine Spectator, 93 pts.
