WTN: 2000 Kracher Scheurebe Trockenbeerenauslese #9

(also posted on WT 101 on Netscape forum)

This Kracher Scheurebe Trockenbeerenauslese or TBA #9 is from Neusiedlersee, Zwischen den Seen, Burgenland, Austria. Labeled E7282/02. Pradikatswein "L" 6.5% alcohol by volume. I saw the 2001 half-bottle listed for $89.99 on one site but 2001 may have been a superior vintage in Austria as well as Germany. I'm sure I didn't pay that much. (The 2002 vintage was priced at $77.99 a half-bottle at another website).

375 ml or half-size bottle (tall and skinny) Opened on May 31st, the end of the "Austrian wines" month.

Coppery-gold color with faint hints of pale pink or rose.

Botrytis and honey nose. (Botrytis is analogous to "edefaule" or pourriture noble [noble rot] meaning that a beneficial mold--botrytis cinerea--has formed on the grapes). (My understanding--excuse and correct any misstatements.)

High viscosity, glycerol coating on tongue and palate, a bit cloying to the taste. Tastes of apricot nectar, honey, honeysuckle in a meld of flavors. I sipped by itself and with chewy caramels. Maybe it is in its infancy but I generally seem to like the Eisweins better than the BAs and TBAs.

I agree with you, JC, in that I tend to enjoy eiswein over BA or TBA but I love what I've had from Kracher.
Of his two styles, Zwischen den Seen and Noveau Vague, I like the ZdS (aged in large older barrels) better than the NV (barrique) as I taste more of the fruit and botrytis in the ZdS. I havent had the scheurebe but the muscat-ottonel and welschriesling TBA I've tried had really nice depth and acidic balance.