Kracher Kollektion Grande Cuvee Trockenbeerenauslese #5 2019 (375ML)

98 WA / 98 JS / 96 JA / 96 WI / 95 DE / 17.5 JR

#72 James Suckling Top 100 Austrian Wines

Blending 60% Welschriesling vinified in Slavonian oak vats of 1,000 and 1,500 liters and 40% Chardonnay aged in barriques, the 2019 Trockenbeerenauslese No. 5 Grande Cuvée Nouvelle Vague opens with a clear and concentrated, noble and finely toasty bouquet of ripe and stewed peaches and quinces with refreshing lemon juice and very fine toast aromas. On the palate, this is a rich and generous but highly refined and elegant TBA with a long, intense and saline finish that reveals very fine cumquat bitters. This is a beautifully balanced and extremely long TBA with very fine tannins and cedarwood notes. A beauty with great complexity and immense aging potential. 10% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine in July 2022. - Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate

A fabulously concentrated and beautifully balanced TBA, this is like diving into a fjord of tropical fruit (both fresh and dried), the vibrant acidity and salty minerality exactly counterbalancing the lushness. Very long, creamy and complete finish. A truly grand cuvee of 60% welschriesling and 40% chardonnay. Drink or hold. - James Suckling

Amber and burnt orange in colour, with powerful luscious apricots on the attack. Sweet silky texture, clashes in the best possible way between luxurious sweetness and biting orange peel and lime zest acidity, giving the contrast, and light and shade that you really need in a sweet wine. 6,000 bottles of Kracher in half bottles on the place. Serve cool. Another first timer on the Bordeaux system this year, 7.1g/l acidity, 205g/l residual sugar, fermented and aged in 100% new oak. - Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux

A blend of 50% Chardonnay and 50% Welschriesling, the 2019 Trockenbeerenauslese Grande Cuvee is a pale amber color. It gives up explosive scents of manuka honey, sultanas, pineapple upside-down cake, and allspice with hints of orange blossom and lime cordial. Very sweet, rich, and yet with amazing tension, it has a fantastically decadent texture and the finish goes on forever. - Lisa Perotti-Brown, Wine Independent

A new addition to the Place de Bordeaux this year and the first Austrian wine to join the cohort. Incredible purity of aroma on the nose, dried apricot, wild honey, runny toffee - so beguiling. Wonderful texture, filling and sumptuous yet not too cloying. Retains a sense of liveliness and finesse, just really quite pure and pristine. The sweetness is well balanced by the acidity meaning that it's still vibrant and almost playful. Charming and just delicious. I love the sweet honeyed elements, the lemon and orange bitterness and the nectarine fruit. It's fun while being so generously sweet. Excellent control. 7.1g/L acidity, 205g residual sugar. Fermented and aged in new barriques for 28 months. This will be a small release of 7,000 bottles. A special wooden collection box will also be available featuring this wine and eight others of different grape varieties and sweetness levels (this one being number five). - Decanter

RS 205 g/l, TA 7.1 g/l. Fermented and aged in new barriques for 28 months.
As usual, this is 60% Welschriesling and 40% Chardonnay and, to judge from the nose, this is a very happy combo. Pale apricot colour. Smooth as satin and very rich, but with the skein of acidity brought by the Welschriesling nicely moderating the sweetness. No obvious oak at all. Long, vibrant, tangy finish with a suggestion of candied hazelnuts. Rather more complex than some of its stablemates. - Jancis Robinson