2022 Alois Kracher 'Trockenbeerenauslese No 3 Grande Cuvée Nouvelle Vague' [halvflaska]

Druvor

Welschriesling & Chardonnay

Tasting note

The focus of this year's tasting at Kracher's Weinlaubenhof in Illmitz was on the house's dry wines from 2018 to 2024, the five Trockenbeerenauslesen from the hot and long dry 2022 vintage and the 2025 Library Releases of the 2000 and 2005 Trockenbeerenauslese vintages.

"2000 was the first really hot year," says Gerhard Kracher about the vintage, from which he pours two Trockenbeerenauslese wines into my glass, Traminer No. 1 and Chardonnay No. 3. Gerhard was only 19 years old at the time and was assigned to labeling and washing barrels. But he still remembers well how his father, Alois (a.k.a. Luis), wondered aloud how it would turn out in the fall after such a hot and dry year with the botrytis on such thick skins. Contrary to expectations, it did very well, and in the end, there were 10 TBAs in the limited wooden crate. Alois had held back two wines for a late release; all the other wines were completely sold out. However, the first late release came after 10 years, the second after 15 years and the third after 20 years. After 25 years, the current one is likely to be the last, with the Chardonnay TBA No 3, which is an absolute highlight of the vintage and now available for sale again. This wine reveals an unbelievable energy and salivating salinity. Like all the wines in the Library Release, both wines have matured under perfect conditions on the estate and are worth every penny.

2005 was a balanced, warm year with sufficient rain. In the series of very good years from 2004 to 2006, it is certainly the finest. "Even then, like in 2022, we had two or three bouts of botrytis and already had 30% to 40% of the grapes inside after the first selection. This is always helpful and makes all subsequent decisions easier, because you already have something on the safe side," says Kracher. In total, the collection of the vintage consisted of 10 TBAs. It was the last vintage that Alois Kracher was responsible for until bottling. The 2006 was not bottled until the year after his death.

The upcoming 2022 vintage is another outstanding vintage, especially for Trockenbeerenauslese, if not in terms of quantity, then certainly in terms of quality. The rain at the beginning of October caused a happy botrytis, which went perfectly due to the subsequent sunshine that allowed the berries to dry out quickly. In total, the five TBAs were harvested in three selections between the beginning of October and the end of November. Highlights are the Welschriesling TBA No 2, the Grande Cuvée TBA No 3 and the Rosenmuskateller TBA No 5.

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Robert Parker Wine Advocate