The wines of Alois Kracher, revisited

Following the tragic early death of Alois Kracher, his son, Gerhard, who is in his late 20s, has taken over running the family domain. He’s already been involved with the business for a while, and the consultant winemaker involved with the domain is still involved, so there should be continuity.

Here was a chance to catch up with some of the wines, and they’re simply brilliant: Kracher makes some of the world’s greatest sweet white wines. You can read an earlier report based on a visit to Kracher in 2004 here.

Kracher Zweigelt Illmitz 2006
A very enjoyable wine. Sweet and rich, with almost jammy fruit: raspberry and blackberry fruit. Soft juicy, sweet fruit. A delicious modern-style wine that’s pure and focused. Lovely. 89/100 (£12.60 Noel Young)

Kracher Zwiegelt Auslese 2005
Beautiful sweet herb, lemon and apricot nose with a ripe strawberryish edge. Sweet palate is quite viscous with lovely complex tangy fruit. Hint of rhubarb, too. Delicious stuff. 92/100 (£8.50 Noel Young)

Kracher Cuvée Beerenauslese 2006
Fantastic rich, apricotty, melony nose is intense and aromatic. The palate is concentrated with fat melony fruit and viscous creamy, spicy apricot flavours. Lovely. 93/100 (13.70 Noel Young)

Kracher Cuvée Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA) NV
Broad, fat peach and spice nose. Intense, thrilling, fat and aromatic. Really complex. The palate is super-concentrated and viscous with remarkable fat, spicy melon and apricot flavours, with good acidity. Great stuff. 94/100 (£11.75 18.75 cl)

Kracher Scheurebe TBA No. 4 'Zwischen den Seen' 2005
100% Scheurebe. Aged in stainless steel for 20 months. 204.5 g/litre residual sugar. 8.8 g/litre acidity. 12% alcohol. Amazing concentration here. Really viscous, fat, broad melony fruit with massive acidity. Bold, intense and thrilling. 95/100 (£31.50 Noel Young)

Kracher Grande Cuvée TBA No. 7 'Nouvelle Vague' 2005
65% Chardonnay, 35% Welschriesling. Welschriesling vinified in larger 1000 litre new oak casks, Chardonnay in new French barriques, both for 20 months. 241.8 g/litre residual sugar,  8.3 g/litre acidity, 10% alcohol. Very rich and bold on the nose. Spicy, intense, aromatic palate is viscous and intense with lovely intensity. Bold and supersweet with great balancing acidity and an eternal finish. 95/100 (£37.25 Noel Young)

Wines tasted 02/08  
Find these wines with wine-searcher.com

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