J J Prum: the last great wine house priced reasonably.

Just bought some 2019, and was amazed at the restraint on prices. All Auslese in the high fifties, the gold caps were just north of a hundred. And the wines are always excellent, often sublime.

Trying to think of another estate at the top of their peer group that is as well priced. The only other one I can think of is Beaucastel.

Yep. And they will outlive us. Love it.

I agree and not many fit the category of genre-defining yet reasonably priced. Some other possibilities though: Foillard, Lopez de Heredia, Huet, Baudry, and a smattering of other Germans and Austrians.

Agreed. Can’t believe how much some of my other favorite rieslings have gone up in price.

Might be my taste but we just had the Lopez de Heredia 2007 Tondonia in our Zoom group. We really disliked it, could not finish the bottle. Not only was it simple, but it had a cloying sweetness in the finish and after taste. Never experienced a LdH like that. Others in thevgroup preferred it to me, and some actually really liked it.

Shh!

Agreed on PrĂĽm and Beaucastel.

  • Huet

so true. and a fascinating take re: comparing to beaucastel. i made a bet with a friend of mine that given between those two wines (they came up in a very similar type of discussion as your post), most people would choose prum, he thought beaucastel. i posted here. i’ll try and find it.

umm…Donnhoff

Thanks interesting and concerning. I’ve never had an LdH with that profile and I’ve had many vintages. I’ll have to check it once my bottles arrive.

Agree with you on Prum (always buying more) and 07 LdH (simple is the perfect descriptor).

My 2007 LdH wines are stashed deep in the cellar…

I totally agree. As many of you know Prum is my favorite wine. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn’t get too popular and start becoming hard to find/pricey. It’s already really hard for to find some of the better back vintages for someone that isn’t in Europe, Cali, or Hong Kong.

The good news is new vintages are rather easy to come by and ,so far, don’t break the bank. I fully intend on visiting Prum next year.

As for other “bargain” producers, I am still rather new to the world of wine and aging so I don’t have much to add, but am learning a lot. So thanks for those who shared.

Mark I am very jealous of your 4 bottles of 07 LGK that I read on a prior search of the classified section.

Had the same experience with 07 Tondonia. I very much prefer the viña bosconia 07 or the 2010 cubillo that I can also get right now.

I have a hard time finding Prum locally, but that is par for the course here. I agree that it is a fantastic value.

Top producer in our cellar by half.

True but this could be said for so many German wines. How about Falkenstein. Their reference point genre defining Kabinett Trocken is $26. The Auslese is $41. These prices are post tariff for the 2019s after received crazy high scores from multiple publications. Only problem is that there is so little to go around and the secret is out.

I love Falkenstein and bought a shed load of 2019s (and before). But they don’t have the track record of Prum, who does consistently? Egon but you can’t call that reasonably priced.

Fair point and since I have JJ Prum back to the 40s I certainly agree. However at $25 for the Kabi Trocken I will take my chances. I have bought over 10 cases of the 19s and I am still buying.

And as far as Egon goes 50% of my pre 90s bottles have been corked going back to the early 60s. It is heartbreaking.

Also I do have the first Auslese Falkenstein made that I acquired in a charity auction at Rieslingfeier I have been waiting to open it with them, will be an interesting data point on how they age.

Yuuuup.

Some retailers I’ve seen getting the Falkenstein wines are now charging more than even that. Party’s over!