Founded in 1911 in the village of Wehlen, Joh. Jos. Prum is one of the reference points of Mosel Riesling, an estate whose name has shaped how the region is understood for more than a century. From steep blue-slate sites above the river, among them Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Graacher Himmelreich and Bernkasteler Badstube, it makes off-dry and sweet Pradikat Riesling and almost nothing else, fermented with wild yeasts and aged in old oak casks. The wines are famously unyielding in youth, closed and faintly wild, and just as famously rewarding with age, holding their line for decades. The estate is now led by Dr. Katharina Prum, who has made the wines since 2007 alongside her father, Manfred, and who has changed remarkably little by choice. The result is Riesling of weightless intensity and rare longevity, and some of the most collectable white wine in the world.

Poise and Vitality

After a run of warm, ripe years, 2024 reads as a welcome return to classical Mosel form. That is not to say it came easily. Heavy winter and spring rains left water reserves in good shape, but a sharp frost on 22 April cut into yields across the region, hardest of all in the Saar and Ruwer. The Middle Mosel fared better, though the crop is still down.

A warm late summer and a long, cool autumn then did the patient work, mild days and cold nights drawing ripening out slowly and evenly into October. The result is not the searing, high-acid wine a cool year might lead you to expect. The acidity is there, but it is framed by clear, precise fruit rather than left exposed. On early showing the 2024s are charming young, already with the site transparency that marks a classic Mosel year.

The classic, cool 2024 vintage