2024 WINEMAKERS RESERVE TBA RIESLING

Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA), German for “selected dried berries,” is the rarest and most concentrated sweet wine a Riesling vineyard can produce. It depends entirely on Botrytis cinerea, the “noble rot,” a beneficial fungus that appears only under a narrow set of conditions: humid, misty mornings followed by dry, sunny afternoons late in the season. The botrytis pierces the grape skins, letting water evaporate while sugar, acid, and flavor concentrate. Because these conditions cannot be forced, a true TBA is made only in the rare years when nature allows it, and yields are small. 

The 2024 season gave us that opportunity. On November 8th, well into late autumn, the vineyard crew hand-sorted the fruit berry-by-berry, selecting only fully botrytised fruit. At harvest the fruit measured an extraordinary 44.9° Brix. Because the shriveled berries hold so little free juice, we stomped the fruit and let it soak on the skins for more than 24 hours to rehydrate the botrytis and coax out its concentrated sugar and flavor. The wine then underwent a long, slow native fermentation in stainless steel. 

With only 41 gallons produced, just 408 half-bottles exist. This is a shooting-star wine: one we may not have the chance to make again for many years.