The wine was Niederhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Auslese 1976, AP Nr.
1 750 053/51/77. The wine has been properly stored since release, the cork was sound, and the fill was good. A kind importer special ordered a case of this from Germany for me along with other top German wines from 1976 of auslese and above. In general the top 1976 German wines are a once in a lifetime event. They often are extremely rich and ripe, and in some better estates little below auslese was made. In fact many estates sold sold their less rich auslesen as spatlese, etc to have some of the lower grades of wine. The 1959s are often as rich, but many do not have nearly as much botrytis character of honey and exotic tropical fruit. Perhaps a very few wines from the late 40s and the 20s were about as rich. The 1971s are perhaps more classic and good in all ripeness grades, but they usually are not as rich as the best 76s.It took many years for this wine to fully integrate and show best. I would say that it is still holding at peak and likely will hold well longer. The color is now golden. The expected aged Riesling character that some call petrol has developed, and it is in balance and clean. The wine is very sweet and rich, but it is balanced by enough acidity. It could easily pass for a BA in taste for most years.The bouquet and taste have much tropical fruit character such as mango and papaya along with yellow peach. The finish is very long. Auslesen do not get much better. There is a large deposit of large tartrate crystals, which is typical of many to 76s. If you can see the bottom of the bottle and notice a large deposit of crystals, and if the taste is of an aged wine that is very rich and full of botrytis character you often can guess correctly that the wine is a 76, even if the label is covered up. Something else very much older could have these characteristics, but it likely would be from the 40s or 20s and would taste much older.
Some say Nahe wines taste somewhat like a cross between the Rheingau and Mosel. I would restate this in a different way. Nahe wines come from many different microclimates and are made from many different grapes. Thus their style can vary greatly. Some indeed could nearly pass for a Rheingau, and some could nearly pass as a Mosel. However many are their own thing and comparison with a cross between the Rheingau and Mosel is strained, at best.