Wonnegau, Rheinhessen
Weingut Keller
Abts E de Riesling 2017
Weingut Keller
von der Fels Rheinhessen Riesling 2017
Limey, crisp and delicious. — 3 days ago
Weingut Keller
-RR- Rheinhessen Riesling 2022
This is a delicious Riesling from the 2022 vintage. The RR destination indicates it’s from three different vineyards, all on red slate soil. At 12.5%abv it is just slightly off-dry - perceptible sweetness but less than most Kabinett wines. The fruit clearly got ripe with luscious apple, ripe pear, yellow plum, lemon, lime and flint along with a hint of petrol. Exceptional balance, good acidity and a very long finish. Very speaking note and will last many more years than I have patience to wait! — 2 months ago
Wittmann
Kirchspiel Großes Gewächs Riesling 2021
Huge nose of citrus, pineapple, guava and more. Smells like a Riesling Pina Colada. Pink grapefruit and very piquant and precise aromas. Palate is so 21. Huge angles and acid and lean but ripe fruit. Unreal fruit clarity and freshness. Great acidity and a long minerals and citrus finish. — 22 days ago
Weingut Keller
Hubacker Riesling 2017
Tangy, clean, very fruity. Great Riesling — 24 days ago
Winzerhof Thörle
Saulheimer Kalkstein Riesling 2022
So so intense, clean mineral lines & voluminous on palate-tasted blind my friend thought Chardonnay. 50 shades of apricot, a squeeze of petrol at end of long finish. Enough padding to be also Uber enjoyable. — a month ago
Aaron Tan
One of the best evenings of wine I’ve had this year, and it was just focused on this duo. Opened as inspiration for this year’s red pick at Miao Lu (a name to remember for those reading. I’ll say it here first - some of the best Pinot’s and Chard’s in the world will be coming out of this project high up in Yunnan!), and they both gave great context to the task.
When I harvested with Klaus-Peter in 2017, the vineyards bore the scars of hail, every last one of them. The damage was manifest in what we came to call "hail berries" (misshapen berries). To my untrained palate, they tasted perfectly fine. Naturally, I asked KP why we were discarding them, and his response, while not entirely unexpected, was still astonishing (paraphrasing of course): "I don't need to know precisely what they do," he said, "but if there's even a chance they might diminish the wine by 1%, they're gone. And these? They look capable of much worse."
That unyielding spirit of his was, I must admit, my torment at Abtserde, the vineyard hit hardest by the hail. We spent an entire day sorting and picking a single row - granted, the rows were long, but the pace was glacial. The true enemy, though, wasn’t the relentless sorting, but the wasps. Those little demons made an already grueling task even more daunting, dodging their stings as we plucked berries one by one, like selecting pearls from a troubled sea. What we ended up with were, quite literally, tiny gems - "caviar" berries of purity. By day’s end, the sight was something to behold. Despite the torment, the hard work was unquestionably worth it. The 17’ Abtserde is my wine of the vintage.
I’ve had the 17’ Abtserde on numerous occasions but this takes the cake as the best (note to self: best to decant a young Abtserde hard). It is a marvel of purity and depth, with its nose evoking Meyer lemon, iodine, chalk, and flint. These aromas reappear on the palate with a nearly overwhelming intensity, blending piquant brightness and mineral-rich concentration. With more air, a floral, bittersweet herbal note very typical of the vineyard appears (smells like the place even). As the evening unfolded, the wine seemed to grow younger, each glass more lively than the last. The final sip was almost painfully austere, like drinking pure limestone, its explosive palate held together by sharp acidity and a palpable, phenolic grip. The finish seemed endless. One of my best Keller experiences this year. — 4 days ago