A. Christmann Konigsbach Idig Riesling Grosses Gewachs 2021
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Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Firm on the palate, concentrated, creamy, deep and again quite tranquil, bone dry, elegant and juicy fruit, tart vegetal and herbaceous traces, very elegant acidity, concentrated and persistent, light nutty traces, compact and complex, quite salty, and gripping in spite of its tranquil notes, noble style, firm contours on a very good, long finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Deep flinty nose with complex mirabelle, fresh quince and baking spice notes. Ripe and very focused, medium-bodied with an energy that builds and builds as it drives its way out towards the distant horizon. Excellent aging potential.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From Christmann's most prestigious site and a de facto monopole, the 2021 Idig Königsbach Riesling Grosse Lage offers a pure, intense and chalky/iodine-scented bouquet of ripe and well-concentrated and spicy/stony Riesling fruits. Dense and savory on the palate, with fine, chalky tannins and tart lemon juice notes, this is a dense, refined and persistently saline and tannic Idig with stimulating bitters. It is beautifully astringent and promising.
In 1845 Prof. Dr. Ludwig Hausser and his cousin Johann Martin founded a small winery in Gimmeldingen as a hobby, and over the course of the next generation winemaking became their main profession. In 1894 Eduard Christmann married Henriette Hausser, the granddaughter of the founder. The Estate bears the name of her son Arnold, and is run in the 7th generation by Steffen Christmann.
Devotion to soil vitality and the preservation and individuality of the terroir has lead them to practice organic agriculture, strict vineyard management, and severe yield reduction. In the cellar they employ long and gentle pressing with low pressure, clarification through natural sedimentation, and a slow, not too cool fermentation sometimes until as late as June with only one filtration. Today, A. Christmann Rieslings and Pinot Noirs are widely regarded as Pfalz's finest.
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
This sunny and relatively dry region served for many years as a German tourist mecca and was associated with low cost, cheerful wines. But since the 1980s, it has gained a reputation as one of Germany’s more innovative regions, which has led to increased international demand.