Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Ruppertsberger Gaisböhl Riesling Trocken GC offers the unwound grandezza and aromatic depth of a great dry German Riesling. The wine is cool and precise on the nose and offers a very distinctive earthy/mineral flavor along with highly elegant stone fruit aromas. Full-bodied, dense and mineral on the palate, this is an intense, elegant and very well-balanced Riesling, which reveals a great complexity, vibrancy and persistence. Though firmly structured, the wine is already stunningly accessible but also very promising. The Gaisböhl Grand Cru will develop over at least a decade.
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.