Winemaker Notes
A grand dessert wine with notes of tropical fruits balanced to perfection against a glorious mineral acidity.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
What a nose! This smells like essence of peach with a delicate, floral-honey overtone. Seems to vibrate on the palate, thanks to the staggering minerality and totally vibrant acidity. Extremely complex and energetic finish that goes on and on. Very limited production. From organically grown grapes with Fair'n Green certification. Drink or hold.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Auslese is another beauty of the domain that has probably bottled one of the finest vintages in history with the 2020s. The nose is pure, fresh and concentrated, with ripe fruit and very fine raisin and citric aromas that are intertwined with sugared grapefruit and crushed slate notes. Mouth-filling, round and delicate on the palate, this is a rich and concentrated yet filigreed and seemingly fragile Auslese that reveals a firm and sustainable mineral structure on the finish that stays on the palate for minutes. Another fantastic, persistently crystalline and salty Auslese from the Hermannshöhle. 8% alcohol. Tasted at the domain in July 2021.
-
Wine & Spirits
Hermannshöhle is thought to have once been a site of ancient worship, the name Hermann derived from Hermes, the Greek god of travelers. Certainly the site has imbued this wine with an otherworldly beauty. It comes on quietly, the main impression at first just brightness and clarity, then the wine warms to sunset flavors of red, orange and yellow radiating out on beams of bright, sunny acidity. Those flavors last, intense and penetrating, for days after opening. The wine is more intense than sweet, with a youthful power that’s charming.
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.
