Winemaker Notes
Spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel followed by ten months on the fine lees. aromas of rich yellow fruits like plum and quince, pear and herbs. Very complex with an elegant structure, silky texture, and a chalky mineral saline finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Anyone who doubts the greatness of the best wines from the 2020 vintage in Germany should taste this extremely complex and pristine dry riesling. Enormous minerality and structure, in spite of only being medium-bodied. So finely nuanced. Very long finish, in which slatey and chalky elements are beautifully interwoven with the white-peach and Amalfi-lemon aromas. Enormous aging potential. From organically grown grapes. Vegan. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Lorcher Krone Riesling Trocken opens with an intense and complex, very elegant and chalky-fresh bouquet of perfectly ripe Riesling grapes. Lush and silky as well as crystalline on the palate, this is a dense, very complex, finessed and grippy-mineral Krone with a firm, persistently salty and mineral finish. This is an impressive dry Riesling from predominantly 60- to 70+-year-old vines rooting deep in slate soils covering limestone sub-soils. Drink it from a Burgundy glass, in which the wine sits like an open book revealing all about Riesling, chalk and slate. A gorgeous wine with very fine tannins, lingering salinity and dense and juicy, lemony fruit. 13% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted from AP 7 21 in November 2021.
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.
Practically one long and bucolic hillside along the northern bank of the Rhein River, the Rheingau stretches the entirety of the river’s east to west spread from Hocheim to Rüdesheim.
Variations in elevation, soil types, and proximity to the Rhine cause great diversity in Rheingau Riesling. Some of the better Rieslings in warmer years come from the cooler and breezier sites at higher elevations. In cooler years, sites closer to the river may perform better.
In the village of Rüdesheim, slopes are steep and soils are stony slate with quartzite; Rieslings are rich and spicy, intense in stone fruit and show depth and character with age. World class Rieslings come from farther east on the river through Geisenheim, Johannisberg, Winkel, Oestrich and past Erbach as well, where soils of loess, sand, and marl alternate. Long-living, floral-driven and mineral-rich Rieslings come from the best of these sites.
Rheingau growers became early activists in promoting the dry style of Riesling, low yields and the classification of top vineyards, or Erstes Gewächs (first growths). Proximity to the metropolitan markets of Mainz, Wiesbaden, and Frankfurt keeps Rheingau in high reputation. While dry wines are the style here, Rheingau isn’t short of some amazing Auslesen, Beerenauslesen, and Trockenbeerenauslesen.
Rheingau doesn’t mess with many other grapes—in fact 79% of its total area is dedicated to Riesling. But it produces some fine Pinot noir, especially concentrated in Assmannshausen, a bit farther west from Rüdesheim.