Winemaker Notes
It is one of the most spectacular vineyards in the world. Like an amphitheater, the red rock encloses a small stage on which only the Riesling brings such impressive results. Out of their 7 vineyards, the “Bastei” vineyard is the warmest where ancient vines grow, and their roots reach deep into the hard rhyolite rock. A wine can hardly taste as mineral as the “Bastei GG”. Flint and herbal aromas give this wine its incredible complexity. It has a great tension and at the same time an embracing warmth of ripe fruity aromas. Like a firework, not overburdened but sublime. This will be an extremely great wine in 10, or better said in 15 years. Nonetheless, it is already a brilliant Riesling.
Pair with filet Wellington with beans, bacon and potato gratin and savory jus or roasted dishes work very well too.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This smells like sunshine, but also the wild herbs in a steep and stony vineyard on which that sunshine falls. Fabulous interplay of ripeness and minerality, super-focused for this very warm and ripe vintage, the minerality very crystalline at the brilliant finish. From organically grown grapes with Fair'n Green certification. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Traisen Bastei GG is deep, pure and intense on the nose that shows a fascinating mix of concentrated ripe fruits and crushed stones and less warmth than in previous vintages. This 2020 Bastei is more soil- than sun-driven on both the nose and palate. Here, the wine is dense and intense but immediately savory and vital, with lots of crushed stones, saline and lemony notes followed by an intense, concentrated, very elegant and promising finish. There is great grip and tension as well as fine bitters on the long aftertaste. Impressive Bastei. Karsten Peter employed higher leaf walls than before to provide more shade in this east-west lines rows and protected the soils from evaporation with straw, which also protected the grapes from radiating heat. Last but not least, the grape zone is now 20 centimeters higher. All apparently excellent modifications.
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.
