Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Very exotic, with papaya, pineapple and jack-fruit aromas, but also tropical flowers and touches of fresh ginger and galgant. Enormous concentration and refinement, the fruit rippling over the palate in waves, and each time you think that you’ve taken them all in, the next wave hits you. Almost endless wet-stone finish! Vegan. Drink or hold.
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Vinous
The 2020 Riesling Rüdesheimer Kaisersteinfels Grosses Gewächs is from a site high up in the Rüdesheimer Berg that was never subject to Flurbereinigung, looking across the Nahe valley. The vines are about 100+ years old; some were replanted. The site is well-ventilated, so the grapes are always healthy. They were whole pressed, fermented and matured in Stück. The nose is the most subtle, showing gentle creamy peach, suggesting warm stone and subtle herbal notions. The palate is iron-inflected and stony, with a textural, almost sharp concentration that carries stone, iron oxide and vivid, intense lemon. This is incisive, bold, insistent, intense and very compact, with a long, bone-dry, earthy and supple finish. (Bone-dry)
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.