Winemaker Notes
The wine shows a perfect balance between ripeness and minerality, fruit and acidity as well as density and elegance. Typical for the vineyard side the smell is on one hand side embossed through the soils mineralic aromas – smoke, pepper, Flintstone, hay, tea and spices – on the other hand through the typical aromas of the grape variety Riesling – citrus, apple, peach and apricot. Also on the palate it has the same balance between soil and grape variety: The soil creates the mineralic spicy notes, the variety the fruitiness. The wine – like all Rebholz wines – has a really high aging potential.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
At once exotic, yet cool and delicately herbal, very concentrated but no less light-footed, this shows crystalline purity that’s a wonder to behold! Moves on tiptoe through the super-long, filigree finish. From biodynamically grown grapes with Respekt certification. Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
Firm, dense and focused, this is screaming with mineral energy. Packs green herb and crisp apple notes that emerge from a bed of crushed flint, singed sage and bay leaf. Smoky and compact, with nice fattiness on the palate, this is driven by electric lemon-lime acidity. Linear and serious, with a long life ahead in the cellar. Best from 2025 through 2040.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Kastanienbusch Riesling GG comes from a ripe vintage and shows intense light fruit, more reminiscent of pome fruit than stone fruit. Initially without the cool vein of the site in hot years, it's still subtle and becomes more narrative with more air. Dense and smooth on the palate but fine and elegant, with a decidedly clear and mineral finish, even salty, this is a Riesling with few hedonistic talents. It remains slim and lively, with a fine savoriness and saltiness as well as tonic notes of bitter lemon. It's rather restrained in the long finish, which shows intensity and strength but currently little friskiness.
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.