Winemaker Notes
The 2018 vintage is a timeless, elegant Rheingau Spätlese, with lush fruit notes and a bright, high-spirited acidity gracefully balancing its natural sweetness.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Rheingau Riesling Spätlese is a modern classic! Super clear, fresh and precise on the nose, this is a round and juicy but also bright, clear and piquant Riesling with a long and salty-elegant finish. Fabulous, with lingering and mouth-salivating salinity. There is 9% alcohol with about 45 grams of residual sugar.
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Wine Enthusiast
Lemon pith and crushed miner- als introduce this sweet-tart, racy little Spätlese. White grapefruit on the palate is spine-tingling and zippy yet builds in texture and mouthfeel. The finish is very long, lingering on a murmur of delicate tan- nins. Irresistible in its youth but substantial enough to improve through 2035.
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Wine Spectator
Very elegant, but with good concentration, displaying apricot, peach and lemon notes that are intensified by bright acidity. Mouthfilling midpalate, imparting a sense of crunch. The finish shows sweet spice hints, inviting you back for another sip. Best from 2022 through 2036.
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.