Winemaker Notes
Brilliant lemon yellow. A highly aromatic Riesling with distinctive notes of white flowers, citrus and pear. Complex, exceptionally balanced and refined. The nose is young with white flowers, lemon zest and pears. Firm and fresh on the palate, well balanced with crisp acidity.
Enjoy this Riesling with salads, seafood and roasted chicken.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Schloss Johannisberger Riesling Feinherb Gelblack is the most commercially successful wine of the domain in 2019—with good reasons. The nose is clear, bright and open but intense and nicely developed, with spicy and even some very discreet oaky notes. Round and charming on the palate, this is a finessed and filigreed, persistently salty and stimulating phenolic wine in the off-dry style. The finish is very good and refined with vitality and mineral tension. A fabulous wine. Bottled with 13.7 grams of residual sugar. Tasted from AP no. 3 19 in August 2019.
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Wine & Spirits
Johannisberg’s Gelblack (yellow seal) hits a fine balance between sweet citrus and racy acidity in 2018. The flavors last, steadfast on their mineral underpinnings.
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.