Will 2019 be the breakthrough vintage for German wine? Can it persuade Riesling-phobes to abandon their prejudices?
Kindly indulge me while I remind you why Germany’s signature grape, Riesling (pronounced reece-ling), is the greatest white wine grape in the world. The wines it produces express precisely where they were grown (like Pinot Noir). They last and continue to evolve interestingly for ever (at least as long as Cabernet Sauvignon). They are extremely refreshing and relatively low in alcohol. And they go superbly with food, generally better than white burgundy and other Chardonnays. Nowadays most Riesling is dry, not sweet, and German dry Riesling is one of the wine world’s undervalued treasures.
Still not convinced? Then give the 2019s a whirl. They are exceptionally good, especially, but not only, in the Mosel and Nahe.
Hotter summers mean that German vintners no longer have to disguise underripe grapes with added sugar. But even here there are signs that global warming has gone too far already. Indeed, vines that used to struggle to ripen now bask in such unremitting sunshine that sunburned grapes have become a serious problem in some vineyards. At an online presentation of the 2019 vintage organised by Justerini & Brooks, Oliver Haag, who makes Fritz Haag wines, said, “I would be happier if we could push the stop button [on climate change].”
Haag’s brother Thomas, who owns and runs Schloss Lieser, confirmed that sunburned grapes are now routine. And no wonder. Temperatures of 40C were recorded in July 2019. In the past, Mosel wine producers used to boast of their slate soils, how they stored daytime heat and reradiated it at night, hastening grape ripening. In typical 21st-century summers that is no longer an advantage. Yet, magically, the best 2019s do not taste heat-affected.
Maximin von Schubert — who is taking over the Maximin Grünhaus on the Ruwer, a Mosel tributary — was asked how 2019 compared with 2018, whose opulent wines, some slightly low in refreshing acidity, clearly signal that they are the product of a hot summer. According to von Schubert, in 2019 there were only 50 summer days that would qualify as warm, whereas there were 90 in 2018.
In 2019, he lost up to half his potential crop to a frost on May 5, so this is a particularly small vintage for him — although he still made at least 11 different 2019 Rieslings from his family’s 34 hectares of vineyards, some of which have now been planted with fashionable Pinot Noir. I recently tasted his Pinot Noir from the quantitatively generous 2018 vintage and it had a positively Napa-esque alcohol level of 15.5 per cent. If you’d told a 20th-century German wine fan that the Ruwer would be producing a red wine this potent, they would not have believed you. “You feel the warmth in the 2018s,” he admitted, “but the 2019s are lighter and classier.”
While trying hard not to criticise their 2018s, most German vintners are clearly thrilled with their 2019s, which have higher acidity and are distinctly more refreshing. According to Katharina Prüm, who has been taking over the JJ Prüm estate in Wehlen from her father Manfred, “2019 is really a great vintage. We have no complaints in any respect.”
She might not have said that in the middle of harvest. Oliver Haag outlined why the 2019 harvest was so much more stressful than in 2018, when dry autumn weather meant it was particularly relaxed. “The September rain in 2019 may have added depth and minerality to the wines and the cool nights helped to retain acidity but it was tricky to manage.”
Thomas Haag agreed that picking dates had to be chosen very carefully, dodging the elements but, for him too, 2019 is a great vintage, assisted by the refreshing September rain. He reckons the lower yields, thicker skins and resulting extra concentration have also helped elevate it above 2018.
High acidity is a quality much treasured by German wine purists and some vintages have been so tart when young as to be almost undrinkable (2010 comes to mind) but they tend to bloom eventually and last for decades. The characteristic of the 2019s is that, despite their appetising acid levels, so many of them are already a delight to drink. In the olden days, the wines of JJ Prüm were released late and connoisseurs knew to give them years in bottle before broaching them, but the 2019s are already gorgeous.
For Dorothee Zilliken, also taking over from her father, in the Saar tributary in this case, “the 2019s are filigree and elegant but still intense. Open and accessible now, they will last up to 40 years, especially for the Auslesen and Spätlesen.” There was a time — pre‑climate change — when the most revered German wines were these fruity styles, which owed their sweetness to natural ripening and/or the concentrating fungus known as noble rot.
But today many of the country’s finest Rieslings are bone-dry (labelled trocken) or the medium-dry, feather-light style known as Kabinett. Besides, noble rot was not particularly prevalent in 2019, although Christoph Schaefer of Willi Schaefer, across the river from JJ Prüm, took the risk of leaving some of his grapes on the vine until the sunny weather of mid-October and was rewarded with an array of Auslesen, some from raisined rather than nobly rotten grapes, and an even riper, sweeter Beerenauslese. In these warmer, drier growing seasons noble rot, which needs moisture to develop, is becoming rarer, Schaefer reported.
It could be that German wine has reached its apogee with the 2019 vintage and that future growing seasons may simply be too hot and dry.
The 2020 vintage, currently under way, has of course featured logistical difficulties, thanks to the pandemic — and sunburn.
Some beautiful dry German 2019 Rieslings
Most of these wines are available in Germany and some in other countries already. In the UK, the 2019s are being offered en primeur by specialists Howard Ripley and Justerini & Brooks. GG stands for Grosses Gewächs, a dry wine from a single superior vineyard.
• Battenfeld-Spanier, Mölsheimer trocken
• Dönnhoff, Oberhäuser Leistenberg Kabinett
$24-$36 various US retailers
• Dönnhoff, Niederhäuser Klamm Kabinett
$28 K&L, US
• Emrich-Schönleber, Frühlingsplätzchen GG
• Emrich-Schönleber, Halenberg GG
£305 for six bottles in bond Justerini & Brooks
• Hofgut Falkenstein, Krettnacher Euchariusberg Alte Reben Kabinett
$29.99 Binny’s Beverage Depot, US
• Hofgut Falkenstein, Krettnacher Euchariusberg Kabinett
$27-$29 various US retailers
• Fritz Haag, Im Falkenberg GG
• Julian Haart, Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Kabinett
• Peter Lauer, Lambertskirch Fass 14 Kabinett
• Peter Lauer, Ayler Fass 4 Feinherb
• Peter Lauer, Ayler Kupp Stirn Fass 15 Feinherb
• Peter Lauer, Ayler Kupp Fass 8
• Georg Mosbacher, Wachenheimer Gerümpel trocken
• Rebholz, Kastanienbusch GG
£310 for six bottles in bond, Justerini & Brooks
• Rebholz, Ganz Horn Im Sonnenschein GG
£275 for six bottles in bond, Justerini & Brooks
• Schäfer-Fröhlich, Frühlingsplätzchen GG
• Schloss Lieser, Juffer-Sonnenuhr GG
£140 for six bottles in bond, Justerini & Brooks
• Schloss Lieser, Wehlener Sonnenuhr GG
£140 for six bottles in bond, Justerini & Brooks
• Willi Schaefer, Graacher Domprobst Kabinett
$38-$42 in the US
• Carl von Schubert, Maximin Grünhäuser, Herrenberg Kabinett
HK$220 The Fine Wine Experience, Hong Kong
• Carl von Schubert, Maximin Grünhäuser, Abtsberg Nr 33 Kabinett
• Wittmann, Aulerde GG
• Zilliken, Saarburger Rausch Kabinett
£90 for six bottles in bond, Justerini & Brooks
More stockists from Wine-searcher.com. Tasting notes on Purple Pages of JancisRobinson.com
Follow Jancis on Twitter @JancisRobinson
Follow @FTMag on Twitter to find out about our latest stories first.
The Link LonkOctober 03, 2020 at 11:01AM
https://ift.tt/2GoFp7E
Why Riesling is the greatest white wine grape - Financial Times
https://ift.tt/3eO3jWb
Grape
No comments:
Post a Comment