2014 Rudesheimer Berg Schlossberg Riesling

Peach and peach kernel, lemon and lemon pip are signaled penetratingly already in the nose, where they are accompanied by a hint of pungent wood smoke and faint volatility. On the lean palate, the lemony brightness stands tartly to one side of the peachy fruit. Buoyant, energetic and juicy, this finishes with penetrating length and almost spine-tingling brightness but not much mineral interactivity and certainly no charm. I can’t shake the conclusion that this site was threatened more by botrytis and acescence than others on the Rüdesheimer Berg, and in the present instance had to be picked before reaching anything like the expressiveness that Breuer and her team have achieved in Berg Rottland or Berg Roseneck. (But I have to acknowledge that reading the accounts of certain other critics, one wouldn’t draw that conclusion.)