2015 Riesling Muenchberg

The 2015 Grand Cru Muenchberg Riesling opens pure and stony/mineral/flinty as well as herbally on the nose, with flavors of lemon juice on crushed stones, dried herbs and flowers (chamomile). Rich, very intense and salty on the palate, this is a full-bodied, highly elegant and endless Riesling with great ripeness, concentration and complexity. Still a baby, this wine will shine in 15, 20 years and surely still in 30. It is impressive in its richness and firmly structured complexity. This is probably one of the (if not the) greatest Rieslings I have tasted from André Ostertag. The Muenchberg Riesling comes from a vineyard with no chalk and is basically based on red sandstone and volcanic sediments with just a bit of clay, though less than in the Muenchberg Pinot Gris section. Ostertag owns 1.5 hectares here, and half of the plantings are 70+ years old and densely planted with 11,000 vines per hectare; the other half is 30+ years old. It is one of the greatest 2015 Rieslings I have tasted.