2024 Tonschiefer Riesling Trocken

The 2024 Riesling Tonschiefer was picked chiefly in the Oberhäuser Leistenberg, but this year it was supplemented with fruit from Niederhauser Klamm, Hermannshöhle and Norheim. A gentle, smoky reduction spreads across the superbly clean-cut palate. This is the picture of clarity and poise, with a deep-seated zestiness, a core of coolness and exquisite, fluid ripeness. The 2024 is totally ripe but svelte and utterly disarming. (Bone-dry)

Predominantly sourced in the Leistenberg, the 2024 Riesling trocken Tonschiefer VDP.Gutswein is pure as well as intense on the concentrated and aromatic nose that comes like a desert of crushed blue slate and salts. This is fascinating and represents a superb terroir that has always been one of my all-time favorites when it comes to easy drinking but complex and unique Rieslings. Mouthfilling but light, refined and elegant on the palate, this is a dense and sustainable, quite powerful dry Riesling with a long, aromatic, intense and seriously structured finish. The acidity is an electric beam but focused on fully ripe and textured fruit. There is no need to open a bottle of this classic wine all too soon. Bottled in April with 11.5% stated alcohol.

VDP Gutswein. Due to frost, the fruit for this is almost entirely declassified fruit from Hermannshöhle. Stony, smoky introduction is woven with quiet notes of fresh orange and yellow fruit. Concentrated and confident, with deep, stony shoulders supported by a taut and saline core. There's a captivating raw, rough edge to its intensity, the untamed power of a grand cru in its early stages. And all the more surprising for the zesty citrus delicacy of the lingering finish. A compelling testament to the cellarability of great sites, even in challenging vintages. (PS)