Rheinhessen
&amp; Rheingau: Riesling Triumphs After Rain

BY ANNE KREBIEHL MW |&nbsp;OCTOBER 03, 2024Rheingau and Rheinhessen produced world-class
Rieslings in 2023. The wines are bursting with flavor and delineated by
freshness, but moderate in alcohol. “The nectarine and curious peach into my
hands themselves do reach…” This striking line from Andrew Marvell’s poem The
Garden involuntarily popped into my mind repeatedly while tasting the 2023
Rieslings; such was their verve and expression. Even the entry-level Rieslings
shine. However, the year was not an easy one. <img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1727983301282-The+entrance+to+the+historic+Steinberg+vienayrd+at+Kloster+Eberbach+3_COVER.jpg">The entrance to the historic Steinberg Vineyard at Kloster Eberbach. 

Viticultural skills, timely decisions and a
sufficient workforce were needed to capture the brilliant fruit. An initially
dry year was drenched in late summer rains, which the late-ripening Riesling weathered
with aplomb–at least in the right hands and sites. The steep, stony slopes of
historic renown proved their exalted status all over again, and so did
well-drained, gentler slopes. Water availability advanced ripeness as well as
aromatic development, and if there is one operative attribute for this Riesling
vintage, it is juiciness. In the Rheingau, off-dry and nobly sweet wines with
electric acidity are an added bonus. Some of them will outlive us all. The 2022
Pinot Noirs are among the best German Spätburgunders ever made.The 2023 Rheinhessen Growing Season Rheinhessen is a vast and diverse growing
region, offering the coolness of Tertiary limestone in its southern Wonnegau, the
savor of iron-rich Permian Rotliegendes on the Red Slope on its western
confine along the river Rhine, and a diverse patchwork of geological formations
in its north and northwest–encompassing quartzite, porphyry and more limestone.
All of these find beautiful expression in 2023. Daniel Wagner of Weingut
Wagner-Stempel in Rheinhessen’s far northwest sketched the year: “A wonderfully
dry spring gave us excellent flowering conditions in late May and early June,
without millerandage. While we entered the year with good water
reserves, the weather turned extremely dry. We already feared we would have to
water the young vines. Then, on July 8, we got 50 liters (50mm) of rain. We
opened a bottle of Champagne to celebrate. It was a very local event, and
everyone envied us. Two weeks later, however, the picture was different because
the rain never stopped.” Wagner says this was a “catastrophe” for the
early-ripening varieties but a boon for Riesling. Weiss and Grauburgunder were soft and riper, and the already tightly packed berries on the grape
bunches had no room to swell, so they burst and opened themselves to rot. Speed
was of the essence. Riesling, however, less advanced in ripeness, could take
advantage of the water availability and continued ripening, resulting in
radiantly beautiful fruit.

In the Selztal in Rheinhessen’s north,
where Tertiary limestones are mixed with marl, loess and clay, Tobias Knewitz
described the situation after a rain-drenched August as “tense.” The
combination of wet weather and high temperatures turned the harvest into a race
against time that required the most stringent selection–again, with Riesling
far less affected than earlier-ripening varieties.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1727980887141-A+face+as+radiant+as+the+Rieslings+themseves+-+Andreas+Spreitzer+with+his+collection+of+2023_copy+%281%29.jpg">Andreas Spreitzer with his collection of 2023s. 

At the other end of the region, in the
southerly Wonnegau where Tertiary limestones dominate, Philipp Wittmann
reported a “very balanced warm summer with great water availability.” The rains
prompted him to advance his harvest as the combination of warm weather and
water availability spelled fast-advancing ripeness. The Battenfeld-Spanier
estate was hit by hail in their Hohen-Sülzen sites in the night from August 25-26,
2023–thankfully not in the Grosse Lagen. It struck again, unusually in
Hohen-Sülzen, on September 10 but mainly hit sites that had already been
picked.

On the Rheinfront across the Red Slope, Johannes
Hasselbach reported a relaxed mood during a dry summer that was “warm but not
hot.” For him, the rain at harvest was the only difficulty of the year,
prompting an intense sorting effort that was rewarded with exquisitely aromatic
wines.

Across Rheinhessen, picking started mostly
in early and mid-September and concluded within the month, with just a few
estates still finishing in early October. Despite the challenging vintage, few
people complained; the memory of the very dry 2022 is too vivid, and most felt
lucky to have escaped hail episodes in late August and September. Sufficient
water meant that grapes had enough minerals to ferment without any hitch. The 2023
growing season resulted in wonderfully expressive Rieslings with immense
freshness and aromas. Sure, some estates cannot afford to hand-harvest or
invest so much in viticulture–for them, the wet August spelled disaster, but
the estates reviewed here produced outstanding results. Klaus Peter Keller
summed this up in his brief statement that “two thousand twenty-three is a
vintage that made good growers better and the poor ones worse. You can make
great wine every year if you are strict enough, but you have to be able to
afford this.”

Estates with a history of producing sweet
wines could harvest fine Spätlesen and Auslesen. I only tasted two
Beerenauslesen–the highest Prädikat as the wet weather did not allow the grapes
to dry out fully.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1727980940546-Father+and+son+showing+off+their+high-density+plantings+-+Felix+and+KP+Keller+in+their+element_copy+%281%29.jpg">Father and son, Klaus Peter and Felix Keller, showing&nbsp;off their high-density plantings. The 2023 Rheingau Growing Season The Rheingau saw a year of “extremes,” as
Wilhelm Weil put it. Budburst in late April was in line with long-term averages,
as was flowering in good conditions in early June with a good fruit set. But
June and July brought dryness and heat, which stressed poor, stony sites. The August
rains initially felt like relief but soon turned to worry and hurry as this was
combined with a heatwave in early September. Katharina Puff of Kloster Eberbach
described the conditions as “tropical.” Michael Burgdorf of Weingut Dr. Wegeler
reported that “rarely has there been such a hot September and October. The fact
that there was no further rain in September was a supreme stroke of luck.”
Extreme selection defined the relentlessly quick and intense harvest. The musts
were characterized by expressive but ripe acidity and high extract, as the rain
had given the grapes everything they needed; fermentations were easy. Fred Prinz
noted that the warm weather at harvest meant that some musts started fermenting
readily even before they were fully sedimented after pressing.

In the vineyards, moisture, temperatures
and ready ripeness also favored the development of botrytis. Where soils afforded
drainage and canopies were ventilated, long-lived sweet grapes could be
harvested, covering the full range of Prädikate. What makes them historic are
their thrilling acid levels: Spreitzer’s TBA from the Eiserberg, an airy parcel
within the Oestricher Lenchen, clocked up 18g/l (!) of acidity vis-a vis 323g/l
of residual sweetness. Robert Weil presented very sweet Auslesen, BAs and TBAs
with acid levels well above 10g/l. The acids in these wines are like laser
lights illuminating every last nuance of flavor. However, Kabinette and Spätlesen
in 2023 are of immense purity and luminosity–without any botrytis at all. These
are exquisite, pure wines that will be almost as long-lived as those concentrated
by the presence of botrytis. In 2023, Rheingau demonstrated exceptional
capabilities, producing a wide range of Riesling styles.

As machine harvesting is widespread in
Rheingau, and hand harvest is now the exception rather than the rule, I must
qualify my praise by saying that only the best estates have achieved such
quality–like the ones visited here. They delivered Rieslings of uncommon
brilliance and expressiveness with a fill of fruit and moderate alcohol.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1727981005484-Fritz+Groebe+has+aknowing+and+relaxed+smile+after+the+tasting%2C+a+man+who+has+found+his+style+and+groove_copy.jpg">Fritz Groebe has a knowing and relaxed smile after the tasting.&nbsp;He is a man who&nbsp;has found his style and groove.A Word on Spätburgunder Two thousand twenty-two provides a new
paradigm for German Pinot Noir. The wines from this hot and dry year do not
taste hot at all. On the contrary–the top producers have understood the
importance of harvest point. Dry conditions meant perfectly healthy grapes, and
despite the usual German spectrum of styles, these Pinot Noirs are
distinguished by their really fine, ripe tannin structures. Neither are they
drowned in oak. Elegance is now a byword and readers looking for alternatives
to Burgundy will find a most contemporary interpretation of an old-world style
in Germany. In addition to Pinot Noirs from limestone, Germany offers beguiling
expressions of this grape from slate, schist, sandstone and volcanic soils.

The wines in this report were tasted during
producer visits in August 2024.
© 2024, Vinous. No portion of this article may be copied, shared or re-distributed without prior consent from Vinous. Doing so is not only a violation of our copyright, but also threatens the survival of independent wine criticism.<hr> You Might Also Enjoy<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/2022-rheingau-pfalz-and-mittelrhein-before-during-and-after-the-rain-dec-2023">2022 Rheingau, Pfalz and Mittelrhein: Before, During and After the Rain</a>, Anne Krebiehl MW, December 2023 <a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/2022-mosel-saar-ruwer-old-vines-and-steep-challenges-oct-2023">2022 Mosel-Saar-Ruwer: Old Vines and Steep Challenges</a>, Anne Krebiehl MW, October 2023 <a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/2022-rheinhessen-nahe-rain-in-the-nick-of-time-sep-2023">2022 Rheinhessen &amp; Nahe: Rain in the Nick of Time</a>, Anne Krebiehl MW, September 2023

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