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Groebe

Officially known as “K. F. Groebe” but seldom referred to with those initials, this estate, founded by his forebears in the mid-18th century, has long been under the direction of Friedrich Groebe, known universally as “Fritz.” By surface area, it’s just over 70% Riesling, with the rest being Silvaner, “Burgundian” varieties, plus smidgeons of Scheurebe and Gewürztraminer. Nearly half of the 21 vine acres are in Aulerde, with 7.5 in Kirchspiel and a mere two-thirds of an acre in Morstein, which until right after the 2019 harvest had been planted with Scheurebe and Silvaner, now being replaced by Riesling. Like so many now-prominent growers and proprietors of his generation, Groebe was inspired by the classificatory endeavors and qualitative ideals of his contemporary Bernhard Breuer, and along with the late Fritz Hasselbach was an early advocate within the Rheinhessen VDP for designating top dry Rieslings as Grosse Gewächse. “Honestly,” related Groebe, “the generation before us didn’t trust one another, whereas our generation was regularly engaged in deep discussions about the way forward for German wine.”

“I didn’t do any green harvest in 2018,” related Groebe, “leaving everything hanging because I didn’t want to end up having to harvest in the middle of August or else have plump, overly alcoholic wines. It was a risk, but in retrospect it was the right decision.” In the event, harvest began on September 6 with Pinot Gris, and on September 8 Riesling for his dry Kabinett-style “1763” was brought in as part of a Vorlese launched across virtually all of the estate’s Riesling vines. Four or five days later, the next round of Riesling picking began. “After that, things went pretty fast,” said Groebe, who utilized refrigerated containers to store grapes for a day or two if things were getting backed up at the press. “You can’t do that with Scheurebe, though,” he opined, because it would mean too much skin contact. Groebe emphasized the vintage’s potential “to combine power [Kraft] with animation and finesse,” which is indeed what he managed to deliver from a growing season whose Rieslings by no means always fit that description.

An aspect of tradition strongly emphasized by Groebe is cask-upbringing. He reported that with one exception, the youngest cask at his estate is from 1967, which would make that exception – a single small barrel needed to accommodate an overflow of vintage 2018 Pinot Noir – the first he has ever purchased! Groebe still utilizes one huge cask reputed to predate the founding of the estate by three centuries. “When I built a new cellar in 2012,” he reported, “I purchased stainless steel tanks in various sizes simply so that I could learn just how it is if you vinify in tank [wie geht es mit Tank].” But practices long upheld by Groebe also include some of late-20th-century origin. He still refers to his lighter dry Riesling as “Kabinett trocken,” though well aware that within the VDP that expression is considered an oxymoron, and he shares with amigo Klaus Peter Keller an admiration for subtly sweet Kabinett as well. Furthermore, Groebe is a fan of feinherb as a category representing Rieslings with highly discreet but also highly supportive sweetness. Groebe and I got along so well and he had so much to relate (some of which I have incorporated as background into relevant tasting notes) that he didn’t get around to showing me nearly his entire portfolio, and I was left embarrassed that our late November 2019 tasting session represented the first time we had even met. But better late than never, and readers who are unfamiliar with these wines will learn as I did that such ignorance is regrettable but readily correctable.

From Rheinhessen 2018: Revelatory Rieslings (Nov 2020) by David Schildknecht

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2018 Silvaner trocken

Color: White

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