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Groebe

Fritz Groebe farms 8.5 hectares of vines in Westhofen, including Aulerde, Kirchspiel and Morstein, of which more than 80% are Rieslings. He is the eighth generation of his family to run this estate founded in 1763. Groebe vineyards have never seen herbicides or mineral fertilizer since neither his grandfather nor his father before him ever went in for anything more than absolutely necessary agrochemicals, i.e., fungicides. Groebe’s approach is straightforward, including harvesting by hand and very slight fruit crushing with a specially designed crusher that ensures at least 50% of berries remain whole. The musts receive some skin contact inside the press. Estate wines are macerated for about four hours, village and single-site wines for seven to eight hours – but not in 2022 because he feared too intense phenolics. After 15-18 hours of sedimentation, the clear must goes straight to barrel. The estate Riesling trocken is fermented with neutral cultured yeast and has a maximum of 10% stainless steel-fermented wine or none. All other wines ferment spontaneously and completely in barrel – in Halbstück (600L), Stück (1,200L) and Doppelstück (2,400L). Estate wines stay on the lees for five months, and Erste Lagen stay for six to seven months. The GGs stay nine months on lees. Groebe makes dry wines but also loves off-dry. His 1763 Riesling is not sweet at all but no longer dry in the legal sense, i.e., above 9g/L. Groebe seems to have a knack for pitching that happy, natural balance. His Grande Réserve, the auction wine from Kirchspiel, also a just about off-dry wine, results from a recorking exercise of library wines when he and his father unearthed an old 1924 Riesling bottle many years ago and decided to drink it. The wine was not bone-dry. This inspired Groebe to make a wine from the Kirchspiel site in the same fashion. It was first made in 2012 and released in 2018 – today, this auction wine is always released in the sixth year after harvest. For the first time, Groebe also presents a Morstein GG. The Morstein parcel has been in the family for about 250 years, but father and grandfather had planted it to Silvaner and Scheurebe. The Scheurebe had many fans (eminent Michelin-starred restaurants among them), and thus Groebe tried to keep it alive as long as possible, but the old vines finally gave too little yield. So, Groebe planted Riesling in 2020, making a non-commercialized maiden vintage under the name of Marstene in 2021. The 2022 is the first vintage of his Morstein Riesling GG to be released. Despite the slightly rounder and not quite bone-dry style, Groebe’s wines have precision and poise – since he is not afraid of acidity. In 2022, Groebe started harvest on 12 September with Grauburgunder. On 16 September, he started with Riesling.

From 2022 Rheinhessen & Nahe: Rain in the Nick of Time (Sep 2023) by Anne Krebiehl MW

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2022 Riesling 1763

Color: White

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