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Kerpen

Martin Kerpen compares 2017 with 2013 – and without any nostalgia. Both vintages suffered from hail damage (in 2017 affecting Graach, and coming on top of April frost). Both were plagued by excessive moisture and troublesome botrytis in the run-up to harvest. Qualitatively, though, both of these high-acid vintages proved quite successful chez Kerpen, though he claims to have suffered “at least” a 50% crop loss in 2017. Harvest began on September 28, 2017 (2018 was to commence a full 10 days earlier), and amid the depressingly tedious work of cutting out hail-affected, ignobly botrytized or acescent clusters (or portions thereof), Kerpen and his crew experienced early delight at being able to select ennobled fruit for a formidable TBA. Even allowing for the requisite selectivity, harvest was finished soon after mid-October, since the weather had stabilized and there wasn’t much fruit to process. In contrast with his neighbors at Joh. Jos. Prüm, Kerpen reported that the precocious early heat and eventually tiny crop of 2017 did not translate into accelerated sugar accumulation to the extent that he had anticipated, so that not only do his dry wines – including that labeled “Grosses Gewächs” – sport less than 12% alcohol across the board, but there was also a relatively decent volume of genuine Kabinett. “But of course,” he added, “that’s why I don’t dawdle when it comes to beginning the harvest. I don’t want any fat dry wines.” As usual for this estate, nearly all of the wines, regardless of style, were bottled in April, and I can’t help wondering whether some of the drier wines – impressive though the best often are – would be even more so if given a bit longer to evolve in cask. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)

From Multifarious 2017 Mosels, Part 1: Winningen to Wehlen (Jan 2020) by David Schildknecht

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2017 Riesling trocken Blauschiefer

Color: White

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