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Rings

The Rings brothers have rocketed to fame inside Germany since taking complete control of their family’s Freinsheim estate in 2008. They check so many fashionable as well as seriously quality-oriented boxes as to leave one in awe of their ambition and scrupulous standards. From their tasting room with its sophisticated, museum-quality aids to appreciating the distinctiveness of multiple communes in which they farm an estimable 83 acres, though the furnishing of their bottles, to their sophisticated sorting tables and ranks of recently built casks – not to mention their manifestly stringent standards of selection and newly minted organic certification – Rings is one impressive operation. And if all that had left me unimpressed (and time had permitted), I could have visited the long-forgotten vineyard terraces they have revived in Leistadt – granting them monopole status in a formerly moribund Einzellage – or a completely new winemaking facility being constructed that will largely disappear underneath the surface of the Einzellage Freinsheimer Schwarzes Kreuz. A specimen of the rapturous reception this estate’s wines nowadays receive can be found in the inaugural Vinum Weinguide Deutschland (produced by the team that until 2018 was responsible for the influential Gault Millau WeinGuide Deutschland): “We haven’t figured out the secret that makes Andreas and Steffen Rings so different from many of their colleagues. But it’s clear that their Rieslings possess unbelievable Durchschlagskraft... ” And perhaps that last adjective not only encapsulates what wows so many German oenophiles but also suggests what left me less awed by most of the wines themselves than I was by this winery’s trappings or its two young proprietors’ manifest earnestness and unflagging push for quality. Kraft designates vigor, but more usually power, and durchschlagen is what one does to a window with a hammer or undergrowth with a machete. I was sometimes left wishing that the Rings wines – some of which I found shockingly expensive – exhibited more nuance and eased up on what seemed relentless force for the sake of force.

Among the fashionable traits noticeable in Rings Rieslings is a tendency toward radical dryness, which I have to suspect at least sometimes demands resorting to cultured yeasts. But I hasten to add that even though most of those that I tasted weighed in between 13 and 13.5%, I never found alcoholic heat or harshness a problem. As for Pinot Noir, “we’re going for a very puristisch style of Spätburgunder,” said Andreas Rings, employing one of vinous Germany’s current favorite buzzwords. But as is very often the case with German growers who harbor serious Pinot Noir ambitions, new wood engenders in many of the Rings wines an aromatic overlay that I find awkward, as well as stiffening and slight drying that arguably inhibit the purest possible expression of this grape’s potential aromatic finesse, animation and textural allure. The Rings Pinot plantings – some of them 20 years or more in age, others very new – feature French, German and Swiss clones. Fermentation – following considerable cold maceration – takes place spontaneously in open wooden tubs with varying proportions of whole clusters. Every attempt is made to avoid use of SO2 until bottling, which routinely takes place unfiltered.

Picking in 2016 was not completed until November 2 – a clear demonstration that the Rings brothers put stock in extended hang-time, and proof that at least some of their Rieslings were able to benefit from whatever value hanging through frigid weather confers. Through the good offices of a Rings importer, I was able to re-taste six of their wines eight months subsequent to my initial session at the winery. I was once again impressed, but only occasionally at all intrigued much less charmed. And thanks to the Rings brothers’ generosity, I have at least a bit of experience with older wines – on which I have also published my tasting notes below – to help inform my prognostications of ageworthiness. (The 30% of Rings production that is red includes two Syrahs, a Portugieser, and at least a couple of cuvées featuring St. Laurent and Bordelais varieties. Whites include Pinot Gris and Gewürztraminer. But I devoted what was already a lengthy first visit at this estate to Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc and Riesling.)

From Pfalz Riesling 2016: Restraint Rewarded (Jun 2018) by David Schildknecht

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2016 Weisser Burgunder Freinsheimer trocken

Release Price: $21

Color: White

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Rings

2016 Weisser Burgunder Freinsheimer trocken

2016 Weisser Burgunder Ungsteiner Weilberg Grosses Gewächs

2016 Riesling Kalkmergel trocken

2016 Riesling Freinsheimer trocken

2016 Riesling Ungsteiner Nussriegel trocken

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2016 Riesling Ungsteiner Weilberg Grosses Gewächs

2016 Riesling Kallstadter Saumagen Grosses Gewächs

2013 Riesling Kallstadter Saumagen Grosses Gewächs

2012 Riesling Kallstadter Saumagen Grosses Gewächs

2010 Riesling Ungsteiner Weilberg Grosses Gewächs

2015 Riesling Kallstadter Saumagen Auslese

2015 Riesling Kallstadter Saumagen Beerenauslese

2015 Riesling Kallstadter Saumagen Trockenbeerenauslese

2015 Spätburgunder Freinsheimer trocken

2015 Spätburgunder Kallstadter trocken

2015 Spätburgunder Leistadter Felsenberg trocken

2015 Spätburgunder Kallstadter Steinacker trocken

2015 Spätburgunder Kallstadter Saumagen Grosses Gewächs

2014 Spätburgunder Kallstadter Saumagen Grosses Gewächs

2013 Spätburgunder Kallstadter Saumagen Grosses Gewächs

2012 Spätburgunder Kallstadter Saumagen Grosses Gewächs

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