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Vollenweider

“I experienced far and away the most generous yields of my 20-year career in 2018,” reported Daniel Vollenweider. Yet in contrast with many of his colleagues, Vollenweider fielded not one of his largest-ever collections but instead a relatively small one. That is in large part because so much fruit, surprisingly, suited itself to a single and – by his standards ¬– enormous Kabinett bottling, and because those grapes that ripened or botrytized past the point where they were suited to dry wine or to residually sweet Spätlese were so high in must weight that Vollenweider bottled only one Auslese, and designated it “Goldkapsel.” The significant share of his production nowadays that is legally dry was slow to ferment, with bottling of all but one such wine not anticipated until 6–8 weeks after my late November 2019 visit. (Even his entry-level “Felsenfest” and not-quite-legally-trocken Steffensberg were not bottled until September.) Vollenweider has always been averse to presenting wines that are still in cask or tank, and his TBA had not even finished fermenting. Finally, he also bottled, from his oldest vines in the Portz, a small amount of Spätlese Goldkapsel that he was unable to let me experience. All of this explains the small number of tasting notes below.

Vollenweider began picking on September 20, 2018. “But as crazy as this still sounds to me,” he observed in retrospect, “it wouldn’t have been a bad idea to have started a few days earlier.” He emphasizes the huge difference in grape chemistry by vineyard location, and thinks that here age of vine and consequent depth of root penetration were probably at least as significant a factor as vine genetics or soil and exposure. In an already relatively low-acid vintage, Vollenweider’s wines from the Kröver Steffensberg are perilously low, even though the grapes were picked within the first five days of harvest, whereas the neighboring Goldgrube, in which he has mostly old vines (save for a significant 2018 plantation not yet in production), was picked all the way until mid-October, and with impressive results ranging from Kabinett to Trockenbeerenauslese. (Some of Vollenweider’s ostensibly top dry wines that I haven’t yet tasted – notably the 2018 Schimbock – were harvested relatively late.) And Vollenweider counts himself hugely lucky to have leased a parcel of mature vines in the relatively cool and deep-soiled Trabacher Schlossberg that inform his entry-level “Felsenfest.” They were clobbered by frost in his first vintage working with them, but rebounded in 2018, which Vollenweider called “a perfect vintage for that site to shine.” Incidentally, Vollenweider envisions taking on a partner to help manage his estate, and there is sure to be news to share on that front before too long. (For more on this grower, consult especially the extended introduction to my report on his 2014s and 2017s.)

From Generous to a Fault, Mosel 2018: Winningen to Wehlen (Aug 2020) by David Schildknecht

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2018 Riesling Felsenfest

Release Price: $23

Color: White

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