Dreissigacker

I finally met up with Jochen Dreissigacker (for more about whose estate consult the introduction to my notes on his 2014s), albeit rather fleetingly, in New York and with an opportunity to taste only a small number of wines currently available in the US, a couple of which I had already reported on. My previous impressions were confirmed - namely, that this is an ambitious and talented young grower whose rapidly rising reputation is consistent with a set of sensory characteristics highly prized among German critics and Riesling devotees. Such approbations as “force” (Druck), “power,” “grip,” “substance” and “structure” figure regularly in descriptions of Dreissigacker’s phenolically pronounced, adamantly dry, self-described “puristic” Rieslings. But I can’t say that I have found much intrigue among them, and certainly no charm – which I suspect is beside their author’s point. This overall impression might partly be a function of terroir. The top sites in Bechtheim may or may not harbor potential on par with those 2-4 miles west and at higher elevation in Dittelsheim and Westhofen. True, Dreissigacker has a small share of Morstein – whose realization he releases late, so the 2013 on which I report below is a current offering – but readers who have followed my coverage of Keller and Wittmann will already know that I don’t hold Morstein in such awe as do German critics and consumers. Parcels in Kirchspiel and Aulerde have recently been acquired – confirming that Westhofen terroirs are considered the Wonnegau standard-setters – but I have not yet tasted a Dreissigacker wine from either. And apropos of what I have not tasted, the lineup at this estate now includes no fewer than half a dozen site-specific Rieslings, two bottlings each of Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc and reds from both Pinot Noir and St. Laurent.