Prefer the old site?Launch →

Gunderloch

Like so many German Riesling estates, Gunderloch experienced one of their largest-ever harvests in 2018. Interestingly, the last time yields were this high was in 1992, a vintage in which this estate conspicuously beat the odds by rendering a collection of wines – running the gamut from trocken to Trockenbeerenauslese – that displayed imposing generosity, impressive depth and ample concentration. That having been noted, Johannes Hasselbach would be the first to tell you that the wines he is rendering today are very different from those made by his father in the 1990s and 2000s. He doesn’t push to achieve nobly sweet wines – of which there is but one from 2018 – and is doubly concerned to ensure that these harbor sufficient acidity. Otherwise, even in terms of flavors, he explained, he’s not looking for as much ripeness as his parents craved. With dry wines, Hasselbach believes that phenolic enhancement via pre-fermentative skin contact and sparing introduction of new wood are especially useful in vintages where one needs to somehow compensate for levels of acidity that are only modest by introducing alternative sources of “structure” or “backbone.”

Hasselbach couldn’t offer any explanation other than potassium deficiency for the comparatively low pH levels experienced in a 2018 vintage where acid levels were relatively modest, but like many growers, he considers those relatively low pHs a blessing and a critical quality factor in vintage 2018 success. Not only do they render the acids more efficacious, helping keep the wines lively, they also – in tandem with virtually complete absence of botrytis – conduce to stability, which suits Hasselbach’s desire to enhance full-lees contact and to minimize application of SO2. “Of course,” he added, “having been willing to begin picking on August 26 was also critical, and we finished up not much past the middle of September.” To which, even after so many growers had recounted tales of record-breaking, my response was simply: “Wow!” This astonishingly early harvest also reflects Hasselbach’s continued preference for moderate must weights – 89–91 Oechsle for Grosse Gewächse, just as in 2017 – resulting in finished alcohols that hover around 12.5%. He suspects that shutdown in the vines at the height of the summer heat and drought probably aided in restraining grape sugar. Apropos of the liveliness and clarity of his 2018s, Hasselbach averred that “if anyone had told me in late summer that we would end up with this sort of wine, I wouldn’t have believed them.” (For extensive background on this estate and its recent stylistic evolution under Johannes Hasselbach, consult the introductions that accompany my reports on his vintage 2014–2017 collections.)

From Rheinhessen 2018: Revelatory Rieslings (Nov 2020) by David Schildknecht

Reviews

Wines

Sort by default

2018 Silvaner Nackenheimer trocken x.t.

Color: White

Subscriber Access Only

You'll Find The Article Name Here

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer vitae aliquam odio. Aliquam purus diam, tempor et consectetur vitae, eleifend ac quam. Proin nec mauris ac odio iaculis semper. Integer posuere pharetra aliquet. Nullam tincidunt sagittis est in maximus. Donec sem orci, vulputate ac quam non, consectetur fermentum diam. In dignissim magna id orci dignissim convallis. Integer sit amet placerat dui. Aliquam pharetra ornare nulla at vulputate. Sed dictum, mi eget fringilla lacinia, nisl tortor condimentum mi, vitae ultrices quam diam ac neque. Donec hendrerit vulputate felis, fringilla varius massa.