Künstler
“It wasn’t pretty,” observes Gunter Künstler of his 2017 harvest, which for Riesling began in late September. What he means is that it was hard work selecting optimum fruit and that much of what got left behind was ugly. Hochheim is always especially susceptible to fungal infections due to proximity to the river Main; to dominance of relatively heavy (but efficaciously calcareous) soils; and above all to a warm microclimate that renders it more likely for September rains to compromise precociously ripe Riesling or Pinot grapes. Even at the other end of the Rheingau in Rüdesheim – where Künstler has steep-slope vineyards – precocious ripening also brings risks, though Künstler reports having been able to hold-of harvesting there until his crew had completed their work in Hochheim, which took nearly three weeks. Other than his early-budding Chardonnay in Hochheim, Künstler’s vines escaped frost damage; and they also escaped hail. That his 2017 crop was painfully small can thus be attributed largely to how much was left behind in the vineyards. What made it into the bottle, though – at least, among white grapes; I haven’t tasted Künstler’s vintage 2017 reds yet – is outstandingly clear and expressive. Künstler has long been unafraid to charcoal-fine his musts in years when background botrytis is problematic, but thanks to rigorous selection at harvest, he reports that in 2017 “we fined at most perhaps two lots of must out of some forty,” adding that “we’ve really changed our whole system [for receiving and handling grapes]; plus, we now have a really crack harvest team, so much so that we no longer need any [mechanized] optical sorters – that happens already in the vineyard.” (Among Künstler’s vintage 2017 Rieslings, I missed out on tasting a Grosses Gewächs bottling from the Kirchenstück that he inexplicably failed to present to me and about whose existence I learned only subsequently. I also did not taste Künstler’s Chardonnay from this vintage.)
During my recent visit, Künstler found a lovely way to sum-up his feelings about the two geographical extremes of the Rheingau in which his Rieslings are vested: “They’re yin and yang. Our landscape in Hochheim is undramatic but the wine is always voluminous and intense. In Rüdesheim the landscape is dramatic, but the wine is always especially elegant.” That contrast is evident already from the wines’ gross analyses: While even those estimable Hochheim Rieslings that Künstler chooses to label as “Kabinett trocken” harbor around 12.5% alcohol in 2017, his Grosse Gewächse from the Rüdesheimer Berg harvested three weeks later weigh-in at just 12%.
Especially for readers who have followed my accounts of Künstler’s experiences with various types of closure and the opportunities he has given me over the years to make direct comparisons, I should mention that as of vintage 2017, all Künstler wines (white or red) other than Grosse Gewächse are bottled with screwcap closures. Each Riesling Grosses Gewächs is subject to bottling both under screwcap and natural cork. For my November 2018 session, I tasted the Riesling Grosse Gewächse from their natural cork renditions, but the Spätburgunder Grosse Gewächse from screwcapped bottles. Apropos Spätburgunder, I was delighted to taste Künstler’s vintage 2016 reds, because time constraints have recently led me to neglect Pinot Noirs that I had admired during the 1990s but thought had in more recent vintages too often succumbed to stiffness from wood tannin and or to elevated alcohol. Just as leasing arrangement with the Ehrhard family in 2011 brought Künstler access to top Rüdesheim vineyards, he is now similarly vested in top Pinot Noir sites (notably Höllenberg) in neighboring Assmannshausen. It may be partly because 2016 yielded ripe flavors at modest must weights; perhaps also due to a lighter touch with extraction and exposure to new wood; in any case, this was a propitious group of Pinots. (For considerable detail concerning Künstler and his estate’s evolution, consult the introductions to my accounts of his vintage 2014-2016 wines.)
From Rheingau & Mittelrhein Riesling: Rising to 2017’s Challenges (Aug 2019) by David Schildknecht
2016 Spätburgunder Tradition
Release Price: $35
Color: Red
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2016 Spätburgunder Assmannshäuser Rotschiefer
Color: Red
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2016 Spätburgunder Hochheimer Stein
Color: Red
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2016 Spätburgunder Hochheimer Reichestal Grosses Gewächs
Release Price: $103
Color: Red
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2016 Spätburgunder Assmannshäuser Höllenberg Grosses Gewächs
Release Price: $121
Color: Red
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2017 Rosé Spätburgunder
Release Price: $26
Color: Rosé
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2017 Grüner Veltliner trocken
Color: White
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2017 Sauvignon Blanc Kalkstein trocken
Color: White
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2017 Alvarinho
Color: White
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2017 Riesling trocken
Release Price: $27
Color: White
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2017 Riesling Hochheimer Kirchenstück Kabinett trocken
Release Price: $33
Color: White
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2017 Riesling Hochheimer Hölle Kabinett trocken
Release Price: $24
Color: White
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2017 Riesling Hochheimer Herrenberg trocken
Color: White
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2017 Riesling Hochheimer Stielweg trocken Alte Reben
Color: White
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2017 Riesling Hochheimer Domdechaney trocken
Release Price: $49
Color: White
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2017 Riesling Rüdesheimer Berg Rottland Grosses Gewächs
Release Price: $75
Color: White
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2017 Riesling Rüdesheimer Berg Schlossberg Grosses Gewächs
Color: White
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2017 Riesling Kostheimer Weiss Erd Grosses Gewächs
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2017 Riesling Hochheimer Hölle Grosses Gewächs
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Color: White
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2017 Riesling
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