Prefer the old site?Launch →

Schäfer-Fröhlich

“For us, 2014 is a grandiose vintage of extreme refinement,” opined Tim Fröhlich. “I think we had relative good luck on the Nahe,” he added, “with October rain only overnight, not during the days, and not too much of it.” As in 2013, Fröhlich put a ten-person team to work beginning in August, and by harvest’s peak, 35 people were picking. Through early culling of any fruit that showed even a bit of botrytis, Fröhlich achieved a normal volume at harvest, except in a couple of sites with young vines and deeper soils that had been fertilized and succumbed to rot. He claims to have had his pickers smell any bunch that looked even remotely imperfect, to guard against acetification, adding that “we have never before enforced such a rigorous smell test.” The parcels for basic Riesling began to be picked on October 4, he reported, “and the Grosse Gewächse not that long afterward. The bit of rain that we continued to have plumped the berries a bit, so that we didn’t achieve quite as high must weights as we usually have, but in retrospect that made this a very educational vintage. In the best old vines, I had perfect flavors, just at only 90 Oechsle; the acids were ideal at eight [grams], and you could tell that the wine would have finesse but also more than enough power. Those grapes weren’t going to get one bit better. We were able to let the musts ferment more completely dry – this year’s spontaneous fermentations were as complete as I have ever had – and still end up with half a percent less alcohol than normal.” Photographs with newspaper front pages in the foreground confirm some parcels of Riesling picked as late as the third week in October still hung entirely rot-free – a rare sight in this vintage. Fröhlich’s collection is as consistently fine as any achieved with this grape in 2014 and, more remarkably, in the illustrious recent history of this estate. Prefermentative skin contact was shorter than normal and limited to the fruit from the top parcels, in keeping with Fröhlich’s vision of 2014 as a vintage of “finesse.” Most of the Grosse Gewächse spent only a month or two in cask, and all came off their full lees six or eight weeks before midsummer bottling, measures taken to preserve their refined structure.

From 2014 Germany: Riesling Resists Rain on the Rhine (May 2016) by David Schildknecht

Reviews

Wines

Sort by default

2014 Blanc de Noir trocken

Color: White

Subscriber Access Only

Schäfer-Fröhlich

2014 Blanc de Noir trocken

2014 Weissburgunder trocken

2014 Weissburgunder trocken S

2014 Weissburgunder trocken R

2014 Grauer Burgunder (Pinot Gris) trocken S

2014 Riesling trocken

2014 Riesling trocken Vulkangestein

2014 Riesling trocken Schiefergestein

2014 Riesling trocken Schiefergestein Selektion Tino Seiwert

2014 Schlossböckelheimer Kupfergrube Riesling Grosses Gewächs

2014 Schlossböckelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Grosses Gewächs

2014 Monzinger Frühlingsplätzchen Riesling Grosses Gewächs

2014 Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Grosses Gewächs

2014 Bockenauer Stromberg Riesling Grosses Gewächs

2014 Bockenauer Felseneck Riesling Grosses Gewächs

2014 Bockenauer Riesling halbtrocken Schiefergestein

2014 Bockenauer Felseneck Riesling Kabinett

2014 Bockenauer Felseneck Riesling Spätlese

2014 Bockenauer Felseneck Riesling Spätlese gold capsule

2014 Bockenauer Felseneck Riesling Auslese

Content

Engage

Vinous

Social