Prefer the old site?Launch →

Schäfer-Fröhlich

“We had excellent sugar and acid levels well before mid-October,” relates Tim Fröhlich of vintage 2015, “but not phenolic ripeness. For that you need to have cold nights. Plus, I’m also a big fan of postponing picking as long as the foliage is still green. Grapes that got picked already then were decently ripe sugar-wise, but in my experience no basis for truly great wine, and 2015 really only became great thanks to the nights having turned cold. We picked for six weeks. Nobly sweet wines came in from the middle to end of October, but the healthy grapes remained modest in must weight, with excellent, stable acidity and a density you could taste already in the berries. ”Fröhlich noted that besides the benefits paid in alcoholic moderation by picking for Grosse Gewächse in the mid- to upper 90s of Oechsle as opposed to over one hundred, he has found that spontaneous fermentation is much less hesitant and more consistently complete provided the must doesn’t exceed the upper 90s. In the case of his 2015s, spontaneous fermentations generally left behind only 4-5 grams of residual sugar, yet the Grosses Gewächs weigh-in at only around 12.5% alcohol. “Sometimes,” remarks Fröhlich, “I’ll catch myself musing ‘well, maybe an extra gram of residual sugar would have done that wine good,’ but after another month or two on its lees, I usually become convinced that the balance is perfect.” The 2015 Grosse Gewächse stayed on their full lees until April; and on their fine lees until very shortly before their July, 2016 bottling. “I’ve learned that racking them from their full lees along the way is conducive to clarity and precision,” says Fröhlich. In pursuit of those same goals – and despite perpetuating a practice of harvesting later than most of his Nahe neighbors – he says that in 2015 he harvested certain parcels on the principle “better a day too soon than a day too late,” and thus earlier than he would have been inclined to do a few years back. “I test the skins for resilience by tasting the berries,” he observes, “and prefer it if they are a bit al dente rather than if they start getting fatigued.” In 2015 Fröhlich's search for precision, clarity and finesse was also Fröhlich’s main impetus to limiting pre-fermentative skin contact to only 4-5 hours. His musts certainly harbored ample acidity to stand up to the buffering effect of skin contact, but Fröhlich was (accurately) anticipating a background of abundant sheer ripeness of fruit flavors, and his skin-to-juice ratios were high, which, in one way of looking at it means more skin contact already on the vine.

Given the extraordinary wines that emanate nowadays from this estate, it’s a boon for Riesling lovers that the Fröhlichs – of whom five, spanning two generations, are actively involved in day-to-day operations – have been able to continue expanding their already extensive and far-flung acreage without sacrificing quality. Moreover, their share of Bockenau’s Felsenberg, and especially that of the neighboring Stromberg (the latter parcels only acquired in 2013) includes prime sections that they have only recently replanted, with selections sourced from the estate’s oldest vines. The availability of these young vineyards is the reason that even the generic Schäfer-Fröhlich bottling is now 100% estate. And speaking of extraordinary quality, now that the Fröhlichs are working with both of the aforementioned Bockenau Einzellagen, an important and encouraging lesson is driven home with renewed emphasis. Sites which few Riesling lovers had even heard of as recently as fifteen years ago and that were literally not on maps purporting to display the Nahe’s “cru” vineyards, have been shown capable of rivaling the most famous in this region. And this is not even one of many obvious instances of re-discovery, because none of Bockenau’s acreage was assessed at the highest rate on the 1901 Prussian tax map. In short, exciting terroir discoveries are still possible. (Due to time constraints during my most recent visit, I did not taste the most recent offerings from Burgundian grapes. For more on Schäfer-Fröhlich, consult the introduction to my account of the estate’s 2014s.)

From Rheinhessen and Nahe 2015: Cool Concentration from a “Warm Vintage” (Nov 2017) by David Schildknecht

Reviews

Wines

Sort by default

2015 Riesling trocken

Color: White

Subscriber Access Only

Schäfer-Fröhlich

2015 Riesling trocken

2015 Riesling Vulkangestein trocken

2015 Riesling Bockenauer Schiefergestein trocken

2015 Riesling Schlossböckelheimer Kupfergrube Grosses Gewächs

2015 Riesling Schlossböckelheimer Felsenberg Grosses Gewächs

2015 Riesling Monzinger Frühlingsplätzchen Grosses Gewächs

2015 Riesling Monzinger Halenberg Grosses Gewächs

2015 Riesling Bockenauer Stromberg Grosses Gewächs

2015 Riesling Bockenauer Felseneck Grosses Gewächs

2015 Riesling Bockenauer Felseneck Unterm Brünnchen feinherb

2015 Riesling Bockenauer Schiefergestein halbtrocken

2015 Riesling feinherb

2015 Riesling Bockenauer Felseneck Kabinett

2015 Riesling Bockenauer Felseneck Spätlese

2015 Riesling Bockenauer Felseneck Spätlese Gold Capsule

2015 Riesling Bockenauer Felseneck Auslese

2015 Riesling Bockenauer Felseneck Auslese Goldkapsel

2015 Riesling Bockenauer Felseneck Beerenauslese

2015 Riesling Bockenauer Felseneck Trockenbeerenauslese

2015 Riesling Bockenauer Felseneck Trockenbeerenauslese Goldkapsel

Content

Engage

Vinous

Social