2023 Riesling Kreuznacher Krötenpfuhl Kabinett

Cornelius Dönnhoff recounts 2023 at the domaine: “Fruit set was good, and we could see early on that this might be a bigger harvest, and in summer, we started reducing yields relatively early. This, with canopy management, was key as the vines were vigorous. In July, the weather changed, temperatures went down, and we had continuous showers in July and August, and our well-ventilated canopies paid off. We also had interrow ground cover to help pull moisture out of the soil. We had pokered right. It ensured the grapes could dry off, and we could get on top of the immense disease pressure.” Later in August, the weather changed again, ringing in stable weather. “September was warm and had high sunshine hours, not a cloud from morning to night. This accelerated the ripening and compensated for the cool August. The thinned-out fruit and airy canopy meant healthy grapes and no botrytis.” Dönnhoff notes that in wetter years like 2023, his steep and rocky Riesling sites are at an advantage with their excellent drainage and poor soils, curbing vine vigor, resulting in a harvest of healthy fruit. Dönnhoff did not make BAs or TBAs but harvested small amounts of thrilling Kabinetts, Spätlesen and Auslesen, mostly from botrytis-free grapes. “In Riesling, you do not need alcohol as a transporter of flavor,” he notes. “The Pinots [Weissburgunder and Grauburgunder] were a different story,” he says. “We had to select aggressively because there was some rot.” Picking started on 17 September with the Pinot varieties, and they had to hurry because ripeness advanced quickly. Dönnhoff is happy that nothing “slid into overripeness”–apart from the Auslesen–and notes that the wines have good acid structure with moderate alcohol and that sufficient moisture meant great extracts. He also puts his wines’ strikingly golden color down to extract—yet another stunning collection.