2023 Riesling Ockfener Bockstein Spätlese

The 2023 von Othegraven Kabinetts are not as racy as usual, but they will simply charm a different clientele. The GGs, however, show Cellarmaster Swen Klinger’s intention to craft wines of honesty, and the two 2022 Grosse Gewächs are wonderful examples of uncompromising elegance. The 2023 Spätlesen and Auslesen simply shine. Klinger remembers a dry summer that “looked like no rain would ever come. But then, from July 20 onwards until almost mid-August, the rain would not stop. It rained more than 100 mm, and that was necessary. Without the rain, we would not have had this kind of vintage,” Klinger explains with regard to Riesling, noting that it spelled rot for the earlier-ripening Pinot varieties and the Elbling that some people still grow in the Saar. Klinger felt fortunate that he had decided to de-leaf the vines. Apart from drying out faster, this also meant reduced photosynthetic ability, hindering a full take-up of moisture in the vines so that grapes did not swell and split/disease pressure was minimal. Another lucky stroke was the fact that there was no rain during harvest, which started on September 25 and finished on October 20, with yields just a little above 2022 levels. “Good rot arrived, and we started harvesting botyrized grapes relatively early,” Klinger says, continuing, “We were rewarded with brutal acidity.” This is a boon for sweet wines, borne out completely by the wines in this tasting.