2014 Riesling Deidesheimer Langenmorgen Grosses Gewächs

This latest vintage confirms a welcome trend at Christmann toward greater refinement, primary juiciness and, consequently, sheer drinking pleasure, for which slightly earlier harvesting may to a significant degree be responsible. I don’t think I have ever taken more pleasure in tasting through a Christmann collection than this one. “The average must weight this year for our Gutsriesling was 90 Oechsle,” explained Steffen Christmann, “yet we have Grosse Gewächse that were picked at just 92 or 93. But my thinking was: before these grapes catch botrytis I’d better bring them in. An important theme for me going forward will be to take levity [Leichtigkeit] to the next step,” he confirmed, “and I would be very happy if we can have our entire range between 12% and 12.5% alcohol the way it is this year, even the Grosse Gewächse, yet still exhibiting enough stuffing thanks to our limestone-rich soils.”

Bottling took place for most of the 2014 volume in March of '15, but for the single-vineyard wines did not begin until late spring or early summer. The Grosse Gewächse remained on their fine lees until just before their early August bottling, which may account for the stiffness that some of them exhibited when I tasted them in September. (In Christmann’s memorable phrase, when first poured they tended to be a bit vernagelt: “nailed shut,” or slightly slow on their feet, a sage reminder that it is often vital to give Riesling Grosse Gewächse considerable time in the glass.)

I managed to squeeze into my most recent session at Christmann a tasting of their several Pinot Blancs, reminding me that it’s too bad such wines (like their counterparts at Müller-Catoir, which I unfortunately did not get to taste from 2014) are very rarely brought into the U.S. Pinot Noir is also important at this address, and although I have found some recent exemplars rather stiff and graceless, I need someday soon to undertake a more systematic tasting of recent Christmann reds.