2022 Riesling R
Germany
Lorch, Rüdesheim, Hattenheim, Erbach, Kiedrich
Rheingau
Sweet White
Riesling
00
2023 - 2028
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When August Kesseler took over his parental estate in 1977, he had just 2.5 hectares of Pinot Noir, the traditional grape variety in this Rheingau village famed for its red wines. Kesseler recounts that there were “catastrophic” vintages in the 1970s and 1980s: “Vintages you cannot even imagine today, the fruit did not ripen, this is why both Riesling and Pinot Noir were made with residual sweetness.” But he adds that residual sugar levels were lower than they are today: around 20g/L for Kabinett, 30g/L for Spätlese. Kesseler explains how even red wines at the time were routinely made with residual sugar – while malolactic fermentation was avoided. Kesseler made his name with the 1979 vintage, which went through malolactic conversion by mistake. He sold the wine in bulk at a price that was unheard of – 20 German Marks per liter. But he also worked elsewhere as a winemaker to build up and invest in his business at home. He also put Germany’s most famous Pinot Noir vineyard, the Assmannshäuser Höllenberg, back on the map. At that time the State Domaine in Assmannshausen under the auspices of Kloster Eberbach stuck to its off-dry style. Kesseler thus is one of Germany’s original and early Pinot Noir pioneers. Today, there are 38 hectares, of which 75% are Riesling and 25% Pinot Noir. The shift to Riesling came with acquisitions of sites in Hattenheim, Erbach and Kiedrich in 2016, but key sites are Assmannshäuser Höllenberg, Rüdesheimer Berg Schlossberg and Lorchhäuser Seligmacher. Today, the wines are made by Max Himstedt, who has been at the estate since 1996, assisted by Simon Batarseh. In terms of style, the Kesseler team are wizards of placing, almost hiding, sweetness in their wines – in other hands this would be clumsy, here it is masterful. But Kesseler is also a stickler for maintaining standards: from the difficult 2021 Pinot Noir vintage, he neither bottled a GG, nor a Momentum Gaudeo, nor his second wine from his classified sites called Cuvée Max. Kesseler only made his entry-level The Daily August and a Rüdesheim village wine from Pinot Noir – which now contains fruit from top sites and is more concentrated than most 2021s. Peronospora and lack of sufficient physiological ripeness were behind the decision. When Kesseler wines from top sites do not ferment to dryness, he has no compunction bottling them as they are, foregoing the GG designation in favor of naturally harmonious single-site Rieslings, like he did with his 2022 Riesling Lorchhäuser Seligmacher Alte. In addition, Kesseler did not give the 2022 Riesling Rüdesheimer Berg Schlossberg Alte Reben the GG designation despite being dry enough, as in his view it wasn’t concentrated enough. In 2022, both the Riesling and Pinot Noir harvests started on 8 September, Pinot Noir was finished on 14 September, Riesling on 8 October. Since the 2022 Riesling fruit was healthy, most ferments were spontaneous. During my visit, I tasted the 2022 Rieslings and the 2021 Pinot Noirs.
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