2015 Riesling trocken

Christian Hermann’s reputation, like that of his father Rudi, is based on residually sweet Rieslings, and it is easy to understand why when one surveys this estate’s full 2015 collection. About as much noble rot is on exhibit there as you will find at any address in this vintage, and only the dry wines are underwhelming. (Though “underwhelming” is not an adjective one would apply to Hermann’s dry-tasting Ürziger Würzgarten collaboration with Stefan Steinmetz, for an account of which consult my coverage in this report of the latter’s 2015s.) Picking here began on October 3, but mostly for culling botrytis, related Hermann, with the main harvest beginning a few days later, after skies over Erden and Ürzig had entirely cleared.

Astute readers might note that I now write “Erdener Treppchen Herzlei” as a single vineyard name. That reflects the Hermanns’ monopole site in Treppchen having been officially registered under the recent provisions that permit cadaster names to be employed on labels. (Similarly, any labels of wines from Ürziger Würzgarten that formerly referred to “Kranklay” are now officially wines from “Ürziger Würzgarten in der Kranklei” and should technically be labeled as such.) While this doesn’t show up on labels per se, one might wonder at the proliferation of “gold capsule” designations in the Hermann portfolio. It goes without saying that this reflects wines of ripeness well in excess of the minimums set by law for any given Prädikat, but as Christian Hermann readily admits, marketing issues are also involved. “Increasingly, the demand is either for Kabinett or for a wine perceived to be really ‘high-end’,” he explained (using that hyphenated English expression). “Demand for the middle segment, whether it’s normal Spätlese or readily-drinkable Auslese [Trinkauslese] keeps shrinking. So a gold capsule Spätlese is easier to market than an Auslese perceived as ‘normal.’ ” (This might be a specifically Erden and Ürzig concern, since Eymael and Christoffel some years ago dropped “star-free” Würzgarten Auslese in favor of the designation “Spätlese Goldkapsel.”) That said, this year not only Hermann’s Auslesen but also the Beerenauslese, two TBAs and a Prädikat-less dry wine are designated “gold capsule.” Incidentally, while the Hermanns relegate fruit from Kinheim (most of which they obtain contractually) to their generic bottlings, they are keenly aware of both the high potential of that village’s sites and the high quality of wines from there that Markus Molitor is now vineyard-designating. Christian Hermann left the impression that future vintages might well include single-vineyard Hermann Kinheimers. (For further background on this estate, consult the introduction to my report on their 2014s.)