2014 Riesling Rüdesheimer Berg Rottland

Theresa Breuer and Hermann Schmoranz have turned in another fine performance in 2014. “After the rain around September 20,” she reports, “we set-out to harvest as quickly as possible, and by the beginning of October we were finished. Unfortunately, there was a lot of fruit to throw away in many vineyards because we quickly got into trouble with fruit flies. On the other hand, some parcels, especially on the steep Rüdesheimer Berg, held up really well until the last couple of days of picking, when we got hit with constant rain. In the gentler slopes and deeper soils, how well they held up was a question of vine genetics. Rauenthal had a more difficult time than Rüdesheim because ripeness was not as advanced when acescence began to become a problem, and we made correspondingly less Nonnenberg from only the best parcels. We made no nobly sweet wines because the botrytis just wasn’t of high enough quality. We tried in one parcel of the Schlossberg to do some selection but it didn’t meet the standard we set for ourselves. If you can put out of your mind how things looked during the harvest and just concentrate on how the wines taste, 2014 is not at all bad.” That’s an understatement at this address! Finished alcohols are in the upper 11s or just over 12%, enhancing the tendency at this address to achieve ever-greater refinement, clarity and filigree in dry Rieslings that were already among the Rheingau’s best. Breuer reports that she made a lot of rosé (technically Weissherbst) in 2014, but I didn’t taste it, instead concentrating in the Pinot department on vintage 2013.