2016 Riesling Forster Jesuitengarten Grosses Gewächs

Sabine Mosbacher-Düringer and Jürgen Düringer started picking on September 19, 2016, only nine days later than they had in 2015. But the harvest stretched to nearly five weeks given the vintage-characteristic pattern of a relaxed pace in view of cool, clear weather, slow sugar accretion and stable acidity. That having been noted, in addition to must weights and hence eventual alcohol levels slightly lower than in 2015, the Mosbacher 2016s average a full gram less acidity. Fortunately, that hasn’t translated into any dearth of animation or bright primary juiciness. The crop was virtually botrytis-free, so there are neither Spätlesen nor nobly sweet bottlings from 2016. This is another of the many Rhine estates to recently - and in their case, radically - renew the casks in which many of their wines are raised, so influence of newish oak is occasionally apparent, largely at Grosses Gewächs level, though having introduced so many new casks at one time also means that any obvious evidence should be but a memory in only a few years. Vintage 2016 also illustrates the trend here toward increasing reliance on spontaneous fermentation, although it remains to be seen how far that will proceed. Cellars in which Riesling can consistently ferment to legal dryness unassisted by yeast cultures are relatively few and far between. But greater reliance on cask – as is well known, and as one observes at other prominent Pfalz addresses – definitely improves the odds of that happening. The vintage 2016 Grosses Gewächs had only been bottled for two weeks when I tasted them on the last day of July 2017 but seemed to be suffering no ill effects. As usual, I was not shown all of the Mosbacher single-vineyard bottlings, but in all likelihood the Forster Stift and Deidesheimer Leinhöhle that were missing will be presented to me when I return to focus on vintage 2017. (For some background on this estate and an explanation of how its portfolio is organized, consult my previous reports focused on its 2014s and 2015s.)