2017 Riesling Dhroner Hofberg Grosses Gewächs

Gerhard and Catherina Grans lost around a third of their crop to the frost and harvest selectivity that were features of the 2017 growing season. Harvest was as rapid as ever recorded at this now 32-acre estate, commencing only in the third week of September and finishing up in the first days of October. “We went in thinking in terms of a pre-harvest selection,” related Catherina Grans, “but instead it was full steam ahead and everything was picked in two-and-a-half weeks.” Even the village-level Laurentiuslay wasn’t bottled until the end of May 2018, but the Grosse Gewächse followed just two weeks later. The “accident” that was 2016’s delicious Apotheke feinherb was unfortunately not repeated in 2017. I am unaware of any Grans-Fassian wine this year from Piesporter Goldtröpfchen. Nor, to my knowledge, did Catharina Grans perpetuate her former solo project that resulted in a dry wine called “Steiles Stück.” As in many other recent vintages, there was a generic feinherb bottling labeled simply “Catharina,” but I was not offered a taste of it. (For background on Grans-Fassian, consult especially the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)