2023 Riesling Dhroner Hofberg Grosses Gewächs

Gerhard Grans led this tasting, as his daughter Catherina was already looking after the first-picked fruit of the harvest—Grauburgunder, on September 20, 2024. “Capricious weather set the tone in 2023”, Grans says. “We had a rather warm summer, and then, as of mid-August, a rain period set in. The weather remained miserable until mid-September. Then it turned again and got better. I will not forget this—never before has the selection effort been so intense. The grapes were ripe, some burst and some dried out, which was lucky. For estates like my daughter’s that specialize mostly in dry wines, it was a challenge. The sorting was meticulous.” Grans likens the selective effort for healthy grapes to selecting single berries for a TBA, and in his five decades of winemaking, he had never witnessed anything like it. Harvest concluded in mid-October. The ripeness of the 2023 growing season is evident in the wines, especially in the prime, warm sites with milder acidity. The wine from the lateral Dhron Valley is racier. That said, the wines are compellingly aromatic throughout and display purity and poise.