2014 Riesling Nackenheimer Rothenberg Auslese

Johannes Hasselbach called the 2014 harvest not just “turbo-charged” but also stressful, the more so since it marked his first vintage officially in charge of the estate that his parents elevated to international stardom. Picking began in late September and the rainy commencement of October brought with it an urgency that resulted in the harvest being completed in two and a half weeks. (By contrast, the 2012 harvest here lasted six and a half weeks!)

Increased reliance on spontaneous fermentation; enhanced skin and lees contact; and, above all, less-drastic cooling during fermentation (so that this year, for instance, nearly all of the wines had finished fermenting by Christmas) are among the trends that have already resulted in distinctly tastable differences since Johannes Hasselbach began to play a major role here. “These might seem like significant breaks with the parental pattern,” he admitted, "but they really represent a consensus reached by the family over several years.”