2015 Riesling Niersteiner trocken

On the eve of the 2016 harvest, Fritz Hasselbach, who with his wife Agnes elevated her family’s Nackenheim estate to well-deserved international stardom, lost a long struggle with melanoma. Under his direction, Weingut Gunderloch amassed an amazing track record for both dry and sweet (especially nobly sweet) Riesling and for wines showcasing the steep “Red Slope” along this famous stretch of Rhine, not only in single-vineyard bottlings but also in some of Germany’s finest and best-value generics. Two thousand fifteen was already the third harvest with son Johannes Hasselbach and his young vineyard manager/cellar master Markus Weickert in charge. There have been some subtle but important methodological changes (detailed in the introduction to my report on their 2014s), but prospects are bright for continued excellence. If the 2015s are not on quite the exalted level of many Gunderloch collections over the past quarter century, that might be because we’re looking at one of numerous recent instances where traditionally top riverside Rhine sites were punished precisely by their precocity. “The grapes were ripe by the time the September rains arrived,” explained Johannes Hasselbach, “and I didn’t want to lose much time in harvesting them. Besides,” he added, “I’m happy to have Grosse Gewächse that register barely over 12 percent in alcohol.” That said, the perceived need not to risk letting these grapes hang into October may have carried a small price in depth, although, as a group, this year’s dry Gunderloch Rieslings boast impressive clarity and mineral nuance. “We took a pause then, before harvesting for sweet wines,” related Hasselbach, “during which acids for the most part remained stable while the phenolics improved.” Most of the nobly sweet 2015s, he noted, were picked from the prow of the Rothenberg, where air circulation helped keep botrytis relatively dry and free of outright fungal fuzz. The results, as my notes indicate, are impressively concentrated and persistent if a bit over-laden with sheer sweetness. Hopefully time will bring improved balance and greater precision. “Fermentations were rapid and unproblematic,” Hasselbach reported, “and even the Trockenbeerenauslese fermented well spontaneously without any encouragement.” (Long, cool ferments using cultured yeasts had been significant features of his father’s regimen.)

During my September 2016 visit, a huge new press house and storage area were being erected on the grounds of the family’s former garden, immediately behind their half-timbered office and tasting room (soon to be remodeled). The new facilities will reach right up under vines in the Rothenberg, which is slated to enter the process of wholesale restructuring and replanting known as Flurbereinigung. I don’t yet have a grasp on the timetable for this Flurbereinigung or on how extensive the effects will be for Gunderloch.