2016 Riesling trocken

“It paid to wait,” observed Helmut Dönnhoff of the 2016 harvest, “because that was what brought aromatics and ripeness of flavor, those things you can’t measure analytically. You have to examine the grapes, taste them, but also consider the whole demeanor [Habitus] of the vineyard. And that gives you a feeling for when the fruit is ripe. There comes a moment when the vine decides, ‘That was it for this year,’ and starts moving all of its material reserves into a savings account. But you have to wait until they have all been deposited there before picking. This year, you had no pressure and could do just what you wanted.” Dönnhoff also remarked that “each vintage has some point or some experience by which it will be remembered, and for 2016 that is the flowering, amid constant rain and threat from peronospora.” Yet having just said that, he immediately added that “the heat and drought of August and September 2016 were even more extreme than those of July and August 2003.” And as if those trials weren’t sufficient, the growing season had begun with a spring frost that briefly brought record-setting low temperatures and set the stage for the smallest-ever yields from Brücke. That overall losses weren’t greater Dönnhoff attributes to a numerically sufficient team for spraying during the rainy period as well as for grooming vine foliage to guard against sunburn. Picking ran from mid-October into the first week of November. “To be honest,” he noted with a wry smile, “as the veteran and perhaps sometimes too-dominant member of the crew, I was saying. ‘Let’s wait a little longer,’ while the younger generation” – son Cornelius has long been in charge here in the cellar – “was saying, ‘Pick!’ And I have to say, in retrospect, he was right.”

This year’s group of Grosse Gewächse perpetuates the recent trend at this address (and indeed at many others) toward decisive dryness, with a typical analysis registering only four grams of residual sugar, and alcohol around 13%. “The character of the musts was quite similar for all of them,” observed Dönnhoff, “and of course they were all crushed, vinified and matured the same way.” Bottling for those Grosse Gewächse took place only in August 2017, and because the musts had been so healthy, the wines remained on the full lees until then. Last year’s experiment with Brücke Grosses Gewächs, impressive though the results were, was not repeated in 2016. “It can work from time to time, but not always,” commented Dönnhoff. “A lot of folks imagine that first the dry wines get harvested and then the sweet ones. No, it’s the other way around, because for sweet wine, even if there is some botrytis, you need freshness and acidity. Brücke is ideal for that, whereas only in some years would it eventually deliver distinctive, botrytis-free but lower-acid material for a top-notch dry wine.” Conversely, there is no Schlossböckelheimer Felsenberg Spätlese this year because the Dönnhoffs felt that by the time Riesling there reached optimum ripeness, the acids weren’t high enough to support a residually sweet wine. (All quotes attributed to “Dönnhoff” in this introduction and in my tasting notes refer to Helmut Dönnhoff; this year, I did not have a chance to chat with Cornelius Dönnhoff. For much more about this estate and its vineyards, consult my reports on its 2015s and 2014s, especially my extended introductory remarks. My tasting notes from those vintages also include some descriptions of the estate’s vineyards and explanations of vineyard origin for its generic bottlings, none of which have been repeated in this latest set of tasting notes.)

“It paid to wait,” observed Helmut Dönnhoff of the 2016 harvest, “because that was what brought aromatics and ripeness of flavor, those things you can’t measure analytically. You have to examine the grapes, taste them, but also consider the whole demeanor [Habitus] of the vineyard. And that gives you a feeling for when the fruit is ripe. There comes a moment when the vine decides, ‘That was it for this year,’ and starts moving all of its material reserves into a savings account. But you have to wait until they have all been deposited there before picking. This year, you had no pressure and could do just what you wanted.” Dönnhoff also remarked that “each vintage has some point or some experience by which it will be remembered, and for 2016 that is the flowering, amid constant rain and threat from peronospora.” Yet having just said that, he immediately added that “the heat and drought of August and September 2016 were even more extreme than those of July and August 2003.” And as if those trials weren’t sufficient, the growing season had begun with a spring frost that briefly brought record-setting low temperatures and set the stage for the smallest-ever yields from Brücke. That overall losses weren’t greater Dönnhoff attributes to a numerically sufficient team for spraying during the rainy period as well as for grooming vine foliage to guard against sunburn. Picking ran from mid-October into the first week of November. “To be honest,” he noted with a wry smile, “as the veteran and perhaps sometimes too-dominant member of the crew, I was saying. ‘Let’s wait a little longer,’ while the younger generation” – son Cornelius has long been in charge here in the cellar – “was saying, ‘Pick!’ And I have to say, in retrospect, he was right.”

This year’s group of Grosse Gewächse perpetuates the recent trend at this address (and indeed at many others) toward decisive dryness, with a typical analysis registering only four grams of residual sugar, and alcohol around 13%. “The character of the musts was quite similar for all of them,” observed Dönnhoff, “and of course they were all crushed, vinified and matured the same way.” Bottling for those Grosse Gewächse took place only in August 2017, and because the musts had been so healthy, the wines remained on the full lees until then. Last year’s experiment with Brücke Grosses Gewächs, impressive though the results were, was not repeated in 2016. “It can work from time to time, but not always,” commented Dönnhoff. “A lot of folks imagine that first the dry wines get harvested and then the sweet ones. No, it’s the other way around, because for sweet wine, even if there is some botrytis, you need freshness and acidity. Brücke is ideal for that, whereas only in some years would it eventually deliver distinctive, botrytis-free but lower-acid material for a top-notch dry wine.” Conversely, there is no Schlossböckelheimer Felsenberg Spätlese this year because the Dönnhoffs felt that by the time Riesling there reached optimum ripeness, the acids weren’t high enough to support a residually sweet wine. (All quotes attributed to “Dönnhoff” in this introduction and in my tasting notes refer to Helmut Dönnhoff; this year, I did not have a chance to chat with Cornelius Dönnhoff. For much more about this estate and its vineyards, consult my reports on its 2015s and 2014s, especially my extended introductory remarks. My tasting notes from those vintages also include some descriptions of the estate’s vineyards and explanations of vineyard origin for its generic bottlings, none of which have been repeated in this latest set of tasting notes.)