2014 Johannisberg Riesling Kabinett V

“Our preference is naturally to wait longer before harvesting,” reports Johannes Eser, “but last year that strategy really didn’t function. We started doing selections in some sites, but pretty quickly determined that by the time you got back to the parcel from which you had tried to remove imperfect bunches, they were back again. So you really just had to go ahead and harvest. What was also interesting last year,” he continues – though his choice of “interesting” must be brave or ironic – “is that normally we start by picking the lower sites with heavier soils and then have a good eight or ten days break before having to pick the steep, high-elevation sites, which is good since we only deal with a single grape variety but have a lot of surface area to cover. This year, the difference in ripening was only a few days and we were under constant pressure, picking as rapidly as we ever have. Rüdesheim looked in really good shape for a while, presumably thanks to its excellent ventilation, but then in a matter of days it too turned into an urgent situation. What we experienced but the Pfalz didn’t was rain in late August accompanied by temperatures as high as 30 C. [86 F.] and that was what really buckled the knees out from under this vintage [den Knick gebrochen hat].” Despite the daunting situation he has described, Eser was quite successful in 2014, especially at the dry end of his portfolio. He only bottled this year’s Grosse Gewächse in late August, preferring to give them the longest possible time on their full lees before commercial considerations intervened.

For many years, Eser has employed capital letters in lieu of formerly prominent Einzellage names that the local VDP insisted were undeserving of mention, as there were allegedly far too many vineyard names even after the radical reduction performed in 1971. Only two – other than that of Schloss Johannisberg itself – were to be permitted in Johannisberg, the Rheingau’s iconic wine village! Ironically the stock of fantasy names and letters can now be augmented at liberty by cadaster names of which more than two dozen are already announced in the Rheingau. So Eser still can’t name a wine “Johannisberger Vogelsang” but he has newly-registered “Johannisberger Auf der Höll” and “Rüdesheimer Ramstein.” What about that allegedly urgent need to simplify? Well, never mind. Why? Because the VDP has now introduced a “premier cru” tier of so-called ‘Erste Lagen” and there has to be something to fill it! What’s more, since Eser won’t any longer be allowed to label a wine “Kabinett trocken,” the wines formerly known by that name will now be distinctly recognizable as “Johannisberger Auf der Höll trocken” and “Rüdesheimer Ramstein trocken.” (You couldn’t make this stuff up. For further details see my tasting notes below on the relevant 2014s.)