2015 Riesling Eitelsbacher Karthauserhofberg Spätlese

It’s hard to keep track of the personnel changes at this venerable estate since Albert Behler (first cousin to long-time proprietor Christoph Tyrell) took charge. Tobias Busch was hired to share cellarmaster duties with Christian Vogt, but by the time I tasted the 2015s in September 2016, both had moved on, Busch earlier that year to St. Urbans-Hof, Vogt in 2015 to Selbach-Oster. Sascha Dannhäuser, who showed me a 2015 collection that he was responsible for guiding into bottle, is a veteran of the Karthäuserhof cellar, having worked alongside long-time cellarmaster Ludwig Breiling for 18 years as well as with Christian Vogt and Tobias Busch, during which latter period Dannhäuser was more involved in the vineyard than the cellar. Johannes Rumpf, who had been responsible for sales in Germany of Baron Philippe de Rothschild wines, was installed as general manager of the Karthäuserhof as the 2015 vintage was being completed, but he left before the 2016 harvest began, and in March 2017 a replacement in that position was named. As I explained in my report focused on vintage 2014, trocken Rieslings from this estate are labeled "Karthäuserhof," not "Karthäuserhofberg," thus satisfying the VDP stipulation that only one legally dry Riesling each year be permitted to bear the name of a "great vineyard.” And the estate has done another end-run around VDP regulations by continuing to label trocken Riesling bottlings as “Kabinett” or “Spätlese,” apparently permissible insofar as “Karthäuserhof” is now officially considered an Ort rather than a Lage. In another surprising labeling development, the estate has resurrected one of the three site designations that were officially perpetuated as monopole Einzellagen in 1971 but then dropped in the late 1980s in favor of the single, aggregate Einzellage “Karthäuserhofberg.” (See my note below on “Riesling Spätlese trocken Sang.”) As if all of these changes were not enough to digest, I was informed on tasting the 2015 vintage Grosses Gewächs that it would probably not be released until 2019 or 2020 and that subsequent Grosses Gewächs bottlings would have similarly delayed release dates.

After such convoluted coverage of personnel, labeling and marketing matters, it’s a relief to note that the 2015s here have not turned out badly; in fact, the dry wines are considerably more impressive than their 2014 and 2013 predecessors. Picking took place in mid- and late October. Dannhäuser insisted that “the grapes stayed entirely healthy right through the last day,” although the transparency and energy conveyed at the dry end of the stylistic spectrum contrasted with surprisingly soft and less focused performances by this year’s residually sweet offerings. Musts that were significantly higher than 10 grams in acidity were largely deacidified by means of calcium carbonate, an approach that almost certainly helps explain the weaknesses I found in several wines.