2015 Riesling G Max

In the context of this “year with two vintages,” everything that Klaus Peter Keller picked in 2015 was from the second of these. But the contrast in harvest conditions between Nierstein and Westhofen has seldom been sharper. While 2014 represented a cool growing season and late harvest of which Keller took advantage for a superb collection that delectably reflected his preference for moderate alcohol and maximum animation, it wasn’t a year in which his grapes enjoyed the sort of nighttime chill that he claims conduces to optimizing Riesling aromas. “In 2015,” he reported, “we got nights of zero Celsius, beginning around the 10th of October, such as were lacking in 2014.” By that time, his Nierstein vines, save for a small, botrytis-affected portion in Hipping, had already been harvested. But his Dalsheim and Westhofen Riesling harvest was, as usual, still 7-10 days away. Keller hadn’t wanted to let must weights in Nierstein climb any higher – in the event, he pulled out fruit for a raft of botrytis bottlings – and given his laissez-faire attitude toward residual sugar, he simply decided not to let any of his Nierstein musts, high in acidity as they all were, ferment to legal dryness. In his home vineyards, on the other hand, “the 2015 harvest turned into a chilly delight [kühlen Vergnügen]. On the morning of October 14 it started snowing, and after that the nights were 0° or -1° C. Mornings, you could barely feel your fingers while picking.” Keller considers the results the most promising of his career, and most reflective of his stylistic ideals. And although I wouldn’t rule out a certain sentimental factor given that this was Klaus Keller senior’s 50th harvest, the latter insists this is the first one comparable to legendary 1971 in quality.

There is now a new, second basket press chez Keller, so that most of the crop is subjected to slow, vertical separation of juice. Klaus Peter Keller sees this treatment as an extension of his approach in the vineyard, designed to capture maximum aromatic finesse, brightness and clarity, traits that are every bit as welcome in the exceptional number of non-trocken bottlings of his 2015 collection as in his Grosse Gewächse. “The nice thing, nowadays,” remarked Keller, “is that we don’t need to deacidify anything – which I never wanted to do anyway – but instead, if we have grapes suited to a halbtrocken or residually sweet style, we vinify them that way. In 2014 we didn’t bottle our ‘Limestone’ Riesling Kabinett at all. In high-acid 2015, we produced 21,000 bottles.” Apropos of Kabinett, in May 2016, Keller and newly elected VDP member Kai Schätzel successfully appealed to their colleagues to reverse the decision that had ruled Kabinett a category unworthy of site-specific “Grosse Lage” status and which had until then compelled the two Kabinett enthusiasts to label with capital letters in lieu of vineyard names. (My reviews of 2015s and 2014s from Schätzel are included in this report.)

As usual, my tasting at Keller included his trio of Spätburgunder from the vintage prior. Keller is especially proud of having achieved robust, aromatically intense skins that resisted rot and resulted in bright, firm Pinots with serious cellar potential. And also as usual, I was not able to taste anywhere near a complete Keller collection, but that was especially true of this one, replete as it is with nobly sweet wines, among which I missed out on tasting Riesling Auslesen from Kirchspiel, Hubacker and Morstein as well as a Morstein TBA, not to mention two or three Rieslaner. I was especially sorry to have missed a 2015 Riesling RR – Keller’s occasional halbtrocken rendition of Kirchspiel – on account of his having had only five bottles left for his own cellar by the time I visited to taste 2015s. That’s one of which I expect to secure a bottle for reviewing as part of my report focused on vintage 2016. (For a detailed account of recent developments at this estate, including Keller’s evolving approach in the vineyards and cellar as well as to bottling and marketing, consult the introduction to my account of his 2014 Rieslings and 2013 Pinot Noirs.)