2018 Riesling Erdener Pralat Auslese

Mönchhof continues to feature Robert Eymael’s name on its masthead, but hands-on directorship has passed to cellarmaster Philipp Conzen. He got picking started here on September 17, 2018, and given the relatively high must weights that prevailed, this was surely not a bit too early. Conzen emphasized the healthy condition of this crop’s ripe fruit, though a couple of prominently sweet high-volume bottlings seem to have incorporated less blemish-free or firm grapes. But if in fact not all of the acidity in the wines I tasted came from the grapes themselves – it’s hard, given the sensitivity of that topic, to draw out someone you haven’t yet gotten to know well on the subject of acidification – it certainly struck me as largely efficacious and well-integrated. (For the record, this estate’s legal title – reflecting the long-standing incorporation of Weingut Joh. Jos. Christoffel, on which I as usual report separately – is now “Weingüter M & C Management.” For further information on Eymael and the historically important Mönchhof, consult the introduction to my report on their 2014s; and for information related to the acquisition by a group of Chinese investors, see my introduction to notes on its 2016s.)