2016 Riesling Frankweiler Biengarten trocken

Whereas Hansjörg Rebholz’s primary concerns in 2015 had been both to harvest and to bottle early enough to preserve freshness in the grapes and eventual wine, in 2016 he considered it critical to postpone harvest so as to benefit from the phenolic enhancement that time and chilly weather conferred. The resulting grapes and eventual wines reflect health, freshness and stability, while testifying to (or at least giving the impression of) a “cool vintage,” August and September heat notwithstanding. “For me, 2016 has many parallels with 2008,” opined Rebholz, “especially its precision, minerality and levity.” In that year, Rebholz reported that his grapes had never experienced such long hang-time – he picked from the third week of October through the third week of November 2008 – and yet must weights remained low and acidity high. “In 2016,” he quipped, “we had 21 days of picking, but 23 days of waiting” - past the point where grapes are traditionally thought to have had enough hang-time. Most Riesling was not harvested until the first days of November, yet even at complete dryness the resultant wines weigh in either just under or just over 12% alcohol and retain acidity that guarantees liveliness and refreshment while having allowed for this estate’s typical practice of permitting around 24 hours’ pre-fermentative skin contact. In reviewing my notes on his 2008s, I realize that those were the most enthusiastic I had yet written about any Rebholz wines. It would be 2014 before I encountered a subsequent collection here that I found equally exciting. And 2016 raises that excitement to the next level.

As my regular readers will be aware, although Rebholz has long been tipped within German journalistic and winemaking circles as one of the two or three top estates – if not the number one estate – in the entire Pfalz, my own assessment has been more restrained. My impression is that a trend over the last several years toward lower alcohol and greater finesse has tempered the typical austerity of Rebholz Rieslings and Pinot Blancs and helped elevate them to the forefront of German endeavors with either grape. Indeed, with Pinot Blanc, only Markus Molitor can come at all close to challenging Rebholz. Another felicitous trend here that has accelerated over the last several vintages is that generic bottlings – of which there are a plethora – have gone from being consistently good to being truly exemplary in balance and complexity, catapulting their quality/price rapport off the charts.

Rebholz has exhibited the increasingly popular penchant for fermenting to near-absolute dryness – indeed, analysis could detect absolutely no residual sugar in one of his vintage 2016 Rieslings or in any of the Pinot Blancs – but the wines have not suffered any corresponding loss. In fact, a surprising alliance of low alcohol with glycerol-richness helps explain Rebholz’s experience that “in tasting many of these 2016s from cask or tank, I thought fermentation must not be finished yet, but then discovered that sugar was down to at most a couple of grams.” Two observations on my part: I continue to worry that in another sort of vintage – perhaps 2007 or 2008, we’ll soon see – fans of absolute dryness will give it priority over alcoholic moderation. But Rebholz believes that thanks to recent adaptations of his viticultural regimen (biodynamic since 2005), the problem of high must weights with insufficient ripeness will seldom if ever again become problematic at his estate. Secondly, I would like to point out that the association in Rebholz’s mind when he tasted these delicious 2016s in cask and thought they must still harbor five or six grams of residual sugar did not come from nowhere. It can only have arisen from time after time experiencing dry Rieslings that tasted expressive and balanced with five or six grams.

I regret to inform readers that quite a few recent bottlings from the enormous Rebholz portfolio are missing from my notes below. In my enthusiasm over this year’s Biengarten Riesling, I managed to accidentally obliterate the note I had just taken on Rebholz’s associated Riesling Trocken vom Muschelkalk, which is not sold in the US. I can at least assure you that that wine is excellent to the tune of 92 points. The 2016 Muskateller had vanished by the time of my visit; Rebholz did not show me his one (almost dry) Gewürztraminer of the vintage; and shortage of time combined with my tendency to find these relatively disappointing led to our omitting wines (other than the superb sparkler) from Chardonnay, Pinot Gris or Pinot Noir. (For much more about this estate and its vineyards, consult the introductions to my coverage of their 2014s and 2015s. My tasting notes from those vintages also offer some details about their vineyard sources and diverse geological underpinnings.)