2018 Spätburgunder R

Cecilia Jost is the 7th generation of her family to run this estate in the heart of Bacharach. She farms 15 hectares, 12 in the Mittelrhein and 3 in the Rheingau – this combination dates to 1953 when her grandmother Mia Weller, married to grandfather Toni Jost, inherited these Walluf vineyards from her parents. All the wines are made in Bacharach. The family owns the monopole of the Bacharacher Im Hahn, a prominent Rhine-facing site just north of Bacharach and classified as Grosse Lage. Cecilia initially studied archaeology in Frankfurt before changing to oenology in Geisenheim. She trained with Bercher and Stadt Lahr in Baden, FX Pichler in the Wachau and Sherwood Estate in Waipara, New Zealand. Her first harvest at home was in 2004; she joined fully in 2009 and took over in 2012, when her father, Peter Jost, turned 65. Eighty percent of her vines are Riesling, 15% are Pinot Noir, and the remaining 5% are Pinot Blanc. She notes that Pinot Noir has been an “unbroken tradition” at the estate since 1831. All GG Rieslings are made in stainless steel only, while ferments use both native and cultured yeasts. Jost reports that she and her team seemed to spend the entire summer cutting out grapes, and in the case of young vines, whole canes to ensure the vines’ survival and relieve them during the drought. The Rheingau vineyards, on the other hand, benefited from three separate rain events. The 2022 harvest started with Pinot Noir on 8 September in the Rheingau and 12 September in the Mittelrhein. The reduction in yield during summer also meant well-ventilated canopies, so healthy grapes could be picked, harvest finished on 17 October. During my visit, I tasted a selection of the current releases, mostly Rieslings from 2022.