2018 Sauvignon Blanc trocken

Daniel Wagner was rigorous about “halving” bunches and dropping crop, but even given the consequent yield limit, he was still able to postpone the beginning of harvest until September 20. He expressed delight that the weather cooled soon thereafter and stable analytic parameters in the grapes meant that the headlong rush he had feared the harvest would become never transpired. That having been said, Wagner was already done picking on October 8, in part because there wasn’t a single day when the weather did not permit picking. “I’ve never in my life seen so many impeccable grapes,” claimed Wagner of his 2018 crop. Eventual yields were still ample, comporting to the achievement of ripe flavors while, in Wagner’s words, “not letting must weights go higher than 95 or 96 Oechsle, because otherwise there could have been problems finishing up fermentation [to legal Trockenheit], but then also a problem with too much alcohol.” Here, he draws a comparison with the sometimes problematically high must weights of 2003 and 2011. Nor did acid deficiency end up being a problem in 2018, a tribute not just to Wagner’s well-ventilated sites but, more significantly, to astute canopy management and extremely gentle, fractionalized pressing. (He said he didn’t retain any juice pressed at more than 11.5 pounds per square inch.) Even Silvaner ended up in the mid-sevens in grams per liter of acidity. As Wagner summed it up, “the challenge in 2018 was to convey coolness and animation to the wines in such a warm vintage.” Bottling times were as usual, but the wines did get racked a bit sooner ahead of bottling to avoid any hint of fattiness. (For much more about this superb estate and its geologically and climatically unique sector of Rheinhessen, consult the introduction to my reports on its collections from vintages 2014–2017.)