Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 83

IMPORTED NEW RELEASES
RHEINgAU RIESlINg SPATlESE

gests this will age well over the next ten years. §
Loosen Bros. USA, Salem, OR
224571

honey, a heady style to pour with blue cheese. §
MW Imports, White Plains, NY

2015 Rheingau Rosalack Riesling Auslese ^ This is bright and tangy, with an exotic
range of scents and flavor, from green fruit
to floral herbs like hyssop and verbena, as
well as ginger and curry. Right now the acidity stands apart from the sweetness, the wine
needing time in the cellar to come together. §
MW Imports, White Plains, NY

224636

90 | Schloss Johannisberg $150

RHEINgAU RIESlINg BA

226924

93 | Robert Weil

$40

2016 Rheingau Riesling Spätlese ^ A subtle
Spätlese riesling blended from sites around
Keidrich Gräfenberg, this excels in the energy
it transmits. It's partly a quality of the fruit,
zesty and fresh in its lime-and-herb flavors,
and partly the way it turns that juicy, fresh
fruit into head-filling, complex, floral aromas. As delicate as it feels, it's also firm, a candidate for the cellar, where it's likely to grow
in expression. § Loosen Bros. USA, Salem, OR
224568

91 | Schloss Johannisberg

$55

2015 Rheingau Grünlack Riesling Spätlese ^ Schloss Johannisberg specializes in
Spätlese wines, and their 2015 is in classic
form: It's peaches and cream lined with lemony acidity, a little floral spice adding interest. Round and ripe yet clean and fresh, it
lasts with an intensity that suggests this will
continue to gain in complexity with age. § MW
Imports, White Plains, NY
226929

90 | Robert Weil

$86

87 | Winzer von Erbach

$19

2016 Rheingau Kiedrich Gräfenberg Riesling Spätlese ^ Exuberant riesling, this tastes
of pink grapefruit charged with pink-peppercorn spice. It's immediately inviting in its
sweet, tangy flavors, the acidity hidden under
youthful fruit. § Loosen Bros. USA, Salem, OR
224614
2015 Rheingau Erbacher Honigberg Riesling Spätlese (Best Buy) ^ This is floral and
gentle, like sweet chamomile tea, a subtle
Spätlese that could use a chill to bring up
the acidity. § Kysela Père et Fils, Winchester, VA

RHEINgAU RIESlINg AUSlESE
226940

92 | Robert Weil

$154

2016 Rheingau Kiedrich Gräfenberg Riesling Auslese ^ This is a hedonistic Auslese,
layering its ripe fruit with the cushiony richness of marzipan. The flavors move from red
apple to red berry as the wine takes on air,
mineral notes adding a firmness that sug-

226942

97 | Robert Weil

$320

2016 Rheingau Kiedrich Gräfenberg
Riesling Beerenauslese ^ The spring of 2016
didn't start out auspiciously: It rained from
mid-May through June. But the berries that
made it through enjoyed a warm, sunny
spell that lasted through August, followed
by the warmest September Wilhelm Weil
can remember. That weather allowed him to
wait for a prodigiously ripe BA. What's most
impressive, however, is how this wine delivers that sweetness: in a shimmery stream
of satin-textured, multihued flavor. That
flavor soars, the mineral tones magnifying
and enhancing the fruit like a shower of sea
salt. Everything is so perfectly balanced that
the wine doesn't actually register as sweet;
it's sumptuous, seamless, a thing of beauty. §
Loosen Bros. USA, Salem, OR

RHEINgAU RIESlINg TBA
226943

96 | Robert Weil

$660/375ml

2016 Rheingau Kiedrich Gräfenberg Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese ^ This is the 28th
consecutive vintage that Weil has managed
to put out wines at each Prädikat level. His
2016 TBA holds no hint of its concentration in its pale yellow color; instead, it's a
sign of its clarity and precision. The flavors
are cool and delicate, like green plums and
sweet herbs, like candied angelica and a hint
of lovage. The wine feels tight, revved up by
acidity, whipped into a creamy lightness of
richness and air. "It's too perfect to pair with
food," declared a taster; best to enjoy it on its
own, or with a barely sweet ricotta cheesecake. § Loosen Bros. USA, Salem, OR
224591

90 | Schloss
Johannisberg

$1,000

2015 Rheingau Goldlack Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese ^ Dark in color and flavor,
this plainly shows its ripeness in notes of figs
and caramel, apple cider and oranges. It's
spicy and creamy, with a texture like whipped

RHEINHESSEN RIESlINg QBA

96 | Dreissigacker

$60

2013 Rheinhessen Bechtheimer Geyersberg QbA Trocken ^ After working with
Rheinhessen star winemaker Klaus-Peter
Keller, Jochen Dreissigacker returned to his
family's estate in 2001 and set about converting its 51 acres to organic viticulture. Working in the winery with ambient yeasts, gentle pressings and old, large casks, he turned
out a trocken riesling in 2013 that feels like
it might last for 20 years or more. While it
shows its maturity in its rich yellow hue and
warm grilled-fruit flavors, it tastes tangy and
alive, a lean, stony wine with a mouthwatering salinity. That briny note seems to propel
the flavors like water over river stones, a constant, steady flow with clarity and direction,
ever-refreshing. § Schatzi Wines, NY

226937

93 | Wittmann

$36

92 | Dreissigacker

$72

2016 Rheinhessen Westhofener Riesling
QbA Trocken ^ Philipp Wittmann blends
this wine from his best sites in and around
Westhofen, fermenting the fruit in large casks
with ambient yeasts and leaving it for ten
months on the lees. The 2016 shows its ripeness in its peach and pear flavor and lemoncurd acidity, then balances it with mineral
tones that seem to reflect light through the
wine. It lasts, lifted and fresh, elegant in its
lines. § Loosen Bros. USA, Salem, OR
224638
2013 Rheinhessen Westhofener Morstein
QbA Trocken ^ From 40-year-old vines growing in limestone and clay, this is a powerful wine, its lemony flavors propelled by
intensely saline mineral notes. It grows richer
with air, turning toward golden raspberry
and red currant tones, while holding strictly
to dryness. § Schatzi Wines, NY
225315

WINE & SPIRITS

FEBRUARY 2018

83
http://www.loosenbrosusa.com/producer/weingut-robert-weil/ http://www.loosenbrosusa.com/producer/weingut-wittmann/
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - February 2018
