Germany’s Kaleidoscopic Diversity and Taking It To The Limit in Spain: Weekly Tasting Report (Aug 23-29)

This is a very busy time of year for Senior Editor Stuart Pigott because a swath of single-vineyard dry whites of the new vintage are released each year on Sept. 1, and our policy in most places is to try and taste bottled wines immediately before release so that you don’t miss out on exciting new wines simply because of late reporting.

This meant that Stuart spent the past week zig-zagging across the wine regions of the Rhine Valley and its tributaries tasting mostly 2022s and some late-released 2021s and 2020s. These were mostly rieslings (Germany’s most widely planted grape with just shy of 25 percent of all vineyards), but pinot blanc, pinot gris and chardonnay are also important white grapes for Germany now. In certain places, spatburgunder, or pinot noir, reds have also become very important. 

To this complexity must be added the dramatic diversity of terroirs, and this week everything from volcanic porphyry to limestone and slate were represented. The result is a kaleidoscopic diversity way beyond what most consumers associate with Germany. For us, what makes Germany really fascinating is the dynamism of the leading producers. Many of the most sought-after dry wines come from terroirs that were forgotten or unknown just a generation ago.

Of course, the most important moments are when a row of extraordinary wines stand in front of us on the tasting table, as was the case when Stuart tasted at Weingut Wittmann in the Rheinhessen. The wines were the dry rieslings from the 2022 vintage, most important the single-vineyard  GGs – Germany’s equivalent of grand cru.

It was no surprise that the most amazing of these was the Wittmann Riesling Rheinhessen Morstein GG 2022, but the almost supernatural freshness of the wine after the mostly hot and dry 2022 growing season was a revelation. For us it is one of the dry rieslings of the vintage in Germany. How did winemaker Philipp Wittmann achieve that?

“When we were processing the grapes I did everything possible to achieve purity and precision,“ Wittmann said. “We did a lot of whole-cluster pressing, like they do for Champagne, which isn’t normal for us. I think it worked really well.“

He also explained how the drought and the need to remove grapes from young vines and mature ones negatively affected by it had reduced quantities, but they are large enough that we didn’t need to use the words “limited production” for any of the Wittmann wines.

Wittmann was not the only one to move in this radical direction in 2022. Gut Hermannsberg, in Germany’s Nahe region, did the same, and there’s already a controversy raging on the German wine scene about whether they went too far in the razor-sharp direction. You may find they remind you of Australian dry rieslings, due to a flavor profile far removed from traditional German styles. See Stuart’s tasting notes below for our opinion on the matter.

The strange thing about this discussion is that in the United States, some sommeliers have clearly decided that 2022 is not an interesting vintage for German wines because the vintage is too low in acidity. The truth is that the stylistic diversity of the 2022 dry wines is huge, and sweeping judgments like “2021 is better than 2022“ dumb the whole thing down in a manner we reject as oversimplification.

One of the week’s most exciting wines was a late release, the Weedenborn Rheinhessen Grand Réserve Trocken 2020. This cuvee of 60 percent sauvignon blanc and 40 percent chardonnay melds these two grapes to a seamless whole that doesn’t taste directly of either or very much of the oak casks that the wine was matured in on the lees for 30 months. The concentration and textural complexity are also stunning.

“Right from the beginning this tasted special,“ winemaker Gesine Roll said. “There was never any doubt in my mind that it’s the best vintage so far.“

Not only is it the best Grand Reserve since its launch with the 2017 vintage, it’s also a great innovation. Who even imagines there could be a leading German producer whose main grape variety is sauvignon blanc? Here is the New Germany!

2022 was not an easy vintage for the nobly sweet rieslings for which Germany is famous, because the wet fall encouraged the development of botrytis, but not the shriveling of the affected grapes that’s necessary to achieve the concentration.

“You had to wait a long time and the quantities were small, but in the end it was possible and the results were really good,” explained Wilhelm Weil of the Robert Weil winery in the Rheingau, who has a major reputation for this special category of German wines.

The results of his patience and some extreme selection work are spectacular and also have the special brilliance talked about above. The most amazing among them, but also the most expensive and hard to find, was the Robert Weil Riesling Rheingau Kiedrich Gräfenberg Trockenbeerenauslese 2022. Tasting this feels like staring into a deep abyss of exotic dried fruits and spices. The acidity tastes vibrant enough to wake the dead!

The new vintage for German spatburgunder is 2021, and like in Burgundy it was a challenging growing season followed by a rather wet fall. Christoph and Johannes Thorle in little-known Saulheim may not (yet) be international stars but have built an excellent reputation among insiders for Burgundy-inspired pinots. Their 2021s are a remarkable group of wines in the context of the vintage globally. The Thörle Spätburgunder Rheinhessen Hölle 2021 has extremely polished tannins and a sensational interplay of savory and earthy character with delicate fruit. Prices for these wines are friendly compared with Burgundy of similar quality.

MOVING AWAY FROM 'BIG' WINES

Senior editor Zekun Shuai was in Priorat, Spain, tasting the newest releases of Terroir Al Limit, an artisanal producer in Torroja run by Dominik Huber. The 22-year-old project has quite a few extreme and mind-blowing terraced vineyards in Torroja and the Montsant Mountains, akin to what you would find in the Mosel or Rheingau regions of Germany, but these are vineyards planted to garnacha and carinena on the slaty llicorela soils.

For Huber and head winemaker Tatjana Peceric, whole-cluster fermentation and infusion winemaking are the keys to best expressing their winery’s terroirs and delivering nervy, positively reductive and “digestible” wines. There are no destemmers and no oak barrels in the cellar, just a few cement tanks of different sizes. Huber doesn’t use amphora, either.

“I just don’t like ‘big’ wines,” Huber said. “For me, the wine must be digestible so I can drink a second glass.” He also believes that 100 percent whole-bunch fermentation renders more fluidity and freshness to the wines, with less fruitiness and richness.

His Terroir Al Limit Priorat Les Manyes 2021 is the epitome of this winemaking style. It’s made with 100 percent garnacha peluda, the “hairy” grenache mutation that thrives in dry and warm climates, producing less sugar and alcohol. The wine is wild, tangy, reductive and peppery, with a full spectrum of innate fruit complexity, showing berries, forest floor, grapefruit and dried herbs.

But don’t be fooled by the etherealness of the aromas. The abundance of flavor intensity and fine tannins with a nice touch of herbal bitterness in the finish, reflecting the Mediterranean landscape, lends just the right amount of gravity and seriousness to the wine, yet there is little heft. Huber describes the wine as austere, honest and clean – so much so that  “you can read a newspaper through it.”

It's the kind of wine that keeps him going in his extreme vineyards, and always taking it to the limit.

We have started our tasting of Greek wines in our Hong Kong office, giving fantastic varietal diversity to the notes below. Most are Greek varieties such as assyrtiko, malagouzia and xinomavro, alongside a couple of more international varieties like sauvignon blanc and chardonnay, plus a meaty blend of syrah with xinomavro. Associate Editor Claire Nesbitt liked the Domaine Zafeirakis Limniona Tyrnavos 2021, a fresh red from the northern region of Thessaly that is deliciously zesty and salty with red and orange fruit combined with savory olive and seaweed notes. Many of the latest releases below are from 2022, like the Alpha Estate Malagouzia Florina Single Block Gkremi 2022, an excellent expression of this fragrant white grape showing typical notes of flowers, white tea and exotic fruit.

We tasted a few more wines this week from Western Australia, again mostly from 2022. Some of the standouts were chardonnays from Margaret River: compare the barrel-fermented, elegant and vibrant Driftwood Chardonnay Margaret River Single Site 2022 with the tangy Dormilona Chardonnay Margaret River Clayface 2022, which was made in amphora and has a delicious honey-like minerality. Also check out Forest Hill Vineyard’s single-block 2022 wines from Mount Barker in the Great Southern region: two mineral and lively rieslings, a pristine chardonnay and a fresh and peppery shiraz.

– Stuart Pigott, Claire Nesbitt and Zekun Shuai contributed reporting. 

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated during the past week by James Suckling and the other tasters at JamesSuckling.com. They include many latest releases not yet available on the market, but which will be available soon. Some will be included in upcoming tasting reports.

Note: You can sort the wines below by country, vintage, score and alphabetically by winery name. You can also search for specific wines in the search bar.