2006 Niederhauser Herrmannshohle Grosses Gewachs

The 2006 Niederhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Grosses Gewachs reveals concentrated yellow plum, white peach, and citrus, wreathed by basil, licorice, and pungent smokiness, and underlain by nut oils, meat broth, hints of fruit pit bitterness, and an implacable slab of stone. The ripeness is more evident as a sense of weight (although the finished alcohol stayed just under 13%) and there is a deep richness as well as cool restraint to this wine’s entire performance. The finish is bound to leave you quiet and contemplative, and it will be worth contemplating (and periodically re-visiting) for at least another 15 years. “I was amazed when the 2006s tasted as good as I had said they might become,” says Helmut Donnhoff. “It turned out what we vintners always said about Riesling – that’s it’s ideally suited to our clime – is true. I guess I didn’t really didn’t believe that in quite complete seriousness. I ran around the cellar like a crazy man, tasting back and forth” in excitement as the quality of this latest collection became evident. Sample it starting almost anywhere, and you’ll be a believer, too. “If there is one vintage I could compare with this, it would be 1971 as I remember it, with this perfect tension between acid and sugar, this clarity, a bit of botrytis but not stinky, completely clear and mineral, structured, architectural.” In the 21 years I have been visiting him, I have never known Helmut Donnhoff to permit himself such superlatives. “We set the record, harvesting everything in two weeks,” he adds. Trying to handle so many sites needing so much selection in so short a time “was close to the limit, and we managed it only because I have really good people” picking. This year, Donnhoff added to his line-up vineyards in two of the three traditionally top sites of Bad Kreuznach, parcels whose purchase in 2003 he had kept under wraps until now. On the one hand he felt that acquiring parcels another step downstream and in his “home city” and which – like those in Norheim – had once been proudly maintained by “wine nobility” but more recently neglected, followed a theme and closed a circle. “I see myself in the line of cellar-masters who were my mentors. If I didn’t do it,” he says, “there was nobody else left.” On the other hand, he had in mind that vineyards “not quite so close to my heart,” but still top quality (“because a lousy vineyard and a good vineyard take the same amount of work”) could be employed to increase volumes of his generic Riesling. As soon as he tasted the first young wines, he knew they were not destined for blending away! In virtually any other vintage, his top 2006 Auslesen would have been Beerenauslesen, Donnhoff points out, and I have to admit I wondered whether the wines that followed – even if considered virtual Trockenbeerenauslesen – could represent an ascent. “One sees the botrytis during the harvest and one senses the possibilities. But one also knows what can happen if bad weather comes. And all of the vineyards were ripening at the same time. Sweet, dry, botrytized, all were possible at the same time. In principle, I would have had to harvest everything on the same day, which is impossible, crazy. Of course, you could have pushed things to the limit and harvested T.B.A. – I know I can make one at the highest level – but my story, my love is here,” says Donnhoff, stretching his hands over the bottles of Spatlese and Auslese lined up on the table.” That represents my dream, and anything that jeopardizes it must be set aside. I’ll always forgo the extra 10% of opulence.” Hence, although at one point a start was made on berries for T.B.A., in the end, only two truly botrytis-dominated wines, both Beerenauslesen, were picked. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel (516) 677-9300

Fragrant citrus. Intense, not bone dry though technically dry? Mouthwatering freshness but with the fruit weight to balance. Dense, tight and promising much. (JH)