2016 Hallgartener Hendelberg Riesling

Meyer lemon and white currant, toasted hickory nut and a hint of oak in the nose are followed on a lean but palpably extract-rich, polished and lightly lees-enriched palate by a bright bursting of juicy lemon and white currant, together with glowing, gripping intensity of peach kernel, lemon pip and berry seed. As one works this up in the glass, some of the floral perfume characteristic for the site – here, iris and chamomile – begins to emerge on the nose and then well-up inner-mouth. The vibrant finish is palate-staining and so intense as to leave one’s mouth feeling practically wrung-out. I miss the transparency, salinity and persistent juiciness of this bottling’s ostensibly lesser sibling (the village-level “Rheinschiefer”). But about the enhanced overall concentration here there can be no doubt; so let’s see what time in bottle brings.