2011 Forster Kirchenstuck Grosses Gewachs

A formidably concentrated Von Winning 2011 Kirchenstück Riesling GG displays more peach kernel than peach, its sense of bitterness further reinforced by herbal pungency more familiar from Jesuitengarten or Pechstein. This was rendered in 600-liter used Slovenian barrels plus one or two barriques. A stony undertone reinforces the wine’s relative sense of austerity as well as its plastic rather than dynamic personality; but grip it certainly does. Pending the results of revisiting in a couple of years, I’d tentatively plan on following this through 2017. That young Stephan Attmann and his von Winning wines are garnering prestige both at home and abroad can be read among other things simply in the increasing prices at which they are selling out. Attmann continued to work closely with owner Achim Niederberger right up until the latter’s untimely death last July, and the stylistic as well as commercial vision that they shared – reflecting Attmann’s reverence for Burgundy in among other things enhanced lees contact and an increasing role for small barrels, occasionally new – will almost certainly continue to guide the evolution of Von Winning. (Readers can consult my reports in issues 185 and 187for an account of Niederberger’s acquisition of and changes made at this estate that coincided with its adopting the primary name Von Winning, one it had already utilized for a brief but illustrious period in the early 20th century.) The name “Dr. Deinhard” that during the modern era until 2009 applied to this estate’s entire range of wines remains today as a sub-label, so I decided it was past time to revise the Wine Advocate’s database accordingly, and I now append that name to the description of those wines to which it applies, nearly all of which are tank-raised, and which include any from this estate that harbor significant residual sweetness. The ostensibly top dry wines – including any that qualify for the category of Grosses Gewachs – are all bottled under the von Winning label. That ripe-tasting, well-balanced dry Rieslings emerged here in 2011 from picking done as early as mid-September speaks volumes to the vineyard management of veteran Joachim Jaillet (who also served here in that capacity under Attmann’s pre-Niederberger predecessor). Jaillet and Attmann – who are now assisted by Andreas Hutwohl, stepson of legendary cellarmaster and viticulturalist Hans-Gunter Schwarz – believe that Riesling vines are typically too routinely and aggressively hedged, eliminating those leaves critical to generating ripe aromatics, and encouraging the remaining foliage to yellow and prematurely abandon its metabolic activity. Bottling for the single-vineyard dry wines here ranges from May through August, with no fining and minimal or (as with many low-pH 2010s) no filtration. The 2010 vintage at von Winning coincided with a veritable orgy of barrel-buying – featuring especially formats between 500 and 1,200 liters of Austrian, French, German and Slovenian origin – as Attmann and Niederberger were determined to turn theirs into a cellar in which these vessels wear the pants in both vinification and elevage. So it was inevitable that new wood would frequently be employed, sometimes with awkward results. (In 2011 the only new barrels bought were barriques for Pinot Noir and a feuillette for T.B.A., although evidently there were still a few left from the previous year’s purchases given 2010’s tiny crop.) The von Winning and Dr. Deinhard 2010s are even more noteworthy for Attmann’s having permitted the vintage’s extreme acidity free rein – only a few of the Dr. Deinhard bottlings having been de-acidified (if so as wine, not must) and none of the von Winning – leads at times to wines that are simply overly severe, and nearly always to wines whose evolution is even less scrutable than that of typical 2010 vintage German Rieslings. Interestingly, whereas I found the alcoholically lighter second-tier of single-vineyard 2010 Rieslings at von Buhl more engagingly juicy and nuanced than their Grosse Gewachse, the lighter legally dry wines under the Dr. Deinhard label were for the most part even spinier, more aggressively acidic, and bitterer than the corresponding Grosse Gewachse bottled under the von Winning label. Analysis shows that potassium levels in those dry Dr. Deinhard wines are high (meaning pHs are relatively high for wines of such high acidity) but I didn’t experience that as buffering. As a measure of the dedication to quality at this revived estate, they went from 30 pickers in 2010 to 50 pickers in 2011 and 65 in 2012, not because vineyard acreage increased significantly, but so as to select more rigorously and to entirely eliminate machine-harvesting even for liter wines. Because of time limitations, I did not taste nearly all of the von Winning non-Rieslings nor the entirety of recent collections bottled under the Dr. Deinhard label. In particular, I sampled very few residually sweet Dr. Deinhard Rieslings, although at least two or three are still bottled each vintage. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300