2018 Niersteiner Pettenthal Grosses Gewachs
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Tasting notes
The dazzlingly multifaceted aromatic display here incorporates iris, orange blossom, lime, kumquat, white peach, sea breeze and smoky, flinty, dusty crushed stone. The feel is subtly glossy but firm. Piquancy, smokiness, salinity and zest that were promised on the nose reemerge with impressive force, building into a finish of explosive intensity that delivers showers of stone and ocean spray, augmented by electro-charged tongue-tingling citrus, biting peppercorn and mustard seed. At the same time – as with this year’s Hipping – the wine unfailingly refreshes with a torrent of sheer juice. As usual, this bottling was auctioned – achieving a price that you and I would probably prefer not to even contemplate. I’d be very surprised if this wine does not decisively defy prevailing standards of longevity for Grosse Gewächse.
Critic scores
Average Score
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
The tussle here between oxidation and reduction reaches epic proportions; unadulterated citrus and spice essence rain down on the the mouth and nose like a shower of Olympian lightening bolts from the heavens. Everything is so seamless and so pure that you begin to wonder whether this enigma of flavor and texture is actually liquid or some other unworldly state of matter and being. How can anything be at once so sweeping, so silky, so structured, yet so translucent, beaming and bright? I am truly in awe at the fathomless depths and lofty heights of flavors, spices, minerals and fruit. Perfection. Drink now or hold.
Auction wine ( Versteigerungswein ). Cask sample. Basket-pressed. This is such a distinctive wine. Has all those wonderful smoky, reductive fumy aromas of the 2017 , giving an almost savoury character entwined with the fruit, which is smoked grapefruit, sour apricot, spicy herbs – amazing complexity in a young wine. As well as citrus, there’s pears, stone fruit and that smoky, oily minerality. This is so extreme on the palate it is close to eye-watering, but the fruit is so intense, and yet without sweetness, that it is in embryonic harmony. The flavour goes on and on. Very powerful and needs time to unfurl and reveal the layers that are currently so tightly packed that they are hard to discern individually. (JH)
About the producer
Based in the Rheinhessen, Keller is one of the finest Riesling producers in the world, and has set the benchmark for German Pinot Noir.