2017 Franz Kunstler Hochheimer Kirchenstuck Riesling Kabinett Trocken

Fresh pear, white peach and lime on the nose anticipate the infectiously juicy and vividly-fruited inner-mouth impression. The nose also delivers site-typical suggestions of crushed stone, sea breeze and shellfish reduction that translate into intrigue and saliva-inducement on a palate whose silken texture sets-up productive tension with animatingly efficacious, lime-like acidity. Typical, too, of this bottling is a lingering sense of buoyancy – even, in this instance, at 12.5% alcohol – which amplifies the effect of a generously juicy, salt-tinged finish. (For details concerning why, VDP “regulations” notwithstanding, Künstler continues to label wines like this from top sites as “Kabinett trocken,” consult my note on the 2016 rendition. There is also a vintage 2017 Grosses Gewächs bottling from the Kirchenstück, but Künstler inexplicably failed to present it to me and I learned of its existence only later.)