2015 Dhron Hofberg Riesling Feinherb 'In der Sangerei'

Like this year’s Im Pfarrgarten Riesling, this wine from not far away in the Hofberg boasts a buoyant 10.5 percent alcohol and highly efficacious residual sugar that doesn’t rise to the level of overt sweetness. Beyond that, however, we have here a great example of steep slope terroir in action, generating a tension and complexity that leave not only that Pfarrgarten bottling but the full range of impressive legally dry Adam 2015s in the proverbial (pulverized slate) dust. A hauntingly complex aromatic alliance of brown-spiced as well as coolingly herb-tinged apple, orange, peach, raw pumpkin and wet stone ushers in a correspondingly multifaceted palate of silken texture, its rich fruit inflected by fruit pit and toasted nut piquancy along with the sizzle of citrus zest. The prodigious finish introduces a mouthwatering wealth of mineral elements not confined to salts, alkali and stones, but otherwise impossible to put into words. “One has to say, these grapes looked awfully good,” remarked Adam. But that’s nothing compared with how the resulting wine tastes!