2023 Niersteiner Pettenthal Grosses Gewachs

This intensely mineral Rheinhessen dry riesling makes the earth move, because the earth moves within it in the most extraordinary way. So elegant and subtle, but also very rock ’n’ roll, shaking down the house in a radical way. The citrus, white pepper and wild herb energy must be tasted to be believed, and that experience could pull you off the straight and narrow with its own unique straightness. Drink from release.

The 2023 Riesling Niersteiner Pettenthal Grosses Gewächs presents a brooding, smoky nose with a distant whiff of flint. The palate, however, is ready to show its colors—a pure, bright, vivid spectrum of finest citrus zest, taking in the green peel of ripening Seville orange, the zesty grip of bright lemon and the aromatic allure of tangerine. It washes over you like a giant wave of peachy, stony, tangerine-scented ocean, with primal force‚ memorable and impressive. This is concentrated, driven, channeled and focused. Underneath it all is eternal, savory, spicy stone, without compromise. The 2023 is a beautifully matter-of-fact wine, pure, poised and self-evident. Available at auction: 120 six-packs of three bottles each and six magnum, two-packs each of one magnum each of Schubertslay GG and Pettenthal GG. (Bone-dry)

Red slate. Two barrels. Barrel sample. Even more smoky than the Hipping and more savoury. With that herbal/spicy character of the Austernfels Sylvaner but here with more citrus lift. Grapefruit and grapefruit pith, blackcurrant bud. In the mouth, this has the same linear precision and intensity as the Hipping but a little more breadth as it spreads in your mouth on the long finish. The acidity seems, if anything, even higher. The epitome of a wine that makes your mouth salivate. Long salty finish and so generous in the mouth. You'd think someone had added botanicals to this wine it has so many aromatic components. (JH)