2014 Weingut Donnhoff, Riesling, Roxheimer Hollenpfad, Trocken, Nahe, Germany.
This beautifully detailed and rather delicate dry Riesling is very aromatic, vivid and wonderfully balanced with a light body, polished acidity and enough extract to deliver length and substance for aging. The Donnhoff Roxheimer Hollenpfad is a bright and stylish young Riesling with plenty to admire right now, but looks to be a wine that will improve and fill out over the next 3 to 5 years in bottle, so some faith and patience will be needed to get the maximum from this 2014, though lovely as it is. I really enjoy the fresh and vibrant feel and weightlessness on the palate with subtle and graceful layers of lime, white peach, tropical essences, tangerine, salty spices, rose oil and white flowers all hauntingly appearing and fading in and out along with wet stones and crunchy mineral notes. This steely Trocken is pure and crispy lean, it has bits that remind me of Pouilly-Fume and Chablis, but without question is centered around it’s own terroir, this is all Nahe in the glass and should deliver long term rewards, I am highly impressed with the 2014 wines from Donnhoff, mostly for the precise expression of vintage and devoted craftsmanship in the winemaking, these are wines of inner power and outward shyness with finesse. Certainly Donnhoff’s Roxheimer Hollenpfad could be a Grosses Gewachs, but since it is not, you can find it at what has to be considered a remarkably fair price for what is in the bottle, this austere and thoughtful Riesling is one I hope to re-visit again and again, drink from 2018 to 2024.
($42 Est.) 92 Points, grapelive
