2017 Weingut Korrell Johanneshof, Riesling Trocken, Monopol “Paradies” Nahe Germany.
The radiant and graceful Korrell Paradies Trocken leads with expressive pure apple tones impresses for it’s elegance and subtle character, it’s a wine of great poise and delicacy, especially admirable for such a young Riesling. The monopole estate vineyard, Paradies, is the oldest single site Korrell has and is the flagship wine from winemaker Martin Korrell, it comes from his family’s vines that are set on limestone and clay soils in Bad Kreuznach area of the Nahe region. The Paradies Riesling Trocken is a gorgeous white of depth and precise winemaking that takes advantage of this unique site in the Nahe. This wine is the heart and soul of Korrell and it is product of it’s unique climat,or terroir, it sees more sunshine and the limestone allows for serious concentration, while retaining acidity, though there is always great attention paid to pick dates to finely tune this signature bottling to place and vintage. Korrell mixes some traditional stainless fermentations with some native yeast and barrel ferments to craft his wines and the Paradies shows a beautiful leesy finesse that reminds me a bit of the Von Winning GG’s, with a long time on the lees adding a beautiful glycerin density to this gorgeous dry Riesling. Coming off Korrel’s incredible Riesling Cup win for his Von den Grossen Lagen (Grand Crus) Riesling Trocken, I was absolutely thrilled to be able to try this wine, and found this particular wine just as intriguing. Martin focuses on preserving heightened aromatics and crisp mineral tones, while allowing the mouth feel and depth to shine through, it is an amazing accomplishment to get it all right, and Korrell deserves his time in the limelight, this is complex and glorious stuff. Layers of that green apple, peach, mixed fresh citrus and melon fruits are lifted by liquid rock, steely mineral and faint perfume of white flowers along with a silkiness of mouth feel, while still delightfully crisp, delivering an exciting energy filled performance. This is a winery that about to break out and join some elite company, in fact they are riding high after winning, as mentioned, the famous Riesling Cup award with their unique multi (Grand) cru Von den Grossen Lagen Trocken Riesling, and this wine is just extra proof there is real quality here! The lightly golden hued and generously textured Paradies will age well, it’s full of charm, class and potential, best to let this one have another 3 to 5 years, though it certainly is delicious right now.
($n/a- 19 Euro in Germany) 94 Points, grapelive