2017 Weingut Kruger-Rumpf, Riesling Trocken, Abtei, VDP Erste Lage, Nahe Germany.
The bright and precise Abtei Trocken shines with a delicate and generous nature, it shows a crystalline mineral driven character and peachy fruits, vibrant crisp detail and a lingering charm in the glass. Very pale greenish gold in the glass and full of energy the 2017 Abtei bursts to life on the palate with that peach, key lime, green apple and tangerine fruits along with flinty wet stones, minty zest, citron/verbena and a saline mouth watering note, this is a wine of refined form and dry extract, making for a Riesling that can be drunk young and one that should age nicely. I always appreciate the class and lacy style of Georg’s wines, especially in his drier wines, they are easy to love and have subtle power and underlying vigor, while his sweeter wines always show impeccable balance, this is a winery that doesn’t always get the credit it deserves and always gives exceptional value for the quality in the bottle. The Abtei Erstes Gewachs was all spontanous fermentation (native yeast) fermented and aged in over 30 years old Stückfässern (German oak large cask) on the lees for close to 9 months before bottling, coming in at 12.5% natural alcohol. The vines here, all hand tended, are between 50 and 80 years old, which shows in this Riesling’s concentration and vitality, and ever since I walked this vineyard with Georg, in 2016, I have been a huge fan.
Georg Rumpf’s latest set of wines are some of the best yet from this estate near the confluence of the Nahe and Rhein Rivers and the town of Bingen, which sits across the Rhein from the historic Rudesheim. The 2017 Abtei maybe the best kept secret in Rumpf’s portfolio and comes from the closest parcel of vines to the winery, and a site that is extremely difficult to work, especially to their organic leaning practices, it always shows amazing energy and terroir elements that are similar to the famous Schlossberg Grand Cru on the other side of the Rhein as it shares the same soils and exposures. The Kruger-Rumpf estate is located in Münster-Sarmsheim, a small village (close to Bingen) on the western side of the Nahe River, in the most northern section of this region, which has a bit more warmth than the southern middle zone of the Nahe, which gives the Kruger-Rumpf’s wines their concentration and sunny warmth. The Bingerbrücker “Abtei” im Ruppertsberg 1er Cru is set on phyllite, which is mica slate, again as mentioned on a south facing very steep hillside. Abtei, which means abbey, once belonged to the abbey at Bingen, home to Hildegard vom Bingen, the matron of the city, and is the most northern vineyard in the Nahe. If you want a wine Kruger-Rumpf wines to look for besides this one, be sure to check out their Dautenpfanzer GG Riesling, the Binger Scharlachberg GG Riesling, the Münsterer Pittersberg Spatlese and their gorgeous Scheurebe!
($28 Est.) 92 Points, grapelive