2018 Weingut Donnhoff, Riesling Trocken, Estate, Nahe, Germany.
Brilliant, mineral driven and crystalline, the 2018 Donnhoff Trocken is maturing nicely, but still shows its classic youthful citrus upfront and zesty peachy stone fruit, with lime, green apple, tart apricot and zippy quince on the laser sharp and crisply electric lighter palate. Everything is backed up by mouth watering saline, wet stone, flinty spices, bitter herbs, white flowers, light rose oil notes and lemony verbena. Made to be a gateway to Donnhoff’s awesome collection of GGs, this thrilling bargain estate Trocken Riesling over delivers in quality and highlights the diverse terroirs that the Donnhoff vineyard sites have, which are set a complex combination of soils that goes from classic slate to volcanic, with löss, quartzite, gravelly loams, limestone and sandstones. These soils, again as mentioned in prior reviews, give each wine their own personality and charm, with the Estate Trocken seeing a mix of sites to showcase the overall quality of the Donnhoff’s holdings. A few years of age here has brought some secondary elements and a maybe a slightly deeper hue in the glass, while again being full of vibracy, great with shellfish and briny foods.

The legendary Donnhoff estate, based in Oberhäusen on the Nahe, is, as mentioned many times here, one of my favorite wineries in the world and this basic Trocken is always impeccably made and pure in character and style. Helmut Dönnhoff, the figure head here, was the first to bring international fame to this prestigious winery and making wine since 1966, and now Cornelius, his son who is the 4th generation to run this historic property, is stamping his own signature on these exceptional offerings. They have an amazing set of VDP Grosse Lagen (Grand Cru) vineyards, including Hermannshohle, Felsenberg, Dellchen and Brucke. Cornelius is one of top vignerons in Europe and his wines, which range from briskly dry, like this bone dry Estate Trocken, all the way up to the Grosses Gewachs, to the heavenly luscious, from Spatlese, Aulese, and to Eiswein, which rivals the world’s great sweet wines. The Estate Trocken saw exclusively stainless steel and was done with spontaneous fermentation(s) and aged on the lees for a short time before being bottled quickly to preserve freshness and clarity, and while made to be enjoyed young, has superb midterm drinkability and can be cellared for a decade if desired, as proved here with this one.
($22 Est.) 92 Points, grapelive

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