2022 Weingut K. Wechsler, Scheurebe Trocken, Rheinessen, Germany.
I am a big fan of Scheurebe, a rare German varietal and especially the versions made by Müller-Catoir and Kruger-Rumpf, so tasting this new to me example by the talented Katharina Wechsler at Weingut Wechsler in the Rheinhessen was a nice highlight of my week and this is definitely a wine I’ll be getting for personal use this Summer! This steely dry version is wonderfully balanced and expressive in the glass with a glowing gold hue in the glass with fine stony aromatics and a medium bodied palate with layers of wild peach, lemon/lime, passionfruit, muskmelon and grapefruit, along with subtle candied pineapple, ginger/clove spice, wet stones, saline and a touch spearmint tea and bitter almond. Coming from highly regarded Rheinhessen cru sites, Wechlser’s Scheurebe Trocken, like their fantastic Rieslings, is sourced from organic and biodynamic vines that are at good elevation that allows for this wine’s excellent intensity and tension on the palate. The Weingut K. Wechlser, based in Westhofen, the same rarified area as made famous by Philippe Wittmann and Klaus-Peter Keller, is led by the youthful talent of Katharina Wechsler, who is crafting her exciting wines from highly regarded parcels in the Rheinhessen’s most legendary vineyards, including the VDP Grosse Lage Morstein and Kirchspiel crus, with this basic Trocken seeing some Kirchspiel and Benn grapes. I must say, after tasting Katharina’s 2020 Trocken and her Kirchspiel single cru bottling, I was left spellbound by her wines and I had looked forward to following her efforts and this mineral intense Scheurebe is exciting stuff! This compelling and unique bone dry Scheurebe, was a wine that I didn’t want to move on from at a recent tasting by their importer The Source Imports, it is really impressive.
Scheurebe, one of my favorite under the radar varietals, is an unique grape found primarily in Germany, but also in Austria where it can also be called Sämling 88, Scheurebe was created by German viticulturalist Dr. Georg Scheu, (hence the name, which was made official in 1945) in 1916, when he was working as director of a grape-breeding institute in Alzey in the Rheinhessen region, by crossing Riesling with an unknown wild vine, though not confirmed and according to official Austrian sources it is in fact a cross between Riesling and Bouquet Blanc. Scheurebe, while not well known in America, is an expressive white grape and the wines do have a Riesling like personality, but far more overt and sometimes with a dense flamboyant nature with a cloying tropical side, but elevated dry examples are fabulous, as this Wechsler shows. The Scheurebe Trocken I believe was 100% stainless steel fermented and aged without any stirring from vines that are set on a combination of different soils including clay marls, limestone and loess that adds to the transparency and personality of Wechlser’s wines. Katharina uses low SO2 and the wines don’t feel muted, they are expressive and rewarding, with this one being a great way to discover this grape and producer. The twist here was Wechsler, who is experimenting with skin fermentation(s) or orange wines and some interesting cloudy wines, did allow for some skin maceration on this wine, giving an extra dimension of complexity, aromatics and phenolic structure, though this wine is clear, without overt pigment and sublimely balanced. This Scheurebe has a soulful personality that seems to slowly unwind and seduce with time in the glass and will be perfect when pairing it with food, I really want to try it with pure Sushi, like Toro and or Saba, but I can also see it go nicely with baked ham and or lemon chicken dishes.
($25 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive