2023 Weingut Künstler, Riesling Trocken, Hockheimer Stielweg “Old Vines” VDP Erste Lage, Rheingau, Germany.
Grown on clay and loamy loess soils, this beautiful Dry Hockhiemer Stielweg Riesling comes from old vines, planted over 50 years ago, in the Hochheim am Main area, part of the Rheingau. Weingut Künstler’s 2023 Hockheimer Stielweg Alte Reben (Old Vine) Riesling jumps from the glass with preserved lemon, white flowers and apricot with a subtle sense of reduction and a steely mineral intensity, adding green apple and fleshy peach in a fuller bodied wine that is, like the upper end GG Hölle, white Burgundy like in depth, richness and elegance, while still being pure Riesling and retaining vibrant acidity. There’s hazelnut/almond nuttiness, a hint of smoke and clove tea spice along with a touch of bitter extract and verbena, making this a lovely dry expression of terroir and vintage, not far off GG quality levels at a very reasonable price. Gunter Künstler, who works as organic and sustainable as conditions allow, is reaching even new heights of excellence, with his latest set of 2023s being outrageously good and must have for fans of his wines, with this lesser known bottling being a great value and a sleeper in the savvy collection here. As noted in my prior reviews, Gunter ferments with cultured yeast exclusively because it’s often still warm when grapes are being picked and he says it is not a good idea to work with native yeasts or sponti, as it would mean a greater risk of volatile acidity. Everything is done to bring out the vineyards best characteristics and quality, these wines are built for aging, but have immediate appeal and graceful textures, as this golden/straw hued Hockheimer Stielweg Trocken shows in the glass. At more than half the price of Künstler’s signature Hockheimer Hölle Grosses Gewächs, this wine absolutely rocks and should evolve and get even better over the next 5 to 10 years.
The Rheingau region in Germany stretches the entirety of the river’s east to west spread from Hocheim, where Künstler, founded by Franz, Gunter’s dad, back in 1965, is based all the way past Rüdesheim to Lorch in the far west zone. Hockheim is a very historic wine town on the Main River and is a unique terroir, unlike any other part of the Rheingau region in terms of soils and climate conditions, all of which is reflected in the wines here, especially those made by Gunter Künstler, one of Germany’s biggest stars. I got a chance to taste through a great array of Gunter’s 2021, 2022 and upcoming 2023s last June in San Francisco at Skurnik Wines, Künstler’s importer to the States, west coast tour stop and while I went crazy for the top GG offerings, as seen already in my reviews, this 2023 Hockheimer Stielweg Erste Lage (Premier Cru) old vine Riesling never left my thoughts, and I highly recommend keeping an eye out for it in the coming months when it finally comes in the stock here. This wine is typically fermented in big traditional oak barrels and matured on the lees for 9 months, though it recent years it has seen 80% barrel fermentation and 20% stainless steel, as I believe this one saw. As noted here, and and as well by Künstler’s importer, the grapes are whole cluster pressed and the musts are settled by gravity and then after close to 24 hours are pressed clear. Gunter’s cellar orients toward cask as opposed to steel, though each is used, with the wood giving the ideal low-tech micro-oxygenation and mouth feel, and with mostly neutral oak, these wines are transparent and instantly recognizable for those that know Künslter. I’ve been lucky enough to have tasted with Gunter many times over the last 10 to 15 years and had many older vintages of his wines, they are treasured experiences that I will always admire.
($40 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive