Wine & Spirits - Fall 2022 - 65

Top 100 Wineries
GERMANY | NAHE
Dönnhoff
For the second year in a row, Dönnhoff swept our Nahe tastings with
lyrical, expressive rieslings.
CORNElIUS DÖNNHOFF
If there's one element that sets the
Nahe apart from other German winegrowing
regions, it's the sheer variety of soil
types. One hillside might be blue slate while
the next is black volcanic stone; another
will be pale limestone and another deep red
sandstone. The Dönnhoffs have been chronicling
the effect these soils have on wines
through their many single-parcel bottlings
since the 1920s, when Hermann Dönnhoff
started bottling vineyard-designated wines.
His grandson Helmut redoubled these
efforts when he took over in 1971, buying up
the steep, craggy parcels no one else wanted.
The estate has grown to 69 acres, including
nine Grosse Lagen, the equivalent of grand
crus. Since 2007, Helmut's son, Cornelius,
has been responsible for shepherding the
fruit of those parcels into bottles, trying
to catch each vineyard at its most expressive
point of ripeness. The line-up is always
exciting, a virtual tour of the Nahe's colorful
landscape. -T.Q.T.
2020 Nahe Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle
Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel ($57/375ml, 97
points) Hermannshöhle is thought to have been
an ancient site of worship, the name Hermann
derived from Hermes, the Greek god of travelers.
A steep slope of dark slate and igneous rock,
the site seems to have imbued this wine with
an otherworldly beauty. It comes on quietly, the
main impression at first just brightness and clarity,
then the wine warms to sunset flavors of red,
orange and yellow, radiating out on bright beams
of acidity. Those flavors last, intense and penetrating,
for days after opening. The wine is more
concentrated than sweet, the Auslese-level ripeness
of the fruit reading in its youthful power.
FOUNDED:
1761
WINEMAKER/
VITICULTURIST:
Cornelius Dönnhoff
OWNER:
The Dönnhoff family
ACRES OWNED:
69
ANNUAL PRODUCTION:
13,333 cases
ESTATE GROWN:
100%
IMPORTER:
Skurnik Wines, NY
2020 Nahe Höllenpfad im Mühlenberg
Grosses Gewächs Riesling ($83, 95 points)
From the " Path to Hell " vineyard, a steep parcel
of limestone steaked with red sandstone, this is
bone-dry, crunchy and firm, with a dancing acidity
to keep its savory flavors lively. Hints of fresh
herbs, yellow fruit and acacia accrue with air,
hinting at the detail this will develop with age.
2020 Nahe Roxheimer Höllenpfad Riesling
Trocken ($44, 93 points) This bone-dry riesling
is as spare as the site is steep, the cold mineral
notes, firm fruit and herbal suggestions giving it
a sense of springtime freshness. It comes from
the same vineyard as Dönnhoff's Pinot Brut,
which also impressed our panels with its svelte
build; either would make a fabulous pairing for
something spare and delicate, like fluke crudo.
GERMANY | RHEINGAU
Robert Weil
Exceptional precision and clarity define Weil's wines; the 2020s also
pack in plenty of immediate deliciousness.
WIlHElM WEIl
WhIle the Germans have a penchant for
bottling wines from dozens of different
parcels, Wilhelm Weil has, since the 1980s,
focused on just three vineyards: Gräfenberg,
Turmberg and Klosterberg. All three sit near
to the winery in Kiedrich, in a cool side valley
of the Rheingau; all are planted entirely
to riesling, cultivated with cover crops and
organic fertilizers. And all are lavished with
attention, the vineyard crews making as
many as 17 passes in the vineyard to bring
in fruit at every Pradikät level. This care has
allowed Weil to bottle a Trockenbeerenauslese
for 32 vintages in a row-even in 2020,
a vintage so warm and dry that most growers
did not bother to wait for what little botrytis
might come. But, as there are only 15 cases
of that TBA to go around, maybe the most
important thing to know is that this detailobsessive
approach also results in exceptional
wines at every level of ripeness, and
extends to Weil's basic, village-level wines, as
in the $20 razor-sharp, mouthwatering 2020
Rheingau Riesling Trocken. -T.Q.T.
2020 Rheingau Kiedrich Gräfenberg Riesling
Auslese ($164/375ml, 97 points) This steep,
southwest-facing grand-cru site produced exceptional
wines at all Prädikat levels in 2020, and
this Auslese hit the sweet spot: Light as Chantilly
cream, its airy strawberry-apricot flavors glide
over the palate with the shivery smoothness of
silk. The ripeness of the grapes comes through
in intensity more than sweetness, and a mineral
salinity adds a mouthwatering balance.
FOUNDED:
1875
WINEMAKER/
VITICULTURIST:
Wilhelm Weil
OWNERS:
Suntory, Wilhelm Weil
ACRES OWNED:
225
ANNUAL PRODUCTION:
55,000 cases
ESTATE GROWN:
100%
IMPORTER:
Loosen Bros. USA,
Oregon City, OR
2020 Rheingau Kiedrich Gräfenberg Riesling
Trockenbeerenauslese ($700/375ml,
96 points) With 238 grams per liter of residual
sugar, this is insanely concentrated, heady in all
its intensity, the sweetness palpable on the back
of the throat. And yet it carries all that flavor-
the strawberry, clementine, mango; the poached
pear, ginger, and lilac-with a strength, clarity
and energy that suggests this is just at the very
beginning of a long life.
2020 Rheingau Kiedrich Gräfenberg GG
Riesling ($90, 95 points) Packed with youthful
energy, this Grosses Gewächs wine is dense
with notes of dried pear and fleshy peach.
Herbal scents of lovage and angelica highlight
the savor of the flavors, as does the firm mineral
base, even as the wine lasts with a yellowfruit
glow. Give this time in the cellar, and enjoy
Weil's 2020 Turmberg or Kiedricher wines in the
meantime.
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WINE & SPIR IT S
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Wine & Spirits - Fall 2022

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