2017 Gundersheimer Riesling Q.b.A. trocken Wittmann, Rheinhessen

Vinous: “The frost hit Gundersheim so hard,” said Wittmann, “that I decided to bypass those vineyards, figuring if we were lucky, after everything else had been picked, we might find material here for an Auslese. Well, when we got near the end of harvest, we found that half of what was hanging was still impeccably healthy. That said, we didn’t end up with a typical Wittmann wine, because this fruit was no longer green-gold, firm and fresh. It’s also not typical of Gundersheim,” the commune that features this estate’s coolest and most water-retentive vineyards. Grapefruit peel and dried mirabelle are hauntingly mingled with musky peony perfume both on the nose and on the glossy, palpably extract-rich, pungently zesty palate. This finishes with notable sheer persistence but without the juiciness or clarity exhibited by the corresponding Westhofen bottling – or, indeed, by this collection’s generic Riesling. (For more on this site and bottling, consult my review of the inaugural vintage 2015 rendition.) - David Schildknecht, Jul. 2019