2019 Westhofen MORSTEIN Spätburgunder Felix Grosses Gewächs Q.b.A. trocken Klaus Peter Keller, Rheinhessen (0,75l)

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate - 2019 Westhofen MORSTEIN Spätburgunder Felix Grosses Gewächs Q.b.A. trocken, Klaus Peter Keller

Keller’s 2019 Morstein Spätburgunder GG Felix is deep, pure and elegant on the fine but intense nose that shows fine reduction and an iodine note. Juicy, round and intense on the palate, with remarkably fine tannins and a long and sustainable finish, this is a very complex and persistent Pinot that will shine even brighter after some years of bottle age and once the reduction has been lessened. Tasted in Wiesbaden in August 2021. – Stephan Reinhardt , Sep. 2021

Vinous - 2019 Westhofen MORSTEIN Spätburgunder Felix Grosses Gewächs Q.b.A. trocken, Klaus Peter Keller

Tasted soon after its late 2021 bottling and not destined for release until it gets auctioned in 2023, this bottling issues from old Silvaner vines top-grafted to painstakingly-sourced Burgundian Pinot selections. And speaking of “painstaking,” here all of the clusters retain their branching stems while the main central stem is snipped out and discarded. The idea is to gain the benefits of stems in slowing, aroma-building fermentation and delayed alcohol conversion while not introducing too much overt stem tannin. Blackberry, Latakia tobacco and tonka nut make for an at once darkly-smoky and sweetly rich nose. Fresh berry juiciness and meaty flavors offer welcome contrast on a dense and already silken palate, while restraining any tendency of light oaky toastiness to have a drying influence. The finish is mouthwateringly sustained, at once deep and dark yet also brightly juicy. Of course, this wine will “improve”. And perhaps it will enter a recalcitrant phase. But if it were possible to abstract from this wine’s rarity and price, you would feel no compunction about pulling a cork already, and the experience, as I’ve just tried to indicate, would be thrilling. - David Schildknecht - Nov. 2021