2020 Geheimrat "J" Riesling Q.b.A. trocken Wegeler, Rheingau (0,75l)

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate - 2020 Geheimrat "J" Riesling Q.b.A. trocken, Wegeler

The lemon-yellow colored 2020 Riesling trocken Geheimrat J is still very young but opens with bright, dense, finely spicy and concentrated fruit with smoky terroir notes. Supple and rich on the palate, with vital, youthful acidity, this is a dense, tightly meshed, tensile, strictly mineral and salty Geheimrat with a vital structure and a long, stimulatingly saline and citric finish. This 2020 is a very promising Rheingau classic that may one day even leave the 2019 behind. Tasted as part of the big Geheimrat J vertical in Wiesbaden, January 2024. This was first COVID-19 vintage, whose motto was formulated early on: "Healthy grapes and healthy people!" as operations manager Michael Burgdorf summarizes. Scheduling the seasonal workers and harvest helpers in accordance with the regulations left him "breathless," especially as the harvest stretched from September 14 for more than seven weeks, until November 4. Otherwise, there was sufficient winter precipitation, vine blossom at the end of May, start of ripening on 10 August, warm and sunny September days alternating with cool nights, ideal ripeness levels with fine aromas and almost no botrytis. 2020 is a top vintage that was warm and dry but without the temperature peaks of 2019. - Stephan Reinhardt, Apr. 2024