TNs: 2019 Donnhoff GGs+2011 GK friends

2019 DONNHOFF GGS+GK FRIENDS - Zoom, Chicago, IL (1/16/2021)

Ben was in town and Jordan J had expressed a strong desire to dig into more riesling in 21. This felt like a great spot to combine the both

• 2019 Dönnhoff Roxheimer Höllenpfad Riesling im Mühlenberg Großes Gewächs - Germany, Nahe
  Nose: Even with a good bit of air, the nose is still a bit taught with crushed rocks, peaches, pears, apples, kumquat, white flowers, and saline notes. While the nose isn’t too giving at the moment, what is there is excellent in depth and balance.

Taste: The feel is Medium bodied with razor-sharp, high acidity. The acidity has some real bite to it with crushed rocks, peaches, pears, apples, white flowers, white fruits, and saline.

Overall: This is painfully youthful right now. Even with hours of air it was still wound up a bit. Still, there is a lot to like here and there is a lot of room for development over the next 5+ years. (91 pts.)

• 2019 Dönnhoff Dellchen Riesling Großes Gewächs - Germany, Nahe
  Nose: The nose is intensely floral and aromatic with green apples, peaches, papaya, nectarines, acacia flowers, jasmine, saline, and all sorts of crushed rocks. There is a good amount of depth with a very floral and mineral driven nose that makes me want to constantly go back.

Taste: The feel is Medium bodied with racy, high acidity. The feel is silky with a lightness of feet with green apples, peaches, papaya, acacia flowers, jasmine, saline, and crushed rocks.

Overall: This is clearly young, but it is also enticingly lovely. This will certainly needs more years to fully show itself. (93 pts.)

• 2019 Dönnhoff Felsenberg Riesling Großes Gewächs - Germany, Nahe
  Nose: The nose is wide open and giving with a fatter take to the fruits with peaches, apples, pears, orange blossoms, nectarines, herbs, jasmine, saline, and crushed rocks. There is excellent depth and expression with a lot of freshness to back up the slightly forwardness.

Taste: The feel is Medium bodied with racy, high acidity. The feel has a slightly fatter quality with peaches, apples, pears, orange blossoms, herbs, jasmine, and crushed rocks.

Overall: This is a lovely, young Donnhoff GG. There is some baby fat that could use a few years to shed itself but there is a great amount of balance and poise right now. (92 pts.)

• 2019 Dönnhoff Hermannshöhle Riesling Großes Gewächs - Germany, Nahe
  Nose: The nose here takes everything to another level from the previous wines. There is an immense amount of depth and poise as it fills the glass with papaya, lemon peels, green apples, peaches, nectarines, baking spices, white flowers, crushed rocks, and saline.

Taste: The feel is Medium bodied with razor-sharp, high acidity. The feel is deep, refined, and long with papaya, lemon peels, green apples, nectarines, baking spices, white flowers, crushed rocks, and saline.

Overall: This is a monumental wine. This vineyard routinely makes special wines and this is no different. This certainly does need the better part of 5+ years of aging to show off its full potential. (95 pts.)

• 2011 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel - Germany, Nahe
  Nose: The nose is vibrant and poised with nectarines, peaches, quince, melon rinds, red apples vanilla, honey, yellow flowers, and a touch of nougat. There is excellent depth with a real tasty, succulent quality to the tones.

Taste: The feel is Medium- bodied with crisp, high acidity. There is excellent denseness and balance to the feel with nectarines, peaches, quince, melon rinds, vanilla, honey, and some nougat.

Overall: This was lovely and I could just smell this for days on end. It feels likes it’s drinking right at the beginning stages of maturity but there are many years left in the tank. (93 pts.)

• 2011 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel - Germany, Nahe
  Nose: The nose is highly aromatic and deep with pears, honeydew, green apples, quince, nectarines, red apples, cheese rinds, melons, some cinnamon spices, and oily notes. This takes a little bit to get fully going with there being a great intersection between primary and maturing tones.

Taste: The feel is Medium- bodied with crisp, high acidity. The feel is lithe, balanced, and deep with pears, green and red apples, nectarines, honeydew, cheese rinds, cinnamon spices, and oily notes. The finish just doesn’t quit as it keeps gaining as it crosses the palate.

Overall: This is lovely and right at the beginning of its maturity. The nose is drop-dead gorgeous and the feel shows the poise and quality that one expects from Hermannshohle. (94 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

Thanks for posting these notes. I bought just yesterday a couple bottles of 2019 Donnhoff Hermannshohle GG, as I loved the 2018 (first vintage I tried this bottling).

Great notes, thanks Keith. I’ve got the 2019 versions of all them except the Roxheimer coming soon!

One comment - you could clarify the title, as I thought the GKA notes you were posting were also for 2019… and I almost missed that they were the 2011s. I was about to comment on the infanticide… whereas it’s perhaps merely teenager-icide.

this is what I get for putting this up pre-coffee


these were no mere teenagers btw. They were looking at me very funny and with dangerous intent. So, they had to go to the gallows

Thanks for sharing. I really need to try more Donnhoff Rieslings.

Ditto to what others have said: Terrific notes. And quite helpful. Thanks!

Thank for the notes). I have a few bottles of various 2019 Hermannshohle cuvees (GG, GKA, and BA), but I think I’m going to wait on them unless I pick up some more.

Nice notes, Keith.
I only have a few bottles of the Hermannshohle GG 2019 and can’t bring myself to open one this young, so I appreciate your note on it very much!
Interesting to see how the other GGs are showing as well.

Now I have to go dig up a Hermannshohle GG.

Edited to add: found a 2009 Dellchen GG handy. Going with that tonight.

Thank you so much for putting this tasting together Keith. Great notes too. Most wines were very good but some were exceptional. I didn’t take formal notes but the two 2011s were fantastic.

I put the 2011 Brucke as my WOTN. I did not get the leve of aromatics for the 2019 Hermannshohle as you did. Just means we got to find more and do it again.

Obviously I was helped by having the bottles at my place and being able to check back in on the Hermannshöhle.


For those asking about the Hermannshöhle, definitely sit on it. It badly needs time. But, to give a more apt description, this is what I said in the zoom and to some DMs on IG:

The 3 GGs before were all clearly really good. But from the first whiff of the Hermannshöhle, I’m taken back to my college days and watching Dark Side of Oz. The Hermannshöhle is when the bass line to Money begins, Alice opens the door, and everything is then in color.

That’s how much of a step up it was.

And that’s Hermannshohle. It’s HD to everything else being analog.

my advice: any time you see Hermannshohle GGs, just go ahead and buy them and you won’t be sorry.

Great notes Keith, thank you for posting.

Thanks fir the notes Keith! Sounds delish…