2017 Keller - first impressions

WINE TALK
1

On 17th february the estate Keller invited to the first barrel tasting Jungweinprobe of the year. Main focus was Spätburgunder 2016 and Riesling trocken 2017.

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As always we started with red. The Spätburgunder 2016 were terrific and really impressed me. Why? The 2016s are much more fresher and elegant than the predecessor of 2015.

The Rieslings and the whites of 2017 are crisp and bonedry with a huge acidity and moderate alcohol level. On a quantity basis we have 40-50% less in 2017. The KELLER family had to deal with frost and hail.

Fair to say it is quite early in the year and the wines are in alteration. So, my final judgement will take place when the wines are finally bottled. On the other hand there were 3 wines which blow my mind. Kirchspiel GG, Pettenthal GG and G-Max. 2017 Kirchspiel GG is maybe the best ever. Such a chalk bomb. 2017 Pettenthal GG (auction wine) tasted more like a Natural Wine. Quite unique stilistic for KP Keller. And the 2017 G-Max reminded me on the legendary 2004 G-Max, the best Dry Riesling I have ever tasted.
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2016 Bürgel Spätburgunder GG
As always such charming. In 2016 additionally quite delicate&sophisticated with a basket of red fruits. Quite slim and with good length.



2016 Frauenberg Spätburgunder GG
No surprise that the Frauenberg is much more multilayered than Bürgel. Frauenberg is based on french Selection Massale + 22 years limestone and Bürgel is based on german clones.
Very dark, smoky, mineral and herbs driven. Black currant, eucalyptus, incense and a vivid acidity. What a depth! Put in the cellar for 10-20+ years. BUY



2016 Morstein Spätburgunder “Felix” (auction wine)
WOW………what a perfume. Such seductive. On the palate quite mellow. On the other hand also quite firm&dense with a perfect tannin structure. The fruit cling forever on the palate. Everything is perfectly combined. What a structure!



2017 Scheurebe trocken
Expressive nose of fermentation notes. On the palate quite pure&salty with typical green Scheurebe flavors. Tight, clear with crisp acdity. Unfortunately just 1-2 bottles for each customer.



2017 Grüner Silvaner trocken
Easy-drinking Silvaner with good drinking pleasure.



2017 Silvaner "Feuervogel"
Holla die Waldfee! This is good. Silky texture, sappy fruit and fine spice. 0,3g RS und 7,7 acidity. BUY



2017 Riesling trocken
Offers good drinking pleasure. 4,5g RS und 9,2 acidity



2017 Riesling trocken "von der Fels"
In 2017 we have a high percentage of Kirchspiel grapes in this wine. Overall quite crisp performance with 3,5g RS. Chalky and cool with a nice herbs spiceness.



2017 Westhofen Riesling trocken
In the last years based on young vines of Morstein, this year based on Kirchspiel.
Doesn´t impress me.


2017 Nierstein Riesling trocken
Convincing performance.


2017 KIRCHSPIEL Riesling GG
OMG……what a chalk bomb. I know all Kirchspiel vintages since 2001 and I have to say, here we have the best ever. Why or what makes this Kirchspiel so special? It is this special drive&kick behind the minerality which I had never before in other vintages. This special drive&kick I find in „Morstein“ every year. In addition this Kirchspiel has a saltiness and purity which I hadn´t in the last years. 1-2g RS. BUY


2017 HUBACKER Riesling GG
I was quite puzzled concerning Hubi. Totally off the track this wine. We will see how this wine will develop in the coming months.



2017 HIPPING Riesling GG
Simply beautiful this Hipping. Such sappy&juicy with huge drinking pleasure. Velvety texture and never-ending length. Great balance too.
1-2g RS BUY


2017 PETTENTHAL Riesling GG (auction wine)
Holy shit. The perfume reminds me rather on „Felseneck“ GG by Tim Fröhlich with its Sponti nose. After the first sip, I heared some comments like „goosebumps“ or „Jesus, this is good“. The whole table was stunned. YES, quite impressive this Pettenthal in 2017. It is docking to Natural Wines with its flavors and stilistic. I guess the Scandinavians will auction this wine in september. haha


2017 MORSTEIN Riesling GG
Classic Morstein with its powerful minerality. Such focused and with grip. Quite straightforward. Good future.


2017 ABTSERDE Riesling GG
Very, very closed. We will find out its true nature in a couple of months.

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2017 G-Max

OM

Divine balance and harmony. Resting in itself like Buddha.
Reminds me quite strongly on the legendary 2004. 2004 G-Max is the best dry Riesling I have ever had.

This Riesling makes you happy. What a stroke of genius by KP.

BUY


Cheers,
Martin

2

Martin, do you know anywhere that there is a set list of the wines in each vintages boxed Keller collections? Thanks for sharing, Keller is probably my favorite Riesling in the world…but I’ve only had the G-max once.

3

Kirk,

I would directly ask the estate Keller.

Email: info@keller-wein.de


Cheers,
Martin

4

Kirk, was there a year in particular you were looking at?

Thanks for the easy read Martin.

5

Great work and thank you Martin!

Too bad, they are seldom seen outside the coasts in the US. Great steward.

6

Sad to hear, John.

But here in Germany you have to be quite quick too buying Keller wines. Last year the wines were sold out after 48h at the wineshop Pinard de Picard which has the largest amount of Keller wines available in Germany.

I was also stunned to hear around Xmas that someone sold the G-Max 2011 for around 1.300 Euro at eBay just for 1 bottle.

I would never never sell a G-Max at eBay. Instead I open a G-Max for good friends.


Cheers,
Martin

7

Thank you Martin , great notes . I buy a lot of Keller wines every year , they are so good .

8

Good to hear, one of my few no brainer buys every year. Out of curiosity, do you know if they make the spatburgunders in half bottles?

9

I was walking down the hall at the office 30 minutes or so after I posted that and thought to myself, “what were you thinking, it’s probably rare those wines make it out of Germany at all these days”. That said, I wasn’t thinking they were clearing out their major store in 48h! A fine testament to Keller.

10

I don´t think that they make half-bottles. But please ask the estate Keller for clarification.

Email: info@keller-wein.de


Cheers,
Martin

11

Danke Herwig. BTW, as you´re such big Burgundy-fan. Also the top winemakers from Burgundy are Keller-aficionados.

And a nice little story told me a friend last week. He met Angelo Gaja at his estate for a tasting. As a gift he gave him a Keller GG. Mr Gaja was such happy about the gift. He said he loves Keller Riesling and what a great work KP Keller is doing for RIESLING.


Cheers,
Martin

12

Thanks for an inspiring report from Flörsheim-Dalsheim, Martin
KP is really the most inspiring, flamboyant and knowledgeable winemaker
It seems that the KK 2017 is a must buy [cheers.gif]
See you

13

Thanks for the great notes! I can’t wait to taste that Pettenthal. And so sad to hear about the low Scheurebe production. Luckily despite drinking more Keller Scheurebe in 2016 than any other wine I still have 4 cases of 2016!

14

I confess, I am guilty. haha

15

More impressions regarding the 2017vintage by Marc Dröfke. A second barrel tasting took place yesterday at the estate Keller:

“Tasting the young 2017 wines at estate Keller was very promising. Super high quality throughout the whole range. The Pettenthal GG (an absolutely unique interpretation, only at Auction), G-Max (thousands of layers) and the Kirchspiel (so racy & zesty) for me play on top of the game. Nevertheless all the other performed exceptional as well. I want to mention especially the von der Fels here. Other growers would love to have it as their GG. And the 2016s reds are wonderful. So playful, red fruited and elegant. Just love it. Only drop of bitterness: Quantities are super low.”

Cheers,
Martin

16

Today Michael Schmidt/Jancis Robinson released his scores for the best GGs of the vintage 2017. And I am happy that my recommendation in february, Kirchspiel ranked 2nd best.

20,0 Keller, Niersteiner Pettenthal Riesling Grosses Gewächs
19,5 Keller, Westhofener Kirchspiel Riesling Grosses Gewächs


GinGin
Martin

17

Here the complete Top-ranking of GG 2017 by Michael Schmidt:

20,0 Keller, Niersteiner Pettenthal Riesling Grosses Gewächs
19,5 Keller, Westhofener Kirchspiel Riesling Grosses Gewächs
19,0 Dönnhoff, Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Grosses Gewächs
19,0 Dönnhoff, Schlossböckelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Grosses Gewächs
19,0 Emrich-Schönleber, Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Grosses Gewächs
19,0 Keller, Niersteiner Hipping Riesling Grosses Gewächs
19,0 Schäfer-Fröhlich, Bockenauer Felseneck Riesling Grosses Gewächs
19,0 Schloss Lieser, Lieser Niederberg Helden Riesling Grosses Gewächs
19,0 Van Volxem, Wiltinger Scharzhofberg Pergentsknopp Riesling Grosses Gewächs
18,5 Bürgerspital zum Heiligen Geist, Würzburger Stein-Harfe Silvaner Grosses Gewächs
18.5+Dönnhoff, Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Grosses Gewächs
18,5 Emrich-Schönleber, Monzinger Frühlingsplätzchen Riesling Grosses Gewächs
18,5 Fritz Haag, Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Riesling Grosses Gewächs
18,5 Heymann-Löwenstein, Winninger Uhlen Laubach Riesling Grosses Gewächs
18,5 Keller, Westhofener Morstein Riesling Grosses Gewächs
18,5 Kühling-Gillot, Niersteiner Hipping Riesling Grosses Gewächs
18,5 Schäfer-Fröhlich, Bockenauer Stromberg Riesling Grosses Gewächs
18,5 Schäfer-Fröhlich, Monzinger Frühlingsplätzchen Riesling Grosses Gewächs
18,5 Schäfer-Fröhlich, Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Grosses Gewächs
18,5 Schloss Lieser, Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Grosses Gewächs
18,5 Van Volxem, Wiltinger Volz Riesling Grosses Gewächs
18,5 von Othegraven, Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Grosses Gewächs
18,5 Wagner-Stempel, Siefersheimer Heerkretz Riesling Grosses Gewächs
18,5 Wittmann, Westhofener Brunnenhäuschen Riesling Grosses Gewächs
18,5 Wittmann, Westhofener Morstein Riesling Grosses Gewächs

18

Cool to see Kühling-Gillot score so highly on the list. A very much under the radar producer here in the U.S. that is making really great wines. They make a pettenthal as well as the hipping, so some pretty great sites.

19

But the greatest surprise is to see a Silvaner from Würzburg to sneak in at the top among the best Riesling…

20

surprised me too