Focused bouquet of quince, honeydew, and minerals. On the palate the wine is more open-knit than I was expecting for a GG this young, with lemon candy, lemongrass, crushed slate, and saline undertones. Zesty, crisp acidity and dry extract provide a tannic feel on the midpalate. Very enjoyable and refreshing, especially in 100 degree heat. (93 pts.)
2021 Dönnhoff Felsenberg Riesling Großes Gewächs - Germany, Nahe (6/16/2022)
Donnhoff Tasting (St. Paul): Very nice with slate, apricots, pear, chalk, sour apple, white flowers and a nice saltiness on the finish. Complex wine and excellent quality. (93 points)
Hope you both are joking. I’ve just discovered Donnhoff and was looking for a reference for their different vineyards and bottlings. Hoping to find more Wbers with experience with Donnhoff not less.
He came to his senses and left. No big blow up just left.
Brian and I aren’t joking about David being the most frequent poster on Donnhoff (and a bunch of other German wine, etc.).
A while back there were a couple of people who adamantly claimed these wines do not improve with age. Lots of other people with lots of combined experience, including me, do not agree. Frankly, I think it’s a ridiculous assertion. I have total confidence in the few GGs and Spätlesen I have tasting great at well over a decade. A decade has actually seemed like too little time for some vintages of Hermannshöhle GG.
I imagine there have been threads comparing the various bottlings. I don’t have as much experience as some here, and it’s true that David was the real guru (I hope he comes back at some point when contributing here can be good for him), but I have tasted quite a few Dönnhoffs over the years. The 2 Spätlese bottlings I’ve had most are Kirschheck and Brücke. Kirschheck does have a distinctive cherry note (maybe in my head but I know someone who has picked it up blind), and tends toward more flamboyant fruit and a more open, approachable character in its youth. Brücke tends to be much more mineral, with lots of depth but also less yielding when young. I suspect the Brücke will become the better wine in a lot of vintages, but I like them equally when young, and preference will always probably have more to do with style than quality. At least, that’s my somewhat informed take. I’d be interested to know what people think about some of the other bottlings. I have some thought on the GGs, but I’ve had too few of the ones other than Hermmanshöhle to be confident about any comparisons.
It all depends on what “improve” means. No long-term experience with the GGs, but I’ve discovered I prefer the spatleses young. The last few spatleses I had (2004, 2005 and 2007, different vineyards), including one last week, ranged from okay to uninteresting. The fruit and acid were subdued - the lack of crystalline acidic “zip” was particularly disappointing, because that is what I think makes Donnhoff so great -, and in general they tasted like flat apricoty sugar water. But “uninteresting” is somewhat a matter of preference; someone else might have found them more “interesting” than they were young.
Fair enough. I would think an '04 would be in good shape at this point. My experience is mainly with the GGs, and for me, they definitely become more interesting. The few aged Spätlese and Auslese bottlings I’ve tried have had good aged character and plenty of energy for me, but maybe you would view them differently. I won’t have more experience with aged sweet bottlings for a few more years. Quite a few positive notes have been posted by people I generally agree with, though.
