TN: Riesling Study of the 2021 Vintage (Peter Lauer, Falkenstein, Keller, JJ Prum, and more)

In an attempt to see the 2021 Germany vintage for myself, I have set out to taste as many as I can with the goal of buying the wines that I either think are great right now or see a lot of potential. I am still in progress of trying as many of the 2021ers that I could find, but I wanted to share my thoughts so far.

Riesling Night No.3

Riesling Night No.2

Riesling Night No.1

My Tasting Notes (from 12/9/22 to 1/21/22)

  • 2021 Hofgut Falkenstein Niedermenniger Herrenberg Riesling Kabinett feinherb "Herbert" #15 - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (1/28/2023)
    [Drank alongside Falkenstein Spatlese feinherb AP4]
    Stony and reductive nose, lots of minerality and sulfur with some lemon phenols. Initially PnP, slate and crushed rocks with citrus fruit. With time and less chill, really opens in the glass. Still showing crushed rocks, but also a lot of freshness, river stream, sweet lemon and yuzu, ripe stone fruit, some salinity as well. Not sweet, firmly off dry with great bracing acidity. Very nice, very light, showing great purity and finesse. This can age but pleasant to drink now. 92+ potential (92 points)
  • 2021 Hofgut Falkenstein Niedermenniger Herrenberg Riesling SpĂ€tlese feinherb "Onkel Peter" #4 - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (1/28/2023)
    [Drank alongside Falkenstein Kabinett feinherb AP15]
    Like the Feinherb Kabinett, very similar nose - not as sulfuric or reductive, but smells of a freshwater stream. A little reductive on the palate, lean orchard fruit, lemon and yuzu peel, crushed stones, flint, and freshwater stream (lots of minerality). Surprisingly light, in a similar realm to the Kabinett. Higher sugar, but still solidly off dry or nearing med-dry. Really good balancing lime acidity. Also very ageable and drinkable now too. This could definitely see upside with time. 92 today, 93+(++) potential (92 points)
  • 2021 Hofgut Falkenstein Krettnacher Euchariusberg Riesling Kabinett "Kugel Peter" #12 - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (1/24/2023)
    PnP initially a bit souring with the fruit coming off a little disjointed and shrewd. Threw this back into the fridge for a night. A different animal the next day with a slightly yeasty preserved lemon nose along with flinty and sulfuric reductive notes. Palate of sweet and tart yellow fruit, plenty of minerality, very sweet and sour akin to a lemon candy/lemon drop and kiwi fruit. Solidly off-dry, hugely structured for a Kabinett without being weighty. Piercing acidity and intensity, this one would definitely benefit from some age to calm things down. 93 today, 94+(++) potential (93 points)
  • 2021 Peter Lauer Lambertskirch Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (1/21/2023)
    Riesling Study Night #2 (1/21/23): Sweet and tarty tropical fruit, like a perfectly ripe (not overripened) pineapple, pluot/yellow peach. On the cusp of med dry, not overly sweet and still holding great balance with the cooler vintage acid. Really really tasty. 94+ with upside. (94 points)
  • 2021 Peter Lauer Kern Riesling N°9 - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (1/21/2023)
    Riesling Study Night #2 (1/21/23): Sweet citrus and tropical fruit, tart ripe pineapple and golden kiwi fruit. Very sweet and sour, high racy balancing acidity. Off dry, not too sweet, great balance, just very tasty! In the same realm as Stirn, just a touch more simple, but equally guzzleable. 93-94 today with upside. (93 points)
  • 2021 Peter Lauer Neuenberg Riesling N°17 - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (1/21/2023)
    Riesling Study Night #2 (1/21/23): Leaner stone fruit, tinge of sweetness with RS, slight sour lemon and herbaceous lift, pear drop/peach candy. I’d say cusp of off-dry. Balanced, complex, long finish, all around very nice! Opens better in the glass, needs more time to settle down for better integration in the bottle. I will hold off for a few years. 93 today, 93-94++ potential. (93 points)
  • 2021 Peter Lauer Stirn N°15 - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (1/21/2023)
    Riesling Study Night #2 (1/21/23): Fresh, guzzleable/glugable, great stony minerality of slate, reminds me of No 12 but with more sweetness which helps quite a bit with less heat and better balance right now. Ripe stone fruit, lean apricot, sweet lemon and citrus. Really good acid balance, solidly off dry. This is drinking great today, but still has upside. 93-94 today, 94+(++) potential. (93 points)
  • 2021 Peter Lauer Schonfels Riesling Kabinett No 111 - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (1/21/2023)
    Riesling Study Night #2 (1/21/23): Sweet yellow citrus and stone fruit, with a racy amount of acidity to balance. Sweetened meyer lemons, with wet slate minerality and slight saline freshness. Quite tasty, but the Lambertskirch eeks out ahead with more complexity today. 92-93, with upside. (92 points)
  • 2021 Peter Lauer Unterstenberg Riesling N°12 - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (1/21/2023)
    Riesling Study Night #2 (1/21/23): Sharp and clean, very brisk. Like a freshwater river stream, lots of minerality and freshness. Lean orchard fruit, sweet lemon. This is showing very pure, comes off as very refreshing. Needs time for additional complexity. 91-92, with upside. (91 points)
  • 2021 Peter Lauer Ayler Riesling N°4 - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (1/21/2023)
    Riesling Study Night #2 (1/21/23): Reminscent of lemonade. Intense with sweet and sour citrus, calamansi/key lime and some minerality. Simple, a little straightforwards, but altogether enjoyable. Upside with additional age. 90(+) (90 points)
  • 2021 Peter Lauer Riesling Barrel X feinherb - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (1/21/2023)
    Riesling Study Night #2 (1/21/23): Like licking a salty lemon, with some spontaneous fermentation funk, citrus fruit, meyer lemon and yuzu sweetness. Some effervescence on the palate. A little dirty, but still a very decent and fresh tasting feinherb. Not as pure or delineated as the other bottlings tonight. 89-90, with some upside. (89 points)
  • 2021 Weiser-KĂŒnstler Enkircher Ellergrub Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (1/8/2023)
    Compared to Kunstler's regular Feinherb Riesling bottling I had earlier in the weekend, this was in much better balance at the current stage.

    White and citrus flowers, slight vanilla, meyer lemon and wild yeast on nose. Pronounced intensity of yellow citrus, lemons and yuzu, passion fruit, preserved lemons, notes of salinity and minerality, good freshness. Despite being a Kabinett, this felt more like a feinherb (whereas the feinherb felt like a trocken) due to screeching acidity. However, the RS does a very nice job balancing the flavors and taking the harsh edge off here. Med+ finish, highly concentrated flavors, high racy acidity. This can benefit from age as it was slightly disjointed today, but still very refreshing to drink right now. 91-92 today. (91 points)
  • 2021 Weiser-KĂŒnstler Riesling feinherb - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (1/7/2023)
    This is quite dry, on the very cusp of dry and off-dry. On the first day, heavily dominant bready and nutty and a bit drying, like lemon and citrus pith. Was a little too abrasive so I gave it a night in the fridge.

    Second day it was much better and quite enjoyable. Sourdough, orchard and stone fruit with a toasted aroma. Palate of preserved lemons, sour green apple, grapefruit, and sour pineapple. Quite a long finish, especially for a base Riesling. Heavy acid, definitely for acid freaks. Not that balanced or pure tasting, but still quite enjoyable in a natural wine sort of way. I could have used a touch more RS for my preference, as it still feels too abrasive to be a true feinherb. Age would greatly help settle this down. 89-90 today, 90+(++) potential. (89 points)
  • 2021 Joh. Jos. PrĂŒm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling SpĂ€tlese - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (12/23/2022)
    [Vinum Friday Funday 12/23/22]
    I had tried the 2021 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese and Kabinett weeks prior, so compared to those two, this is in-between with some slight awkwardness. Quite backwards right now. Whereas the Kabinett was lean and barely offdry and the Auslese was luscious with racy acid balance, this was somewhere in the offdry category with that racy acid balance. Ends up quite sweet and sour, like a sugary ripe lemonade. Definitely has enormous potential to evolve, but the others drink better today. 91+(92++ potential) (91 points)
  • 2021 Joh. Jos. PrĂŒm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (12/17/2022)
    [2021 Riesling Night #1 - 12/17/2022]
    Screeching acidity, highly concentrated stone fruit, white flower, passion fruit. This is so freaking delicious, will only improve with time. Sweetness is balanced by the acid, fruit is so concentrated and luscious, a WOTN for many among the Rieslings opened tonight. 94++ (94 points)
  • 2021 Weingut Keller Riesling RR - Germany, Rheinhessen (12/17/2022)
    [2021 Riesling Night #1 - 12/17/2022]
    Dry with slight RS on finish. Ripe stone fruit, tropical fruits, creamy tropical fruit, mangosteen. Perfect amount of RS with really good balance. This one was close to the JJ Prum tonight in terms of WOTN. 93-94 (93 points)
  • 2021 A.J. Adam Hofberg Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (12/17/2022)
    [2021 Riesling Night #1 - 12/17/2022]
    Freshwater stream, sweet yellow citrus and sweet lemons. Quite pure and a delicate kabinett. Minerality and salinity throughout. Balanced and enjoyable. 91-92 (91 points)
  • 2021 Weingut Keller Riesling Kabinett "Limestone" - Germany, Rheinhessen (12/17/2022)
    [2021 Riesling Night #1 - 12/17/2022]
    Lemonade, bright citrus, slight minerality (less than the AJ Adam). Simple, but very clean, holding very good acidity for balance. Might not match some of the others in value, but a great Riesling nonetheless. 91 (91 points)
  • 2021 Dönnhoff Kreuznacher Krötenpfuhl Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Nahe (12/17/2022)
    [2021 Riesling Night #1 - 12/17/2022]
    Rounder stone fruit and tree fruit. Still a balanced Riesling, with more action on mid-palate, but ends up tasting slightly weighty and dense. Great intensity and oomph. 90 (90 points)
  • 2021 Vols Ayler Kupp Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (12/17/2022)
    A bit effervescent (most sparkly out of the 2021s). Creamy lemon, citrus peel and oils, quite aromatic. This opened up with time, the tightest of the bunch. 89-90+ (89 points)
  • 2021 Hofgut Falkenstein Krettnacher Altenberg Riesling SpĂ€tlese trocken #7 - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (12/9/2022)
    [Drank alongside 2021 Keller Von der Fels and 2021 JJ Prum Kabinett]
    Compared to the Keller, this has a lot more citrus and lemon notes. Matchstick reductive notes on the nose. Very lean and acidic, like sucking a lemon after a tequila shot, mostly citrus dominated! Electrifying acidity, similar level to the Keller. Med+ finish, hint of RS on the finish but the wine is certainly dry. And for $30 this is at surreal value. Lots of potential for ageing. 93+ potential (give it a few years before revisiting) (91 points)
  • 2021 Joh. Jos. PrĂŒm Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (12/9/2022)
    [Drank alongside 2021 Falkenstein Spatlese Trocken and 2021 Keller Von der Fels]
    This wine is so clear, it almost looks like lemon water! Another reductive nose, akin to the Keller (Falkenstein was more reductive). Palate of lean stone fruit, lemon, and hint of lean pineapple. The acidity akin to the other 2021, just bracing high acid lemon. Despite being a pradikatswein, this was dry to off-dry. Hardly much RS on the finish, enough to edge it to a Kabinett. This was fairly uncharacteristic of JJ Prum, but that is not a bad thing. This was very different and very delicious with a lot of ageing potential, which seems to be a common trend with a bunch of these 2021 Rieslings. Excellent! 93+ potential (91 points)
  • 2021 Weingut Keller Riesling von der Fels - Germany, Rheinhessen (12/9/2022)
    [Drank alongside 2021 JJ Prum Kabinett and 2021 Falkenstein Spatlese Trocken]
    PnP, served chilled. Slightly reductive nose. Steely, lots of minerality, like licking wet rocks, some lean stone fruit and citrus peel, fairly simple but still a very pleasant Riesling. Quite dry, did not taste much RS, med/med+ finish, extremely racy acid that sticks with you. I was still getting shivers from the acid 15 seconds later! Really electrifying! This thing can go much longer, but fun to try now. 92-94 potential (91 points)
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Additionally, I was asked a question on a different platform in regards with Altenberg, specifically “if the Krettnacher Altenberg is the same Altenberg as Van Volxem Altenberg Alte Reben?”

From what I could dig up with various online resources (VDP interactive map and other informative but unverifiable websites), the map of the area does seem to indicate Altenberg to be the same place in both cases.

Upon further digging, it seemed to me that one of the reasons why Hofgut Falkenstein had opted out of joining the VDP would be because the VDP label laws would mean the Webers would have to opt out of naming their specific village vineyards and settle for a larger Grosse Lage or Erste Lage label. In a sense, the VDP labeling would remove the unique identity of where these bottlings come from. I was wondering if @Lars_Carlberg would be able to chime in with his mountainous German knowledge in whether I was correct in my assumptions and research as there really isn’t too much information online.

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It’s not really a case of ‘opting in’ to the VDP. :).

There are some politics involved.

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Nice post and notes thx. FYI The 21 Ludes Kabinetts are magnificent imo. I tasted at the winery I December and was blown away. Some of my favs from21 so far.

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Thanks for the notes. Based on your scoring of the Auslese in a perceived Kabinett vintage it sounds like perhaps you’re not a big vintage fan like some others on this board, but more excited about the outliers.

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Apropos Altenberg:

Kanzemer Altenberg (Van Volxem)

Krettnacher Altenberg (Falkenstein)

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Sorry for the delay. I was travelling to Central Texas. Hein already answered your first question in regard to Altenberg. These are two different “single sites”—one in Kanzem and the other in Krettnach.

As for Hofgut Falkenstein, the Webers have no interest in joining the VDP for various reasons. They also haven’t been asked to join. But it is true that many of their different bottlings would have to be labeled differently if they were members of the VDP.

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I will certainly have to try more Auslese to confirm that for my palate since the JJ Prum Auslese was just crazy good. You are correct in assuming my palate lining up with Auslese generally simply to the fact that I have not drank many Kabinetts up until this vintage.

I have really enjoyed all of the Kabinetts, but I have certainly been more conservative on my scoring in general. I have a suspicion that the majority of these 2021 Rieslings will age incredibly well due to its crazy acidity. I have definitely noted a certain vintage style in many of these Kabinetts that display a sort of “lemonade” note, or really moreso just a sweet and tart type of flavor focused around yellow citrus and yellow tropical fruit.

Fantastic work! Really appreciate the notes. My gut tells me the Schonfels Kabi is going to age into something beautiful. I need to try the JJ Prum WS Auslese that sounds fantastic.

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On a side note, there is another site named Altenberg on the Saar—namely, Oberemmeler Altenberg. The main problem with listing the site name sans village is that the consumer often has no idea about the location of the site. (The VDP is copying the Burgundy model.) For example, there are many sites on the Saar named Kupp, such as in Serrig, Saarburg, Ayl, and Wiltingen. The same goes for the site name Herrenberg. In the 19th century, only a few Saar sites were marketed without the benefit of village attribution. These included Bockstein, Scharzhofberg, and Euchariusberg—all of which are marked dark red on Clotten’s 1868 Viticultural Map of the Saar and Mosel.

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Thanks Robert! I totally agree with the Schonfels. And you will definitely have to let me know what you think of the JJ Prum Auslese when you try a bottle.

This certainly seems to get confusing fast for people that aren’t familiar, but I supposed if it’s following the Burgundy model then it makes sense. I recall Burgundy has the same issues with naming, with Les Cras being one of the names used for multiple climats and PCs of different villages. But Burgundy does also label the village name with PCs to help clarify.

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The bigger issue is that the VDP classification is flawed. (See David Schildknecht’s VDP.Klassifixation.)

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