Dönnhoff

The Dönnhoff family bought a modest estate in the Nahe in the 1750s. In 1971 current owner, Helmut Dönnhoff produced his first vintage and has not looked back since. A regular on the shortlist of ‘German Winemaker of the Year’ and actual winner in 1999, Helmut’s work is helping the Nahe to take a share of the plaudits showered on the more internationally renowned German wine regions of the Mosel and the Rheingau. His cool, calm demeanour is a stark contrast to the demonic fervour with which he tends his vineyards. Only the best hand-picked fruit will do, in order to produce wines that are honest refl ections of the Riesling grape and the terroir its planted in whether it be the volcanic soils of the Kupfergrube (copper mine), the deep, cool Brücke, the slate/sandstone Hermanshöhle or the slate of the Leistenberg. Fermentation is in the traditional large old wooden casks and there is a light filtration before bottling. Some of Germany’s most intense, bewitching and mouthwatering wines, that mixes Rheingau body with Mosel minerality.

2023 Vintage: 2023’s statistics show that each hectare equated to an astonishing 1300 working hours from start to finish, up from 900 in a normal year. The Dönnhoffs spoke of plentiful rain at the beginning of the year, off the back of the hot and dry 2022 vintage, but then saw just 6L in May, June and July. Two weeks of light rain in August was positive in easing the vines’ development, even if that meant hiring an additional 20 people to thin the leaves to reduce humidity pressure. By ruthlessly focusing on harvesting their best and steepest sites in optimum health, they arrived with the same yield at Grosses Gewächs level as normal, sacrificing more of the entry-level grapes from the flatter vineyards. They also managed to tease out small quantities of truly wonderful Goldkapsels in the last stages. As we heard elsewhere, fermentations here were quick and efficient with strong native yeasts and musts imbued with plentiful nutrients, they think in part thanks to the later rains. The wines parade an excellent combination of delectable, open fruits with good acidities and composed, clear-vineyard signatures, leading to reduced levels of residual sugar across the range – heightening the sense of laser-like focus and precision that the 2023 vintage itself demanded.