Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle, Riesling, Spätlese, 2016
Such a special vineyard. This is complete, salty, composed, with fabulously pure mouth-watering fruit, brimming with energy as the racy cool but utterly charming flavours coat your mouth. There is typical Hermannshohle power here, but the cloak of 2016 makes it very lovable immediately. There's a touch more stone fruit than in the Brucke, and a finish that is definitely more to the salty saline end of the spectrum.
critic reviews
A fascinatingly multifaceted nose incorporates wet stone, leather and almond extract with more familiar white peach, quince and lime. A seductive aura of lily-like perfume hangs over this entire performance. The palate is palpably dense despite alcoholic levity, and subtly creamy while retaining animating primary juiciness. In common with its Brücke sibling, this leans more toward quince as it launches into a finish of honeyed richness – a function of nearly overripe but also nearly botrytis-free berries – yet retaining freshness as well as transparency to crystalline stony mineral nuances. “Under the right conditions,” observed Dönnhoff, “Hermannshöhle delivers something extra in the realm of sweetness, and for that you need cool nights that preserve slightly harder acidity” – which 2016 delivered in spades. Look for significantly more from this bottling after it’s had a decade or so in bottle.
The 2016 Nahe Riesling Niederhauser Hermannshohle Spatlese is bright, fresh and coolish-piquant on the nose, with flinty and slightly reductive aromas. Lush and piquant on the palate, this is a generous, mouth-filling Spatlese with a long, piquant and spicy-mineral finish. The Hermannshohle is more dense and rich on the palate, the Brucke more light, delicate and finessed.