Dalsheim Hubacker, Riesling, Grosses Gewächs, 2011
A vineyard of hard rocky limestone, very poor soil, this makes for Rieslings of muscle. Pungent ripe fruit and struck stone nose, racy and bright on the palate, sweet yellow plum, greengage, lemon and lime fruit, hints of flower, mixed with rock salt undertones. Unlike the standard estate wines, the Grosse Gewachs are all aged in large used oak cask. An early flowering pointed to an early harvest but a cool, wet summer slowed this down. Sunny weather returned from September onwards and in the end harvest was in October and November as usual. According to the Kellers there were "t shirt temperatures during harvest", this sun and heat together with the long hang time of the grapes have made for intense ripe and smooth-textured wines.
critic reviews
Pear, zesty lime and pineapple close to the core ally themselves to crystalline, alkaline and stony notes in Keller's 2011 Dalsheimer Hubacker Riesling Grosses Gewachs, leading to a juicy palate impression and finish that positively shimmer. Coriander seed, grapefruit rind, peach kernel, nut oils and quinine add piquant pungency to this impressively persistent performance that should be worth following for at least a decade. This site tends to wear its extract on its sleeve, but fortunately that doesn't this year preclude succulence, lift or refreshment. I think of Kirchspiel as feline, whereas Hubacker is a rather large canine bounding into your lap. Cool nights from mid-summer on - but especially in October - played into and seemed to confirm Keller's strategy of depending on low temperatures to truly release the aromatic potential of Riesling grapes (though he is the first to admit that he hasn't a notion of why this is so). "It's critical that you wait for Riesling until you can get into that period" of chilly weather, he opines, "and this year there was no reason you couldn't wait; and then plenty of time to strategize picking. But," he adds, "you couldn't get there if you didn't leave large enough yields," because otherwise one's picking hand would be forced by potential alcohol. In this year, Keller was able to purchase from Franz Karl Schmitt his iconic, eponymous former estate's best parcels in Niersteiner Pettenthal and Hipping, sites with an illustrious reputation from bygone years that Keller has wasted no time in reviving and polishing. (It was inspiring to be able to walk these particular vineyards on the "Rotem Hang" with both of them late last summer and share in their obvious mutual delight at this historic real estate transaction.) Increased refinement, delicacy, and complexity continue to characterize the best of Keller's residually sweet wines, and it's clear that his range of "R" bottlings from top sites - approximately halbtrocken in specifications - is taken with increased seriousness and will expand, annually incorporating at least one such wine that (as is now also the case with Morstein, Abtserde and G-Max) won't be bottled before August or released before the following spring. Nor has Keller given up his intention - VDP ideology to the contrary notwithstanding - of rendering residually sweet Kabinett from his Nierstein crus; it's just that 2011 fruit was too ripe (and 2010 had been too scarce). Once again this year, despite devoting more time to tasting the wines of this estate than to those of almost any other, I still cannot pretend to have sampled Keller's entire 2011 vintage collection, the especially notable omissions being T.B.A.s from Hubacker and Kirchspiel. (Time has also conspired to keep me from reporting on Keller's 2009 Pinots, which I have as yet tasted only before they were assembled. Numerous details on Keller's sites, stylistic ideals, and labeling practices can be found in my issue 198 report. And, apropos labeling, Abtserde continues to have to appear in print as AbtsE-, even though for purposes of the Wine Advocate database we permit this site to state its name!) Imported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608 9644, Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA tel. (877) 389-9463, and Frances Rose Imports Inc., Huntley, IL; tel. (815) 382 9533
Delicate aromas of white peach, sweet lime and persimmon. The crisp, clean structure of this wine belies the intense weight of invigorating apricot pit fruit. Fine smoky, salty minerality makes for an elegant finish. This is the most feminine of the estate's dry rieslings and the one that drinks the best in its youth.