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Keller Excellence

Germany, Verticals & Retrospectives, featured

David Schildknecht, Mar 2023

For nearly 20 years, Klaus Peter Keller has almost surely been Germany’s most written-about wine grower, both at home and abroad. What makes his estate perhaps the most exciting in Germany today? This article takes a close look at the people, places and mystique surrounding Weingut Keller, including detailed notes on wines from vintages 2019-2021.

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Mittelrhein 2019-2020: A Misunderstood Region

Germany, featured

David Schildknecht, Jul 2022

With only a small number of well-known estates, it is easy to overlook the viticultural significance of one of Germany’s most popular tourist destinations. That would be an unfortunate mistake. Mittelrhein's producers are turning out high quality wines that showcase a wide variety of styles.

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Saar Riesling 2019-2020: Selective Excellence

Germany: Saar, featured

David Schildknecht, May 2022

While you aren’t likely to mistake a 2019 German Riesling for its 2020 counterpart – least of all in the Greater Mosel – the two growing seasons had surprisingly much in common. And from that, there’s a lot to learn.

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Rheingau and Mittelrhein 2018s: Mixed Riesling Results

Germany, featured

David Schildknecht, Apr 2021

The challenges posed by summer drought and sheer precocity of vine evolution are evident in the Rheingau and Mittelrhein, but there are numerous wines that no Riesling lovers should miss.

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The Pfalz – Not False – Promise of 2018

Germany, featured

David Schildknecht, Mar 2021

Vintage 2018 is not a show-stopper for Pfalz Riesling. Nor are the wines likely to go down in history for their longevity. Yet, it isn’t just an eminently appealing vintage, it’s also one of enormous promise, not just for the Pfalz, but for what it says about where German Riesling as a whole could be headed.

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Rheinhessen 2018: Revelatory Rieslings

Germany, featured

David Schildknecht, Nov 2020

For any oenophiles still unaware – or seeking proof – that Rheinhessen justifies a buzz of critical acclaim and consumer excitement currently unsurpassed worldwide by any Riesling growing region, a perusal of the wines turned out in 2018 should do the trick.

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Generosity and Diversity - Mosel 2018: Graach to Grünhaus

germany: Mosel, featured

David Schildknecht, Nov 2020

It’s the rare wine among Mosel Rieslings of 2018 – a generally forthcoming, even effusive bunch – that seems to demand cellaring, and then usually only because a surfeit of sweetness is among a given wine’s generous-to-a-fault characteristics. Continuing upstream, I offer my second of two reports on the 2018 vintage Mosel Rieslings, here including those from estates based along the Ruwer.

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Generous to a Fault, Mosel 2018: Winningen to Wehlen

germany: Mosel, featured

David Schildknecht, Aug 2020

Ripeness, personality, abundance: from every angle, the Mosel Rieslings of 2018 are characterized by generosity, though only the best preserve the cut, complexity and prodigious ageworthiness of this genre at its very finest.

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Saar Riesling 2018: Beating the Heat

Germany: Saar, featured

David Schildknecht, Jul 2020

The precocious 2018 vintage with its hot, dry summer, held the potential for wines short on acidity and high in alcohol. Fortunately, adept growers worked successfully to avoid that outcome, and estate owners nearly everywhere saw a combination of generous ripeness with unexpectedly abundant yields. This report focuses on the Saar, whose hills and side valleys are known for being cooler and breezier, and for birthing Rieslings correspondingly more acid-retentive and buoyant.

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Germany 2018: The Nahe – Leading by a Nose

Germany, featured

David Schildknecht, Jun 2020

There is a lot to like from 2018 in Germany: both multiple attractive features and a lot of wines to exemplify them. And then there are the exceptions, including the vintage’s genuinely exciting Rieslings, of which, yet again, many are found on the Nahe.