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Producer name: Alexander Gysler

Wines:

2014 Brut Blanc De Noir Pinot
Color: Sparkling White

Score: 87.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2019

Tasting notes: Alexander Gysler has rendered a méthode traditionnelle bottling from Pinot Noir off and on since 1995. After 2014 he decided to channel all of his Pinot Noir into either Blanc de Noir or still rosé and drop a non-sparkling red rendition from his lineup. The hue here is partridge eye. The nose suggests fresh red raspberry with hints of smoky black tea and new leather. The palate is firm and features fine mousse. A tart-edged finish introduces some welcome salinity but dries out a bit, seemingly a function of the casks in which Gysler chooses to raise his Pinot Noir base wine. 

Producer Commentary:
I managed to visit and taste his entire range (and then some) with Alexander Gysler in November 2018, after having written in my previous report about the several impressive vintage 2016 samples that reached me. I had been sampling -- indeed, drinking -- Gysler wines over the years, albeit sporadically, but hadn’t returned since I visited with Gysler’s dad in the late 1980s. This estate caught the attention of Terry Theise, who was lured by Weinheim’s rare outpost of Permian sandstone outside the Rheinfront, and who stayed involved as importer for three decades thanks to wines that offered excellent value. (Apropos of the purported primacy of Permian sandstone, bear in mind that the sensational potential of limestone soils in Rheinhessen’s Wonnegau and of volcanic slopes in Rheinhessen’s “Little Switzerland” went virtually unrecognized until the mid-1990s.) Until Alexander Gysler took over, two acres planted by his grandfather in 1982 represented this estate’s only Riesling. “My father thought that Riesling wouldn’t ripen consistently here,” explained Gysler, “and in fact that’s how it was back then.” Remarkably, though, that 1982 planting represented a reintroduction, relying on a vine selection originally made on this very property in the first two decades of the 20th century, by an agriculturist owner who adopted Gysler’s orphaned great-grandmother, the subsequent inheritor of the estate. (This so-called “Trautwein clone 356” – which has also dominated Gysler’s recent plantings – traveled via Bad Kreuznach and Neustadt to UC Davis, where it was renamed “FPS 14.”)

Like their author, Alexander Gysler’s wines tend to be soft-spoken and reward a bit of extra time taken to appreciate them. A good measure of Gysler the man can be gleaned by considering the intellectual and emotional engagement as well as lofty ambition reflected in his promotional materials, which promise “wines of the purest soul” under the motto “we strive toward [doing] less” – and then comparing that with the uncontrived earnestness and self-effacing modesty one encounters face-to-face. Speaking of promotional mottos, nearly all of Gysler’s wines – even those that are village- or vineyard-designated – possess fantasy names intended to capture the imagination of German-speaking oenophiles but devoid of direct descriptive significance; these names are tricky to translate, so I have not attempted to do so.

“It was a very difficult year,” noted Gysler of 2017. “We lost around 30% to frost, and we had to pick relatively early because our fruit was already quite ripe when the late summer rain hit, which led to our having to throw away a lot of grapes.” And those losses to frost and rot came despite Weinheim’s sites being conspicuously wind-exposed. (For a bit more background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and Alexander Gysler’s taking of the reins, consult my introduction notes published in my previous report.)
2016 Weissburgunder Weinheimer Leuchtkraft Trocken
Color: White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2020

Tasting notes: From the same sheltered Permian sandstone expanse of Pinot Blanc in Weinheimer Kirchenstück as the Gysler “Sternenglanz,” this February 2008 bottling largely reflects the chronological middle of three plantings. It was raised in cask rather than tank, and bottled unfiltered. (For more on Alexander Gysler’s relationship with Pinot Blanc, consult my accompanying review of that “Sternenglanz.”) For now, at least, the nose is quite subdued. Lees contact has engendered gloss and a starchy sense of fullness, albeit with slight sacrifice of both Pinot Blanc’s native creaminess of texture and its animating primary juiciness. Nutty and stony nuances serve to accent flavors of apple and turnip and follow into a satisfyingly persistent finish.

Producer Commentary:
I managed to visit and taste his entire range (and then some) with Alexander Gysler in November 2018, after having written in my previous report about the several impressive vintage 2016 samples that reached me. I had been sampling -- indeed, drinking -- Gysler wines over the years, albeit sporadically, but hadn’t returned since I visited with Gysler’s dad in the late 1980s. This estate caught the attention of Terry Theise, who was lured by Weinheim’s rare outpost of Permian sandstone outside the Rheinfront, and who stayed involved as importer for three decades thanks to wines that offered excellent value. (Apropos of the purported primacy of Permian sandstone, bear in mind that the sensational potential of limestone soils in Rheinhessen’s Wonnegau and of volcanic slopes in Rheinhessen’s “Little Switzerland” went virtually unrecognized until the mid-1990s.) Until Alexander Gysler took over, two acres planted by his grandfather in 1982 represented this estate’s only Riesling. “My father thought that Riesling wouldn’t ripen consistently here,” explained Gysler, “and in fact that’s how it was back then.” Remarkably, though, that 1982 planting represented a reintroduction, relying on a vine selection originally made on this very property in the first two decades of the 20th century, by an agriculturist owner who adopted Gysler’s orphaned great-grandmother, the subsequent inheritor of the estate. (This so-called “Trautwein clone 356” – which has also dominated Gysler’s recent plantings – traveled via Bad Kreuznach and Neustadt to UC Davis, where it was renamed “FPS 14.”)

Like their author, Alexander Gysler’s wines tend to be soft-spoken and reward a bit of extra time taken to appreciate them. A good measure of Gysler the man can be gleaned by considering the intellectual and emotional engagement as well as lofty ambition reflected in his promotional materials, which promise “wines of the purest soul” under the motto “we strive toward [doing] less” – and then comparing that with the uncontrived earnestness and self-effacing modesty one encounters face-to-face. Speaking of promotional mottos, nearly all of Gysler’s wines – even those that are village- or vineyard-designated – possess fantasy names intended to capture the imagination of German-speaking oenophiles but devoid of direct descriptive significance; these names are tricky to translate, so I have not attempted to do so.

“It was a very difficult year,” noted Gysler of 2017. “We lost around 30% to frost, and we had to pick relatively early because our fruit was already quite ripe when the late summer rain hit, which led to our having to throw away a lot of grapes.” And those losses to frost and rot came despite Weinheim’s sites being conspicuously wind-exposed. (For a bit more background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and Alexander Gysler’s taking of the reins, consult my introduction notes published in my previous report.)
2018 Weissburgunder Sternenglanz Trocken
Color: White

Score: 87.0

Drinking window: 2020 - 2021

Tasting notes: Apple with a high-toned distilled shadow mingles with scents of honeysuckle. The feel is polished and the midpalate satisfyingly juicy, leading to a caressing and refreshing if slightly diffuse finish. My suspicion is that the heat and drought of 2018 were not especially friendly to Gysler’s predominantly young Pinot Blanc vines, and he apparently did not essay a village-level bottling from the vintage the way he had in 2016. (For comments on Gysler’s history and approach with Pinot Blanc, consult my review of this wine’s far more impressive vintage 2017 predecessor.)

Producer Commentary:
After the penury of 2017 with its devastating frost and damaging late-summer rain, Alexander Gysler was relieved to be rewarded in 2018 with an ample crop. And it was one that he wasted little time in beginning to harvest on September 8, resulting, amazingly, in 2018 Riesling grapes at 9–10 grams of acidity. Must weights were modest, and even those Rieslings that weren’t harvested until nearly mid-October weigh in at just 12.5% finished alcohol. Gysler continues his fascinatingly experimental ways, with significant portions of his portfolio now being devoted to low-intervention, self-described “natural” wines, skin-fermented whites, sparklers and pet-nat bottlings in numerous permutations, of which I tasted by no means all. (For extensive background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and on Alexander Gysler’s assumption of its reins, consult the introductions to my notes focused on his 2016s and 2017s. Gysler confers on his wines evocative nicknames that are sometimes difficult to translate. I unpack some of these in my tasting notes from this and previous vintages.)
2017 Weissburgunder Sternenglanz Trocken
Color: White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2022

Tasting notes: Alexander Gysler elected to plant Pinot Blanc immediately after an inspirational late-1990s training stint with Bergdolt in the southern Pfalz, and he has expanded his commitment twice since, with those younger vines dominating this “Sternenglanz” bottling. Pinot Blanc’s ingratiating proclivity for combining brightly refreshing juiciness with subtle textural creaminess is attractively exemplified here. Piquant hints of apple seed and green herbs, whiffs of wood smoke, a sizzle of corn shoot and meadow-like inner-mouth perfume lend subtly stimulating counterpoint en route to a delightfully sustained finish. Despite Pinot Blanc’s relative susceptibility to botrytis, in this instance it proved more resistant than Riesling. I have not had an opportunity to taste an older Gysler Pinot Blanc, but given that grape’s proclivities and the high quality of this representative, I suspect one need be in no hurry to enjoy this ostensibly entry-level 2017 bottling.

Producer Commentary:
I managed to visit and taste his entire range (and then some) with Alexander Gysler in November 2018, after having written in my previous report about the several impressive vintage 2016 samples that reached me. I had been sampling -- indeed, drinking -- Gysler wines over the years, albeit sporadically, but hadn’t returned since I visited with Gysler’s dad in the late 1980s. This estate caught the attention of Terry Theise, who was lured by Weinheim’s rare outpost of Permian sandstone outside the Rheinfront, and who stayed involved as importer for three decades thanks to wines that offered excellent value. (Apropos of the purported primacy of Permian sandstone, bear in mind that the sensational potential of limestone soils in Rheinhessen’s Wonnegau and of volcanic slopes in Rheinhessen’s “Little Switzerland” went virtually unrecognized until the mid-1990s.) Until Alexander Gysler took over, two acres planted by his grandfather in 1982 represented this estate’s only Riesling. “My father thought that Riesling wouldn’t ripen consistently here,” explained Gysler, “and in fact that’s how it was back then.” Remarkably, though, that 1982 planting represented a reintroduction, relying on a vine selection originally made on this very property in the first two decades of the 20th century, by an agriculturist owner who adopted Gysler’s orphaned great-grandmother, the subsequent inheritor of the estate. (This so-called “Trautwein clone 356” – which has also dominated Gysler’s recent plantings – traveled via Bad Kreuznach and Neustadt to UC Davis, where it was renamed “FPS 14.”)

Like their author, Alexander Gysler’s wines tend to be soft-spoken and reward a bit of extra time taken to appreciate them. A good measure of Gysler the man can be gleaned by considering the intellectual and emotional engagement as well as lofty ambition reflected in his promotional materials, which promise “wines of the purest soul” under the motto “we strive toward [doing] less” – and then comparing that with the uncontrived earnestness and self-effacing modesty one encounters face-to-face. Speaking of promotional mottos, nearly all of Gysler’s wines – even those that are village- or vineyard-designated – possess fantasy names intended to capture the imagination of German-speaking oenophiles but devoid of direct descriptive significance; these names are tricky to translate, so I have not attempted to do so.

“It was a very difficult year,” noted Gysler of 2017. “We lost around 30% to frost, and we had to pick relatively early because our fruit was already quite ripe when the late summer rain hit, which led to our having to throw away a lot of grapes.” And those losses to frost and rot came despite Weinheim’s sites being conspicuously wind-exposed. (For a bit more background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and Alexander Gysler’s taking of the reins, consult my introduction notes published in my previous report.)
2018 Weissburgunder & Grauburgunder Natural Wine
Color: White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2020 - 2021

Tasting notes: This blend of Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris is indeed labeled, in English, “Natural Wine,” an allusion principally to its having been bottled off of its full lees unpumped, unfiltered, and with no addition of SO2. The ferment incorporated a small measure of intact berries, but that was the extent of fermentative skin extraction. (Gysler bottles other – if you will, “orange” – wines for which white grapes were fermented in a red wine manner.) The nose suggests almond, peanut and marjoram in its combination of bittersweetness, smoky herbal pungency and earthiness. Along with that comes a savory aromatic allusion to pork stock. The feel is alluringly creamy and the midpalate impression uncannily buoyant for a wine of 13% alcohol. Lemon and apple lend juiciness that lasts through a mouthwatering, refreshing and caressing yet stimulating finish, albeit one that evinces a faint hint of heat. As with any “no added sulfur” wine, barring a track record, one can only speculate as to how it might develop in bottle. I have intentionally sinned on the side of an extremely conservative conservation recommendation. 

Producer Commentary:
After the penury of 2017 with its devastating frost and damaging late-summer rain, Alexander Gysler was relieved to be rewarded in 2018 with an ample crop. And it was one that he wasted little time in beginning to harvest on September 8, resulting, amazingly, in 2018 Riesling grapes at 9–10 grams of acidity. Must weights were modest, and even those Rieslings that weren’t harvested until nearly mid-October weigh in at just 12.5% finished alcohol. Gysler continues his fascinatingly experimental ways, with significant portions of his portfolio now being devoted to low-intervention, self-described “natural” wines, skin-fermented whites, sparklers and pet-nat bottlings in numerous permutations, of which I tasted by no means all. (For extensive background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and on Alexander Gysler’s assumption of its reins, consult the introductions to my notes focused on his 2016s and 2017s. Gysler confers on his wines evocative nicknames that are sometimes difficult to translate. I unpack some of these in my tasting notes from this and previous vintages.)
2018 Scheurebe Sonnentau Trocken
Color: White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2020 - 2021

Tasting notes: This was the first wine presented to me from the Gysler vintage 2018 collection, a choice made in view of its harboring merely 11% alcohol. (The diversity of Gysler’s portfolio is hard enough to wrap one’s head around, in consequence of which I have departed from my usual convention of reviewing wines in the order in which they were presented to me at the estate.) The levity corresponding to that low alcohol goes hand in hand with animation and infectious juiciness. Lemon and grapefruit are laced with green tea in an aromatic display surprisingly restrained for a wine from Scheurebe. But the corresponding flavors, while pointing to only modest ripeness, fit the wine’s bracing overall personality. Salinity serves for salivary stimulation on a brightly lingering finish. (For more about Gysler’s approach to this grape, consult the review of his 2016 “Sonnentau.”)

Producer Commentary:
After the penury of 2017 with its devastating frost and damaging late-summer rain, Alexander Gysler was relieved to be rewarded in 2018 with an ample crop. And it was one that he wasted little time in beginning to harvest on September 8, resulting, amazingly, in 2018 Riesling grapes at 9–10 grams of acidity. Must weights were modest, and even those Rieslings that weren’t harvested until nearly mid-October weigh in at just 12.5% finished alcohol. Gysler continues his fascinatingly experimental ways, with significant portions of his portfolio now being devoted to low-intervention, self-described “natural” wines, skin-fermented whites, sparklers and pet-nat bottlings in numerous permutations, of which I tasted by no means all. (For extensive background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and on Alexander Gysler’s assumption of its reins, consult the introductions to my notes focused on his 2016s and 2017s. Gysler confers on his wines evocative nicknames that are sometimes difficult to translate. I unpack some of these in my tasting notes from this and previous vintages.)
2017 Scheurebe Sonnentau Trocken
Color: White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2020

Tasting notes: Strong scents of sage, mint and passion fruit are much more Scheurebe-typical than those encountered in this wine’s vintage 2016 rendition. But the polished palate shares some of that predecessor’s appealing understatement, leading to an almost shy but generously juicy finish featuring passion fruit, black currant, cooling mint and a welcome hint of salinity. (For more about Gysler’s approach to this grape, consult the review of his 2016 “Sonnentau” in my previous report.)

Producer Commentary:
I managed to visit and taste his entire range (and then some) with Alexander Gysler in November 2018, after having written in my previous report about the several impressive vintage 2016 samples that reached me. I had been sampling -- indeed, drinking -- Gysler wines over the years, albeit sporadically, but hadn’t returned since I visited with Gysler’s dad in the late 1980s. This estate caught the attention of Terry Theise, who was lured by Weinheim’s rare outpost of Permian sandstone outside the Rheinfront, and who stayed involved as importer for three decades thanks to wines that offered excellent value. (Apropos of the purported primacy of Permian sandstone, bear in mind that the sensational potential of limestone soils in Rheinhessen’s Wonnegau and of volcanic slopes in Rheinhessen’s “Little Switzerland” went virtually unrecognized until the mid-1990s.) Until Alexander Gysler took over, two acres planted by his grandfather in 1982 represented this estate’s only Riesling. “My father thought that Riesling wouldn’t ripen consistently here,” explained Gysler, “and in fact that’s how it was back then.” Remarkably, though, that 1982 planting represented a reintroduction, relying on a vine selection originally made on this very property in the first two decades of the 20th century, by an agriculturist owner who adopted Gysler’s orphaned great-grandmother, the subsequent inheritor of the estate. (This so-called “Trautwein clone 356” – which has also dominated Gysler’s recent plantings – traveled via Bad Kreuznach and Neustadt to UC Davis, where it was renamed “FPS 14.”)

Like their author, Alexander Gysler’s wines tend to be soft-spoken and reward a bit of extra time taken to appreciate them. A good measure of Gysler the man can be gleaned by considering the intellectual and emotional engagement as well as lofty ambition reflected in his promotional materials, which promise “wines of the purest soul” under the motto “we strive toward [doing] less” – and then comparing that with the uncontrived earnestness and self-effacing modesty one encounters face-to-face. Speaking of promotional mottos, nearly all of Gysler’s wines – even those that are village- or vineyard-designated – possess fantasy names intended to capture the imagination of German-speaking oenophiles but devoid of direct descriptive significance; these names are tricky to translate, so I have not attempted to do so.

“It was a very difficult year,” noted Gysler of 2017. “We lost around 30% to frost, and we had to pick relatively early because our fruit was already quite ripe when the late summer rain hit, which led to our having to throw away a lot of grapes.” And those losses to frost and rot came despite Weinheim’s sites being conspicuously wind-exposed. (For a bit more background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and Alexander Gysler’s taking of the reins, consult my introduction notes published in my previous report.)
2016 Scheurebe Sonnentau Trocken
Color: White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2018 - 2019

Tasting notes: Alexander Gysler confers fantasy names on most of his bottlings – even those with single-vineyard identity. This one’s means “sundew,” though I can’t tell you whether that reflects a flight of fancy or the fact that carnivorous plants inhabit the place where it grew. A deep golden color, along with aromatic pungency and piquant, chewy palate presence of bruised apple skin and grapefruit peel, points to the influence of significant skin contact and minimal sulfur. Given an absence of green herbal, floral or sweetly citric clues to varietal identity, I’m not sure I would have guessed – if I’d tasted blind – that this was Scheurebe. (And that’s a claim I can’t recall having made often!) I suspect that’s how Gysler wanted it – namely, to sublimate Scheurebe’s extroverted typicity. As this opens to the air, pungent pennyroyal emerges along with passion fruit and green mango. Like the dry vintage 2016 Riesling that I sampled alongside, it boasts mouthwatering marine salinity and impressive persistence. Play around with it at table as I did (believe me, I drank the contents of this sample bottle) and I think you’ll find it quite versatile.

Producer Commentary:
It’s been more than a quarter-century since I last visited the Gysler estate, which has now adopted the first name of its current proprietor-winemaker, just as it formerly did that of his father, whose off-dry liter bottlings of Silvaner, Riesling and above all Scheurebe often appeared on my own table, amazing values that they were. The ostensible upper end of Gernot Gysler’s portfolio tended toward prominent sweetness and featured Huxelrebe and Scheurebe as well as Riesling, none of which was surprising given the Rheinhessen wine trends of his youth and middle age. When Alexander Gysler took over after his father’s untimely death in 2000, he moved the dial dramatically in the direction of dryness, catching up with what was by then the new Rheinhessen fashion, although until recently the off-dry liter bottlings were still being produced. In 2004, young Gysler began working biodynamically, and sporadic samples that came to my attention from vintages 2010-2013 suggested that a parallel emphasis on spontaneity and lees contact and deemphasizing of filtration and sulfur dioxide had also taken hold. In fact, his website now bears the motto “Striving for less.” Through Gysler’s (now former) importer I acquired three samples of his vintage 2016 production, and after tasting them I was kicking myself for having stayed away for so long. Each wine was distinctively delicious – and suggested that one thing hadn’t changed since dad’s day: ridiculously low prices – but there are tiers of village- and vineyard-designated wines over and above those I sampled, so I must make time for Alexander Gysler when his 2017s are ready to taste.
2015 Rosé Spätburgunder Funkenflug Trocken
Color: Rosé

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2020 - 2021

Tasting notes: Gysler’s Pinot Noir rosé “Flying Sparks” leads with a lovely aromatic medley of rose petals, black tea and red currant. The glossy, silken palate and refreshingly lingering finish feature a corresponding layering of sweet inner-mouth perfume, smokiness and tart fresh-berry juiciness. Two-thirds of this infectious libation was rendered via carbonic maceration and the rest via brief conventional skin fermentation. (At the time of my September 2019 visit, the current vintage of Gysler’s Blanc de Noir Pinot Brut was 2014, the same as that on which I published a tasting note in my previous report.)

Producer Commentary:
After the penury of 2017 with its devastating frost and damaging late-summer rain, Alexander Gysler was relieved to be rewarded in 2018 with an ample crop. And it was one that he wasted little time in beginning to harvest on September 8, resulting, amazingly, in 2018 Riesling grapes at 9–10 grams of acidity. Must weights were modest, and even those Rieslings that weren’t harvested until nearly mid-October weigh in at just 12.5% finished alcohol. Gysler continues his fascinatingly experimental ways, with significant portions of his portfolio now being devoted to low-intervention, self-described “natural” wines, skin-fermented whites, sparklers and pet-nat bottlings in numerous permutations, of which I tasted by no means all. (For extensive background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and on Alexander Gysler’s assumption of its reins, consult the introductions to my notes focused on his 2016s and 2017s. Gysler confers on his wines evocative nicknames that are sometimes difficult to translate. I unpack some of these in my tasting notes from this and previous vintages.)
2017 Riesling Weinheime Hölle Vum Helle Klangwerg Trocken
Color: White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2020 - 2027

Tasting notes: This wine was still fermenting at the time of my November 2018 visit, so the present note from my September 2019 visit represents my first acquaintance with it. Grapefruit, lime and apple combine for a pungent, piquantly seed-tinged performance on both nose and palate. There is, predictably, even brighter juiciness here than in the corresponding 2018, allied to zesty invigoration, though a sense of textural gloss helps keep the wine from becoming screechy or stridently tart. Lacking the flatteringly and intriguingly floral component of that 2018, and with a more alkaline as opposed to saline mineral dimension, this is definitely a less charming and somewhat austere wine. But a delightfully crunchy, pulpy and ultimately refreshing suggestion of cucumber helps pull things in a more sensually satisfying direction. The finish is formidably persistent and unflaggingly refreshing. Be patient! (For more about this bottling, see my accompanying account of its vintage 2018 installment, and for more about the very special vines that inform it, consult the introduction to my last report, which was focused on this estate’s 2017s.)

Producer Commentary:
After the penury of 2017 with its devastating frost and damaging late-summer rain, Alexander Gysler was relieved to be rewarded in 2018 with an ample crop. And it was one that he wasted little time in beginning to harvest on September 8, resulting, amazingly, in 2018 Riesling grapes at 9–10 grams of acidity. Must weights were modest, and even those Rieslings that weren’t harvested until nearly mid-October weigh in at just 12.5% finished alcohol. Gysler continues his fascinatingly experimental ways, with significant portions of his portfolio now being devoted to low-intervention, self-described “natural” wines, skin-fermented whites, sparklers and pet-nat bottlings in numerous permutations, of which I tasted by no means all. (For extensive background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and on Alexander Gysler’s assumption of its reins, consult the introductions to my notes focused on his 2016s and 2017s. Gysler confers on his wines evocative nicknames that are sometimes difficult to translate. I unpack some of these in my tasting notes from this and previous vintages.)
2018 Riesling Weinheime Hölle Vum Helle Klangwerg Trocken
Color: White

Score: 91.0

Drinking window: 2020 - 2027

Tasting notes: “Vum Helle” is the local but not officially registered name for the vineyard source of this wine (which Gysler refers to as his “Grosses Gewächs”), while “Klangwerk” is another of Alexander Gysler’s ubiquitous wine nicknames. The vines (for more about which consult the introduction to my notes focused on this estate’s 2017s) were planted by Gysler’s grandfather in 1982. Musky floral aromas of iris and narcissus mingle with scents of lime and apple. The polished palate evinces a surprising sense of lift for a wine of 12.5% alcohol; to the tart, zesty, juicy fruit impression and inner-mouth florality is added piquancy of raw hazelnut. A saline, savory evocation of oyster liquor activates the salivary glands on a bell-clear and consummately refreshing as well as intriguing finish. 

Producer Commentary:
After the penury of 2017 with its devastating frost and damaging late-summer rain, Alexander Gysler was relieved to be rewarded in 2018 with an ample crop. And it was one that he wasted little time in beginning to harvest on September 8, resulting, amazingly, in 2018 Riesling grapes at 9–10 grams of acidity. Must weights were modest, and even those Rieslings that weren’t harvested until nearly mid-October weigh in at just 12.5% finished alcohol. Gysler continues his fascinatingly experimental ways, with significant portions of his portfolio now being devoted to low-intervention, self-described “natural” wines, skin-fermented whites, sparklers and pet-nat bottlings in numerous permutations, of which I tasted by no means all. (For extensive background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and on Alexander Gysler’s assumption of its reins, consult the introductions to my notes focused on his 2016s and 2017s. Gysler confers on his wines evocative nicknames that are sometimes difficult to translate. I unpack some of these in my tasting notes from this and previous vintages.)
2018 Huxelrebe Zaubernuss Trocken
Color: White

Score: 87.0

Drinking window: 2020 - 2021

Tasting notes: Recalling the wines that his father rendered from this grape in decades past, I had been interested to learn that Alex Gysler still has Huxelrebe vines. He doesn’t always showcase their fruit in a dedicated bottling, but when he does render non-sparkling dry Huxelrebe – and the last time before this was 2011 – it’s under a nickname that translates to “magic nut.” If the wine in question here evokes any sort of nut, it is Brazil nut, given a low-key set of flavors and an appealingly polished, subtly oily palate. Grapefruit serves for stimulating zest and refreshing juiciness and a lick of salt activates the salivary glands. This should prove a very pleasant and obliging table companion. 

Producer Commentary:
After the penury of 2017 with its devastating frost and damaging late-summer rain, Alexander Gysler was relieved to be rewarded in 2018 with an ample crop. And it was one that he wasted little time in beginning to harvest on September 8, resulting, amazingly, in 2018 Riesling grapes at 9–10 grams of acidity. Must weights were modest, and even those Rieslings that weren’t harvested until nearly mid-October weigh in at just 12.5% finished alcohol. Gysler continues his fascinatingly experimental ways, with significant portions of his portfolio now being devoted to low-intervention, self-described “natural” wines, skin-fermented whites, sparklers and pet-nat bottlings in numerous permutations, of which I tasted by no means all. (For extensive background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and on Alexander Gysler’s assumption of its reins, consult the introductions to my notes focused on his 2016s and 2017s. Gysler confers on his wines evocative nicknames that are sometimes difficult to translate. I unpack some of these in my tasting notes from this and previous vintages.)
2016 Riesling Natur
Color: White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2021

Tasting notes: “This comes from slightly younger vines in the neighboring parcel but very similar grapes of almost exactly the same must weight as my 2016 ‘Klangwerk,’” explained Gysler, “except that I took a natural approach.” In this instance, “natural” meant vinification in large cask, including around 30% whole berries, with racking from the lees (and spent berries) as well as an SO2-free, unpumped, unfiltered bottling postponed until early September 2018. A pleasant fresh-spinach-like amalgam of nutty and green leafy notes takes on smoky, stony and piquantly seedy accents familiar from the “Klangwerk.” The feel is firm, and a piquantly chewy sense of peach skin and spinach leaf is counterpoised with fresh juiciness of white peach and lime. At 11.5%, this is even lower in alcohol than its “Klangwerk” counterpart and correspondingly buoyant, though the finish lacks the latter wine’s clarity and sheer persistence.

Producer Commentary:
I managed to visit and taste his entire range (and then some) with Alexander Gysler in November 2018, after having written in my previous report about the several impressive vintage 2016 samples that reached me. I had been sampling -- indeed, drinking -- Gysler wines over the years, albeit sporadically, but hadn’t returned since I visited with Gysler’s dad in the late 1980s. This estate caught the attention of Terry Theise, who was lured by Weinheim’s rare outpost of Permian sandstone outside the Rheinfront, and who stayed involved as importer for three decades thanks to wines that offered excellent value. (Apropos of the purported primacy of Permian sandstone, bear in mind that the sensational potential of limestone soils in Rheinhessen’s Wonnegau and of volcanic slopes in Rheinhessen’s “Little Switzerland” went virtually unrecognized until the mid-1990s.) Until Alexander Gysler took over, two acres planted by his grandfather in 1982 represented this estate’s only Riesling. “My father thought that Riesling wouldn’t ripen consistently here,” explained Gysler, “and in fact that’s how it was back then.” Remarkably, though, that 1982 planting represented a reintroduction, relying on a vine selection originally made on this very property in the first two decades of the 20th century, by an agriculturist owner who adopted Gysler’s orphaned great-grandmother, the subsequent inheritor of the estate. (This so-called “Trautwein clone 356” – which has also dominated Gysler’s recent plantings – traveled via Bad Kreuznach and Neustadt to UC Davis, where it was renamed “FPS 14.”)

Like their author, Alexander Gysler’s wines tend to be soft-spoken and reward a bit of extra time taken to appreciate them. A good measure of Gysler the man can be gleaned by considering the intellectual and emotional engagement as well as lofty ambition reflected in his promotional materials, which promise “wines of the purest soul” under the motto “we strive toward [doing] less” – and then comparing that with the uncontrived earnestness and self-effacing modesty one encounters face-to-face. Speaking of promotional mottos, nearly all of Gysler’s wines – even those that are village- or vineyard-designated – possess fantasy names intended to capture the imagination of German-speaking oenophiles but devoid of direct descriptive significance; these names are tricky to translate, so I have not attempted to do so.

“It was a very difficult year,” noted Gysler of 2017. “We lost around 30% to frost, and we had to pick relatively early because our fruit was already quite ripe when the late summer rain hit, which led to our having to throw away a lot of grapes.” And those losses to frost and rot came despite Weinheim’s sites being conspicuously wind-exposed. (For a bit more background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and Alexander Gysler’s taking of the reins, consult my introduction notes published in my previous report.)
2010 Riesling Jc Trocken
Color: White

Score: 87.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2019

Tasting notes: This issued from the site and vines discussed in my review of Gysler’s vintage 2016 “Klangwerk,” but in 2010 he was still labeling his ostensibly top Riesling with the initials of his two daughters’ first names. Smoky scents of peat and black tea mingle with intimations of the lemon and lime that subsequently translate into a tart palate impression – which, like this wine’s firm feel and palpable sense of high extract, is entirely vintage-typical. But this seems to be a case where suspicions have proven well-founded that many 2010 German Rieslings would remain stubbornly aggressive in acidity even as their aromas matured and their sap began to wane. The finish here, while not uninteresting or attenuated, is beginning to dry out a bit, while remaining brightly citric. 

Producer Commentary:
I managed to visit and taste his entire range (and then some) with Alexander Gysler in November 2018, after having written in my previous report about the several impressive vintage 2016 samples that reached me. I had been sampling -- indeed, drinking -- Gysler wines over the years, albeit sporadically, but hadn’t returned since I visited with Gysler’s dad in the late 1980s. This estate caught the attention of Terry Theise, who was lured by Weinheim’s rare outpost of Permian sandstone outside the Rheinfront, and who stayed involved as importer for three decades thanks to wines that offered excellent value. (Apropos of the purported primacy of Permian sandstone, bear in mind that the sensational potential of limestone soils in Rheinhessen’s Wonnegau and of volcanic slopes in Rheinhessen’s “Little Switzerland” went virtually unrecognized until the mid-1990s.) Until Alexander Gysler took over, two acres planted by his grandfather in 1982 represented this estate’s only Riesling. “My father thought that Riesling wouldn’t ripen consistently here,” explained Gysler, “and in fact that’s how it was back then.” Remarkably, though, that 1982 planting represented a reintroduction, relying on a vine selection originally made on this very property in the first two decades of the 20th century, by an agriculturist owner who adopted Gysler’s orphaned great-grandmother, the subsequent inheritor of the estate. (This so-called “Trautwein clone 356” – which has also dominated Gysler’s recent plantings – traveled via Bad Kreuznach and Neustadt to UC Davis, where it was renamed “FPS 14.”)

Like their author, Alexander Gysler’s wines tend to be soft-spoken and reward a bit of extra time taken to appreciate them. A good measure of Gysler the man can be gleaned by considering the intellectual and emotional engagement as well as lofty ambition reflected in his promotional materials, which promise “wines of the purest soul” under the motto “we strive toward [doing] less” – and then comparing that with the uncontrived earnestness and self-effacing modesty one encounters face-to-face. Speaking of promotional mottos, nearly all of Gysler’s wines – even those that are village- or vineyard-designated – possess fantasy names intended to capture the imagination of German-speaking oenophiles but devoid of direct descriptive significance; these names are tricky to translate, so I have not attempted to do so.

“It was a very difficult year,” noted Gysler of 2017. “We lost around 30% to frost, and we had to pick relatively early because our fruit was already quite ripe when the late summer rain hit, which led to our having to throw away a lot of grapes.” And those losses to frost and rot came despite Weinheim’s sites being conspicuously wind-exposed. (For a bit more background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and Alexander Gysler’s taking of the reins, consult my introduction notes published in my previous report.)
2013 Riesling Vum Helle Klangwerg Trocken
Color: White

Score: 91.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2022

Tasting notes: The nose delivers intriguing suggestions of mossy stones and sea breeze, along with intimations of the lime, grapefruit and mirabelle that succulently dominate on the silken palate. The lingering finish introduces a mouthwatering sweet-saline savor akin to raw scallop. Although this was my first encounter with a Gysler 2013, it turns out to be another of numerous recent experiences that lead me to suspect I underestimated the potential of German Rieslings from this vintage when I tasted more than a thousand of them in their first year. (For information on this site and vines, consult my review of the corresponding 2016.)

Producer Commentary:
I managed to visit and taste his entire range (and then some) with Alexander Gysler in November 2018, after having written in my previous report about the several impressive vintage 2016 samples that reached me. I had been sampling -- indeed, drinking -- Gysler wines over the years, albeit sporadically, but hadn’t returned since I visited with Gysler’s dad in the late 1980s. This estate caught the attention of Terry Theise, who was lured by Weinheim’s rare outpost of Permian sandstone outside the Rheinfront, and who stayed involved as importer for three decades thanks to wines that offered excellent value. (Apropos of the purported primacy of Permian sandstone, bear in mind that the sensational potential of limestone soils in Rheinhessen’s Wonnegau and of volcanic slopes in Rheinhessen’s “Little Switzerland” went virtually unrecognized until the mid-1990s.) Until Alexander Gysler took over, two acres planted by his grandfather in 1982 represented this estate’s only Riesling. “My father thought that Riesling wouldn’t ripen consistently here,” explained Gysler, “and in fact that’s how it was back then.” Remarkably, though, that 1982 planting represented a reintroduction, relying on a vine selection originally made on this very property in the first two decades of the 20th century, by an agriculturist owner who adopted Gysler’s orphaned great-grandmother, the subsequent inheritor of the estate. (This so-called “Trautwein clone 356” – which has also dominated Gysler’s recent plantings – traveled via Bad Kreuznach and Neustadt to UC Davis, where it was renamed “FPS 14.”)

Like their author, Alexander Gysler’s wines tend to be soft-spoken and reward a bit of extra time taken to appreciate them. A good measure of Gysler the man can be gleaned by considering the intellectual and emotional engagement as well as lofty ambition reflected in his promotional materials, which promise “wines of the purest soul” under the motto “we strive toward [doing] less” – and then comparing that with the uncontrived earnestness and self-effacing modesty one encounters face-to-face. Speaking of promotional mottos, nearly all of Gysler’s wines – even those that are village- or vineyard-designated – possess fantasy names intended to capture the imagination of German-speaking oenophiles but devoid of direct descriptive significance; these names are tricky to translate, so I have not attempted to do so.

“It was a very difficult year,” noted Gysler of 2017. “We lost around 30% to frost, and we had to pick relatively early because our fruit was already quite ripe when the late summer rain hit, which led to our having to throw away a lot of grapes.” And those losses to frost and rot came despite Weinheim’s sites being conspicuously wind-exposed. (For a bit more background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and Alexander Gysler’s taking of the reins, consult my introduction notes published in my previous report.)
2015 Riesling Vum Helle Klangwerg Trocken
Color: White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2022

Tasting notes: Scents of mirabelle and white peach anticipate the luscious sense of ripeness conveyed on a glossy palate. In keeping with its vintage, this contrasts sharply in its fruit focus with the pronounced mineral and positive fungal notes of the corresponding 2016. But there are cooling mint and piquant fruit pit accents to this 2015, which finishes with admirable persistence, its fruitiness reinforced by six or seven grams of residual sugar (whereas the 2016 had essentially none). Gysler reported that this edition of “Klangwerk” was especially slow-fermenting, but still managed to make it into bottle within a year, which was not to be the case with its vintage 2017 successor. (For information on this site and vines, consult my review of the corresponding 2016.)

Producer Commentary:
I managed to visit and taste his entire range (and then some) with Alexander Gysler in November 2018, after having written in my previous report about the several impressive vintage 2016 samples that reached me. I had been sampling -- indeed, drinking -- Gysler wines over the years, albeit sporadically, but hadn’t returned since I visited with Gysler’s dad in the late 1980s. This estate caught the attention of Terry Theise, who was lured by Weinheim’s rare outpost of Permian sandstone outside the Rheinfront, and who stayed involved as importer for three decades thanks to wines that offered excellent value. (Apropos of the purported primacy of Permian sandstone, bear in mind that the sensational potential of limestone soils in Rheinhessen’s Wonnegau and of volcanic slopes in Rheinhessen’s “Little Switzerland” went virtually unrecognized until the mid-1990s.) Until Alexander Gysler took over, two acres planted by his grandfather in 1982 represented this estate’s only Riesling. “My father thought that Riesling wouldn’t ripen consistently here,” explained Gysler, “and in fact that’s how it was back then.” Remarkably, though, that 1982 planting represented a reintroduction, relying on a vine selection originally made on this very property in the first two decades of the 20th century, by an agriculturist owner who adopted Gysler’s orphaned great-grandmother, the subsequent inheritor of the estate. (This so-called “Trautwein clone 356” – which has also dominated Gysler’s recent plantings – traveled via Bad Kreuznach and Neustadt to UC Davis, where it was renamed “FPS 14.”)

Like their author, Alexander Gysler’s wines tend to be soft-spoken and reward a bit of extra time taken to appreciate them. A good measure of Gysler the man can be gleaned by considering the intellectual and emotional engagement as well as lofty ambition reflected in his promotional materials, which promise “wines of the purest soul” under the motto “we strive toward [doing] less” – and then comparing that with the uncontrived earnestness and self-effacing modesty one encounters face-to-face. Speaking of promotional mottos, nearly all of Gysler’s wines – even those that are village- or vineyard-designated – possess fantasy names intended to capture the imagination of German-speaking oenophiles but devoid of direct descriptive significance; these names are tricky to translate, so I have not attempted to do so.

“It was a very difficult year,” noted Gysler of 2017. “We lost around 30% to frost, and we had to pick relatively early because our fruit was already quite ripe when the late summer rain hit, which led to our having to throw away a lot of grapes.” And those losses to frost and rot came despite Weinheim’s sites being conspicuously wind-exposed. (For a bit more background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and Alexander Gysler’s taking of the reins, consult my introduction notes published in my previous report.)
2016 Riesling Vum Helle Klangwerg Trocken
Color: White

Score: 91.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2024

Tasting notes: “Vum Helle” is the local but not officially registered name for the Weinheim site where this wine grew, while “Klangwerk” is another of Alexander Gysler’s ubiquitous wine nicknames. The vines (for more about which, consult my introduction to the estate in this report) were planted by Gysler’s grandfather in 1982. Gysler refers to this bottling loosely as his “GG,” but it displays buoyancy (at barely 12% alcohol) rare among VDP Grosse Gewächse, despite having finished with scarcely measurable residual sugar. There is a stimulatingly prickly aspect here – suggestive of nettles and peach fuzz – both aromatically and on the palate. When combined with pungently smoky, lichen-like and stony notes, not to mention a glowingly piquant aura of crushed citrus seeds, the effect is quite striking, but would doubtless engender austerity were it not for infectious juiciness of ripe peach and lime. The finish is refreshingly bright and formidably gripping. More than anything, this is an instance of Riesling as a mineral delivery device. It was bottled in September 2017, yet when I visited to taste in November 2018, its vintage 2017 successor was still fermenting. 

Producer Commentary:
I managed to visit and taste his entire range (and then some) with Alexander Gysler in November 2018, after having written in my previous report about the several impressive vintage 2016 samples that reached me. I had been sampling -- indeed, drinking -- Gysler wines over the years, albeit sporadically, but hadn’t returned since I visited with Gysler’s dad in the late 1980s. This estate caught the attention of Terry Theise, who was lured by Weinheim’s rare outpost of Permian sandstone outside the Rheinfront, and who stayed involved as importer for three decades thanks to wines that offered excellent value. (Apropos of the purported primacy of Permian sandstone, bear in mind that the sensational potential of limestone soils in Rheinhessen’s Wonnegau and of volcanic slopes in Rheinhessen’s “Little Switzerland” went virtually unrecognized until the mid-1990s.) Until Alexander Gysler took over, two acres planted by his grandfather in 1982 represented this estate’s only Riesling. “My father thought that Riesling wouldn’t ripen consistently here,” explained Gysler, “and in fact that’s how it was back then.” Remarkably, though, that 1982 planting represented a reintroduction, relying on a vine selection originally made on this very property in the first two decades of the 20th century, by an agriculturist owner who adopted Gysler’s orphaned great-grandmother, the subsequent inheritor of the estate. (This so-called “Trautwein clone 356” – which has also dominated Gysler’s recent plantings – traveled via Bad Kreuznach and Neustadt to UC Davis, where it was renamed “FPS 14.”)

Like their author, Alexander Gysler’s wines tend to be soft-spoken and reward a bit of extra time taken to appreciate them. A good measure of Gysler the man can be gleaned by considering the intellectual and emotional engagement as well as lofty ambition reflected in his promotional materials, which promise “wines of the purest soul” under the motto “we strive toward [doing] less” – and then comparing that with the uncontrived earnestness and self-effacing modesty one encounters face-to-face. Speaking of promotional mottos, nearly all of Gysler’s wines – even those that are village- or vineyard-designated – possess fantasy names intended to capture the imagination of German-speaking oenophiles but devoid of direct descriptive significance; these names are tricky to translate, so I have not attempted to do so.

“It was a very difficult year,” noted Gysler of 2017. “We lost around 30% to frost, and we had to pick relatively early because our fruit was already quite ripe when the late summer rain hit, which led to our having to throw away a lot of grapes.” And those losses to frost and rot came despite Weinheim’s sites being conspicuously wind-exposed. (For a bit more background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and Alexander Gysler’s taking of the reins, consult my introduction notes published in my previous report.)
2018 Riesling Natural Wine Weinheimer Mandelberg
Color: White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2020 - 2021

Tasting notes: Cucumber and loofa mingle with apple and lime on the nose and on a polished, generously juicy palate that evokes an invigorating crunch and reveals just a hint of reductive, nose-prickling cheesiness. At 12% alcohol, there is appealing buoyancy. The wine’s consummately refreshing finish introduces further interest as well as saliva-inducement by way of faint smokiness and pronounced salinity. Might it improve (and the nose clear up) with a bit more time in bottle? Incidentally, this wine is indeed labeled, in English, “Natural Wine,” an allusion, inter alia, to its having been bottled off its full lees un-pumped, unfiltered, and with no addition of SO2. It represents not only the first Gysler bottling with this name that I have tasted, but also the first labeled for the Mandelberg that I have tried from Alex Gysler’s tenure. Like its steeper continuation Hölle, Mandelberg represents a rare instance of red Permian sandstone in the interior Rheinhessen. As with any “no added sulfur” wine, barring a track record, one can only speculate as to how it might develop in bottle. I have intentionally sinned on the side of an extremely conservative conservation recommendation. (A recently bottled vintage 2018 “natural” Riesling not attributed to any specific vineyard and tasted alongside displayed some off aromas that I decided to give time to potentially dissipate. I enthusiastically endorsed that generic bottling’s vintage 2016 counterpart in my previous report.)

Producer Commentary:
After the penury of 2017 with its devastating frost and damaging late-summer rain, Alexander Gysler was relieved to be rewarded in 2018 with an ample crop. And it was one that he wasted little time in beginning to harvest on September 8, resulting, amazingly, in 2018 Riesling grapes at 9–10 grams of acidity. Must weights were modest, and even those Rieslings that weren’t harvested until nearly mid-October weigh in at just 12.5% finished alcohol. Gysler continues his fascinatingly experimental ways, with significant portions of his portfolio now being devoted to low-intervention, self-described “natural” wines, skin-fermented whites, sparklers and pet-nat bottlings in numerous permutations, of which I tasted by no means all. (For extensive background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and on Alexander Gysler’s assumption of its reins, consult the introductions to my notes focused on his 2016s and 2017s. Gysler confers on his wines evocative nicknames that are sometimes difficult to translate. I unpack some of these in my tasting notes from this and previous vintages.)
2017 Pet Nat
Color: Sparkling White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2019

Tasting notes: This year’s Gysler Pet-Nat is entirely skin-fermented Scheurebe. (The highly distinctive 2016 was dominated by Huxelrebe.) Sage, pennyroyal and passion fruit on the nose leave little doubt that unless this is Sauvignon Blanc, it must be Scheurebe. The pungent palate impression benefits from the extra grip and sense of density supplied by skin fermentation vis-à-vis Gysler’s conventionally fermented, non-sparkling “Sonnentau” rendition of Scheurebe from this vintage. On the other hand, there is a bit less sheer juiciness to this wine’s strongly green-herb-infused finish.

Producer Commentary:
I managed to visit and taste his entire range (and then some) with Alexander Gysler in November 2018, after having written in my previous report about the several impressive vintage 2016 samples that reached me. I had been sampling -- indeed, drinking -- Gysler wines over the years, albeit sporadically, but hadn’t returned since I visited with Gysler’s dad in the late 1980s. This estate caught the attention of Terry Theise, who was lured by Weinheim’s rare outpost of Permian sandstone outside the Rheinfront, and who stayed involved as importer for three decades thanks to wines that offered excellent value. (Apropos of the purported primacy of Permian sandstone, bear in mind that the sensational potential of limestone soils in Rheinhessen’s Wonnegau and of volcanic slopes in Rheinhessen’s “Little Switzerland” went virtually unrecognized until the mid-1990s.) Until Alexander Gysler took over, two acres planted by his grandfather in 1982 represented this estate’s only Riesling. “My father thought that Riesling wouldn’t ripen consistently here,” explained Gysler, “and in fact that’s how it was back then.” Remarkably, though, that 1982 planting represented a reintroduction, relying on a vine selection originally made on this very property in the first two decades of the 20th century, by an agriculturist owner who adopted Gysler’s orphaned great-grandmother, the subsequent inheritor of the estate. (This so-called “Trautwein clone 356” – which has also dominated Gysler’s recent plantings – traveled via Bad Kreuznach and Neustadt to UC Davis, where it was renamed “FPS 14.”)

Like their author, Alexander Gysler’s wines tend to be soft-spoken and reward a bit of extra time taken to appreciate them. A good measure of Gysler the man can be gleaned by considering the intellectual and emotional engagement as well as lofty ambition reflected in his promotional materials, which promise “wines of the purest soul” under the motto “we strive toward [doing] less” – and then comparing that with the uncontrived earnestness and self-effacing modesty one encounters face-to-face. Speaking of promotional mottos, nearly all of Gysler’s wines – even those that are village- or vineyard-designated – possess fantasy names intended to capture the imagination of German-speaking oenophiles but devoid of direct descriptive significance; these names are tricky to translate, so I have not attempted to do so.

“It was a very difficult year,” noted Gysler of 2017. “We lost around 30% to frost, and we had to pick relatively early because our fruit was already quite ripe when the late summer rain hit, which led to our having to throw away a lot of grapes.” And those losses to frost and rot came despite Weinheim’s sites being conspicuously wind-exposed. (For a bit more background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and Alexander Gysler’s taking of the reins, consult my introduction notes published in my previous report.)
2016 Pet Nat
Color: Sparkling White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2018 - 2018

Tasting notes: This pétillant naturelle is evidently where Gysler is sticking the Huxelrebe whose vines still occupy some 10% of his estate. The cuvée’s other half is Scheurebe. Curiously, given Gysler’s penchant for fanciful names, this bottling has none, though it’s part of what he has dubbed his “natural wine series,” which also includes a Riesling. The funk inherent in Huxelrebe is here compounded by spontaneous fermentative notes and pleasant hints of oxidation. Apricot and grapefruit are further wreathed in violets and elderflower. The combination of textural richness alongside pleasant fizz is quite striking, and the earthiness of the finish is not in the least clunky. It would have gone without saying, but this is not for everybody!

Producer Commentary:
It’s been more than a quarter-century since I last visited the Gysler estate, which has now adopted the first name of its current proprietor-winemaker, just as it formerly did that of his father, whose off-dry liter bottlings of Silvaner, Riesling and above all Scheurebe often appeared on my own table, amazing values that they were. The ostensible upper end of Gernot Gysler’s portfolio tended toward prominent sweetness and featured Huxelrebe and Scheurebe as well as Riesling, none of which was surprising given the Rheinhessen wine trends of his youth and middle age. When Alexander Gysler took over after his father’s untimely death in 2000, he moved the dial dramatically in the direction of dryness, catching up with what was by then the new Rheinhessen fashion, although until recently the off-dry liter bottlings were still being produced. In 2004, young Gysler began working biodynamically, and sporadic samples that came to my attention from vintages 2010-2013 suggested that a parallel emphasis on spontaneity and lees contact and deemphasizing of filtration and sulfur dioxide had also taken hold. In fact, his website now bears the motto “Striving for less.” Through Gysler’s (now former) importer I acquired three samples of his vintage 2016 production, and after tasting them I was kicking myself for having stayed away for so long. Each wine was distinctively delicious – and suggested that one thing hadn’t changed since dad’s day: ridiculously low prices – but there are tiers of village- and vineyard-designated wines over and above those I sampled, so I must make time for Alexander Gysler when his 2017s are ready to taste.
2018 Grauburgunder Feldstärke Trocken
Color: White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2020 - 2021

Tasting notes: Peaches, pungent green herbs and savory pork stock combine in this distinctive Pinot Gris. At 13% alcohol, there is fullness but no heat. The finish is both mouthwatering and refreshing. These vines are well-situated in the most prestigious of Weinheim’s Einzellagen, Hölle. 

Producer Commentary:
After the penury of 2017 with its devastating frost and damaging late-summer rain, Alexander Gysler was relieved to be rewarded in 2018 with an ample crop. And it was one that he wasted little time in beginning to harvest on September 8, resulting, amazingly, in 2018 Riesling grapes at 9–10 grams of acidity. Must weights were modest, and even those Rieslings that weren’t harvested until nearly mid-October weigh in at just 12.5% finished alcohol. Gysler continues his fascinatingly experimental ways, with significant portions of his portfolio now being devoted to low-intervention, self-described “natural” wines, skin-fermented whites, sparklers and pet-nat bottlings in numerous permutations, of which I tasted by no means all. (For extensive background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and on Alexander Gysler’s assumption of its reins, consult the introductions to my notes focused on his 2016s and 2017s. Gysler confers on his wines evocative nicknames that are sometimes difficult to translate. I unpack some of these in my tasting notes from this and previous vintages.)
2017 Grauburgunder Feldstärke Trocken
Color: White

Score: 87.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2020

Tasting notes: This leads with scents of ripe peach and smoked meat characteristic of both Pinot Gris and Permian sandstone soils. There is an expansive, almost plush palate impression, yet without alcoholic weight. Impingements of peach fuzz and peach kernel lend stimulation on an otherwise low-key but satisfyingly juicy finish.

Producer Commentary:
I managed to visit and taste his entire range (and then some) with Alexander Gysler in November 2018, after having written in my previous report about the several impressive vintage 2016 samples that reached me. I had been sampling -- indeed, drinking -- Gysler wines over the years, albeit sporadically, but hadn’t returned since I visited with Gysler’s dad in the late 1980s. This estate caught the attention of Terry Theise, who was lured by Weinheim’s rare outpost of Permian sandstone outside the Rheinfront, and who stayed involved as importer for three decades thanks to wines that offered excellent value. (Apropos of the purported primacy of Permian sandstone, bear in mind that the sensational potential of limestone soils in Rheinhessen’s Wonnegau and of volcanic slopes in Rheinhessen’s “Little Switzerland” went virtually unrecognized until the mid-1990s.) Until Alexander Gysler took over, two acres planted by his grandfather in 1982 represented this estate’s only Riesling. “My father thought that Riesling wouldn’t ripen consistently here,” explained Gysler, “and in fact that’s how it was back then.” Remarkably, though, that 1982 planting represented a reintroduction, relying on a vine selection originally made on this very property in the first two decades of the 20th century, by an agriculturist owner who adopted Gysler’s orphaned great-grandmother, the subsequent inheritor of the estate. (This so-called “Trautwein clone 356” – which has also dominated Gysler’s recent plantings – traveled via Bad Kreuznach and Neustadt to UC Davis, where it was renamed “FPS 14.”)

Like their author, Alexander Gysler’s wines tend to be soft-spoken and reward a bit of extra time taken to appreciate them. A good measure of Gysler the man can be gleaned by considering the intellectual and emotional engagement as well as lofty ambition reflected in his promotional materials, which promise “wines of the purest soul” under the motto “we strive toward [doing] less” – and then comparing that with the uncontrived earnestness and self-effacing modesty one encounters face-to-face. Speaking of promotional mottos, nearly all of Gysler’s wines – even those that are village- or vineyard-designated – possess fantasy names intended to capture the imagination of German-speaking oenophiles but devoid of direct descriptive significance; these names are tricky to translate, so I have not attempted to do so.

“It was a very difficult year,” noted Gysler of 2017. “We lost around 30% to frost, and we had to pick relatively early because our fruit was already quite ripe when the late summer rain hit, which led to our having to throw away a lot of grapes.” And those losses to frost and rot came despite Weinheim’s sites being conspicuously wind-exposed. (For a bit more background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and Alexander Gysler’s taking of the reins, consult my introduction notes published in my previous report.)
2018 Riesling Sandstein Trocken
Color: White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2020 - 2022

Tasting notes: Shrubby herbal pungency suggestive of sage and boxwood accents apple and lemon on the nose and the buoyant, polished, brightly juicy palate. The finish is consummately refreshing and ringingly clear, with diverse herbal shadings – now including a smoky-piquant note of marjoram – serving for interest and a lick of salt for saliva-inducement. The banner heading of Gysler’s website reads “In Pursuit of Less,” and here is an instance where simplicity and modesty assume delectable form. As usual, this cuvée represents the first pass across all of Gysler’s Riesling parcels, including the finest of these, in the “Vum Helle” sector of Weinheimer Hölle, planted by Gysler’s grandfather in 1982. And as on past occasions as well, this 11.5% alcohol 2018 edition represents terrific value. 

Producer Commentary:
After the penury of 2017 with its devastating frost and damaging late-summer rain, Alexander Gysler was relieved to be rewarded in 2018 with an ample crop. And it was one that he wasted little time in beginning to harvest on September 8, resulting, amazingly, in 2018 Riesling grapes at 9–10 grams of acidity. Must weights were modest, and even those Rieslings that weren’t harvested until nearly mid-October weigh in at just 12.5% finished alcohol. Gysler continues his fascinatingly experimental ways, with significant portions of his portfolio now being devoted to low-intervention, self-described “natural” wines, skin-fermented whites, sparklers and pet-nat bottlings in numerous permutations, of which I tasted by no means all. (For extensive background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and on Alexander Gysler’s assumption of its reins, consult the introductions to my notes focused on his 2016s and 2017s. Gysler confers on his wines evocative nicknames that are sometimes difficult to translate. I unpack some of these in my tasting notes from this and previous vintages.)
2015 Brut Riesling
Color: Sparkling White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2020 - 2021

Tasting notes: I published a positive review of this wine in my previous report, based on a November 2018 tasting from a bottle that had been disgorged two months prior. Retasted in September 2019, from a disgorgement of three months prior, the wine revealed sufficient additional virtues that I felt it deserved an updated tasting note. Sage-tinged apple and lime mingle with green tomato for a subtle but satisfying nose and an engagingly bright, invigoratingly pungent palate impression. As before, the mousse is fine and nicely integrated, the underlying feel firm. It’s on the finish where time has wrought the most significant, positive change, as there is now a sense of lift I hadn’t noticed before, along with a tang of sweat and a savory, saline evocation of oyster liquor whose synergy with tangy fruit acids sets the salivary glands to palpitating. (As mentioned in my previous note on the 2015, a shortage of fruit in 2017 and high must weights with relatively low acidity in 2018 mean that there won’t be repeats from those vintages. As of October 2020, Gysler had not yet offered a 2016.)

Producer Commentary:
After the penury of 2017 with its devastating frost and damaging late-summer rain, Alexander Gysler was relieved to be rewarded in 2018 with an ample crop. And it was one that he wasted little time in beginning to harvest on September 8, resulting, amazingly, in 2018 Riesling grapes at 9–10 grams of acidity. Must weights were modest, and even those Rieslings that weren’t harvested until nearly mid-October weigh in at just 12.5% finished alcohol. Gysler continues his fascinatingly experimental ways, with significant portions of his portfolio now being devoted to low-intervention, self-described “natural” wines, skin-fermented whites, sparklers and pet-nat bottlings in numerous permutations, of which I tasted by no means all. (For extensive background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and on Alexander Gysler’s assumption of its reins, consult the introductions to my notes focused on his 2016s and 2017s. Gysler confers on his wines evocative nicknames that are sometimes difficult to translate. I unpack some of these in my tasting notes from this and previous vintages.)
2015 Brut Riesling
Color: Sparkling White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2020

Tasting notes: Tasted in November 2018 from a bottle disgorged two months earlier, this represents only the second vintage for Gysler Riesling Sekt. (Shortage of fruit in 2017 and high must weights with relatively low acidity in 2018 mean that there won’t be repeats from those vintages.) Shrubby suggestions of sage and boxwood mingle on the nose with intimations of apple and lime that subsequently translate into animating brightness and invigorating tartness, characteristics that I would not have anticipated from this vintage. The mousse is fine and nicely integrated, the underlying feel is firm and the finish is stimulating and juicy.

Producer Commentary:
I managed to visit and taste his entire range (and then some) with Alexander Gysler in November 2018, after having written in my previous report about the several impressive vintage 2016 samples that reached me. I had been sampling -- indeed, drinking -- Gysler wines over the years, albeit sporadically, but hadn’t returned since I visited with Gysler’s dad in the late 1980s. This estate caught the attention of Terry Theise, who was lured by Weinheim’s rare outpost of Permian sandstone outside the Rheinfront, and who stayed involved as importer for three decades thanks to wines that offered excellent value. (Apropos of the purported primacy of Permian sandstone, bear in mind that the sensational potential of limestone soils in Rheinhessen’s Wonnegau and of volcanic slopes in Rheinhessen’s “Little Switzerland” went virtually unrecognized until the mid-1990s.) Until Alexander Gysler took over, two acres planted by his grandfather in 1982 represented this estate’s only Riesling. “My father thought that Riesling wouldn’t ripen consistently here,” explained Gysler, “and in fact that’s how it was back then.” Remarkably, though, that 1982 planting represented a reintroduction, relying on a vine selection originally made on this very property in the first two decades of the 20th century, by an agriculturist owner who adopted Gysler’s orphaned great-grandmother, the subsequent inheritor of the estate. (This so-called “Trautwein clone 356” – which has also dominated Gysler’s recent plantings – traveled via Bad Kreuznach and Neustadt to UC Davis, where it was renamed “FPS 14.”)

Like their author, Alexander Gysler’s wines tend to be soft-spoken and reward a bit of extra time taken to appreciate them. A good measure of Gysler the man can be gleaned by considering the intellectual and emotional engagement as well as lofty ambition reflected in his promotional materials, which promise “wines of the purest soul” under the motto “we strive toward [doing] less” – and then comparing that with the uncontrived earnestness and self-effacing modesty one encounters face-to-face. Speaking of promotional mottos, nearly all of Gysler’s wines – even those that are village- or vineyard-designated – possess fantasy names intended to capture the imagination of German-speaking oenophiles but devoid of direct descriptive significance; these names are tricky to translate, so I have not attempted to do so.

“It was a very difficult year,” noted Gysler of 2017. “We lost around 30% to frost, and we had to pick relatively early because our fruit was already quite ripe when the late summer rain hit, which led to our having to throw away a lot of grapes.” And those losses to frost and rot came despite Weinheim’s sites being conspicuously wind-exposed. (For a bit more background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and Alexander Gysler’s taking of the reins, consult my introduction notes published in my previous report.)
2015 Brut Nature Spätburgunder Pet Nat
Color: Sparkling White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2020 - 2021

Tasting notes: This pétillant naturel variant on the Pinot Noir fruit that also yielded Gysler’s “Funkenflug” rosé leads with a whiff of yeastiness, then delivers alluring scents of rose petal, hibiscus and red currant. The palate defies 12.5% alcohol in its impression of buoyancy, and presents a lovely counterpoint of invigorating fizz with underlying gloss. Smoky black tea and marjoram, together with novel notes of raw carrot, lend further interest, while mineral salts serve for salivary inducement on a consummately refreshing finish. This wine manages to capture the inherent frivolity of its genre while offering genuine intrigue – quite a trick! (The presentation label for Gysler’s pet-nat bottlings bears only those two words. The reverse label indicates in small print the grape in question – from 2017, it was Scheurebe, as reviewed in my last report – and degree of dryness.)

Producer Commentary:
After the penury of 2017 with its devastating frost and damaging late-summer rain, Alexander Gysler was relieved to be rewarded in 2018 with an ample crop. And it was one that he wasted little time in beginning to harvest on September 8, resulting, amazingly, in 2018 Riesling grapes at 9–10 grams of acidity. Must weights were modest, and even those Rieslings that weren’t harvested until nearly mid-October weigh in at just 12.5% finished alcohol. Gysler continues his fascinatingly experimental ways, with significant portions of his portfolio now being devoted to low-intervention, self-described “natural” wines, skin-fermented whites, sparklers and pet-nat bottlings in numerous permutations, of which I tasted by no means all. (For extensive background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and on Alexander Gysler’s assumption of its reins, consult the introductions to my notes focused on his 2016s and 2017s. Gysler confers on his wines evocative nicknames that are sometimes difficult to translate. I unpack some of these in my tasting notes from this and previous vintages.)
2018 Riesling Weinheimer Kammerton Trocken
Color: White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2020 - 2022

Tasting notes: Zesty, bright lemon dominates on the nose as well as on the firm palate, with faint hints of smoky herbal impingement. This wine’s finish is animating, bracing, refreshingly juicy, and bell-clear, but lacks the diversity displayed by that of the ostensibly lesser “Sandstein” bottling. Will it benefit from time in bottle? (I wrote in my previous report that I wasn’t clear why during my November 2018 visit Gysler served me his 2016 but not his 2017 Kammerton. And by the time I returned in September of the following year, there was no more 2017 available to taste.)

Producer Commentary:
After the penury of 2017 with its devastating frost and damaging late-summer rain, Alexander Gysler was relieved to be rewarded in 2018 with an ample crop. And it was one that he wasted little time in beginning to harvest on September 8, resulting, amazingly, in 2018 Riesling grapes at 9–10 grams of acidity. Must weights were modest, and even those Rieslings that weren’t harvested until nearly mid-October weigh in at just 12.5% finished alcohol. Gysler continues his fascinatingly experimental ways, with significant portions of his portfolio now being devoted to low-intervention, self-described “natural” wines, skin-fermented whites, sparklers and pet-nat bottlings in numerous permutations, of which I tasted by no means all. (For extensive background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and on Alexander Gysler’s assumption of its reins, consult the introductions to my notes focused on his 2016s and 2017s. Gysler confers on his wines evocative nicknames that are sometimes difficult to translate. I unpack some of these in my tasting notes from this and previous vintages.)
2017 Riesling Sandstein Trocken
Color: White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2021

Tasting notes: Like its vintage 2016 predecessor, this boasts notable clarity and complexity for what counts as an entry-level Riesling bottling. Succulent and tender-textured, the palate brims with the white peach, lime and grapefruit that were intimated on the nose. Hints of fruit kernel and zest and a pungent note of boxwood lend invigoration, and salinity offers salivary stimulation on a finish of consummate refreshment and impressive sheer persistence.

Producer Commentary:
I managed to visit and taste his entire range (and then some) with Alexander Gysler in November 2018, after having written in my previous report about the several impressive vintage 2016 samples that reached me. I had been sampling -- indeed, drinking -- Gysler wines over the years, albeit sporadically, but hadn’t returned since I visited with Gysler’s dad in the late 1980s. This estate caught the attention of Terry Theise, who was lured by Weinheim’s rare outpost of Permian sandstone outside the Rheinfront, and who stayed involved as importer for three decades thanks to wines that offered excellent value. (Apropos of the purported primacy of Permian sandstone, bear in mind that the sensational potential of limestone soils in Rheinhessen’s Wonnegau and of volcanic slopes in Rheinhessen’s “Little Switzerland” went virtually unrecognized until the mid-1990s.) Until Alexander Gysler took over, two acres planted by his grandfather in 1982 represented this estate’s only Riesling. “My father thought that Riesling wouldn’t ripen consistently here,” explained Gysler, “and in fact that’s how it was back then.” Remarkably, though, that 1982 planting represented a reintroduction, relying on a vine selection originally made on this very property in the first two decades of the 20th century, by an agriculturist owner who adopted Gysler’s orphaned great-grandmother, the subsequent inheritor of the estate. (This so-called “Trautwein clone 356” – which has also dominated Gysler’s recent plantings – traveled via Bad Kreuznach and Neustadt to UC Davis, where it was renamed “FPS 14.”)

Like their author, Alexander Gysler’s wines tend to be soft-spoken and reward a bit of extra time taken to appreciate them. A good measure of Gysler the man can be gleaned by considering the intellectual and emotional engagement as well as lofty ambition reflected in his promotional materials, which promise “wines of the purest soul” under the motto “we strive toward [doing] less” – and then comparing that with the uncontrived earnestness and self-effacing modesty one encounters face-to-face. Speaking of promotional mottos, nearly all of Gysler’s wines – even those that are village- or vineyard-designated – possess fantasy names intended to capture the imagination of German-speaking oenophiles but devoid of direct descriptive significance; these names are tricky to translate, so I have not attempted to do so.

“It was a very difficult year,” noted Gysler of 2017. “We lost around 30% to frost, and we had to pick relatively early because our fruit was already quite ripe when the late summer rain hit, which led to our having to throw away a lot of grapes.” And those losses to frost and rot came despite Weinheim’s sites being conspicuously wind-exposed. (For a bit more background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and Alexander Gysler’s taking of the reins, consult my introduction notes published in my previous report.)
2016 Riesling Weinheimer Kammerton Trocken
Color: White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2022

Tasting notes: Scents of mirabelle, grapefruit and lemon anticipate the bright juiciness and zest – reinforced by subtle CO2 impingement – delivered on a succulent, silken-textured palate. The lingering finish offers stimulation and refreshment along with stony, smoky and mouthwateringly saline mineral nuances. In retrospect, I can’t say why Alexander Gysler chose in November 2018 to present me with the vintage 2016 rather than vintage 2017 installment of this bottling from decade-old vines.

Producer Commentary:
I managed to visit and taste his entire range (and then some) with Alexander Gysler in November 2018, after having written in my previous report about the several impressive vintage 2016 samples that reached me. I had been sampling -- indeed, drinking -- Gysler wines over the years, albeit sporadically, but hadn’t returned since I visited with Gysler’s dad in the late 1980s. This estate caught the attention of Terry Theise, who was lured by Weinheim’s rare outpost of Permian sandstone outside the Rheinfront, and who stayed involved as importer for three decades thanks to wines that offered excellent value. (Apropos of the purported primacy of Permian sandstone, bear in mind that the sensational potential of limestone soils in Rheinhessen’s Wonnegau and of volcanic slopes in Rheinhessen’s “Little Switzerland” went virtually unrecognized until the mid-1990s.) Until Alexander Gysler took over, two acres planted by his grandfather in 1982 represented this estate’s only Riesling. “My father thought that Riesling wouldn’t ripen consistently here,” explained Gysler, “and in fact that’s how it was back then.” Remarkably, though, that 1982 planting represented a reintroduction, relying on a vine selection originally made on this very property in the first two decades of the 20th century, by an agriculturist owner who adopted Gysler’s orphaned great-grandmother, the subsequent inheritor of the estate. (This so-called “Trautwein clone 356” – which has also dominated Gysler’s recent plantings – traveled via Bad Kreuznach and Neustadt to UC Davis, where it was renamed “FPS 14.”)

Like their author, Alexander Gysler’s wines tend to be soft-spoken and reward a bit of extra time taken to appreciate them. A good measure of Gysler the man can be gleaned by considering the intellectual and emotional engagement as well as lofty ambition reflected in his promotional materials, which promise “wines of the purest soul” under the motto “we strive toward [doing] less” – and then comparing that with the uncontrived earnestness and self-effacing modesty one encounters face-to-face. Speaking of promotional mottos, nearly all of Gysler’s wines – even those that are village- or vineyard-designated – possess fantasy names intended to capture the imagination of German-speaking oenophiles but devoid of direct descriptive significance; these names are tricky to translate, so I have not attempted to do so.

“It was a very difficult year,” noted Gysler of 2017. “We lost around 30% to frost, and we had to pick relatively early because our fruit was already quite ripe when the late summer rain hit, which led to our having to throw away a lot of grapes.” And those losses to frost and rot came despite Weinheim’s sites being conspicuously wind-exposed. (For a bit more background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and Alexander Gysler’s taking of the reins, consult my introduction notes published in my previous report.)
2016 Riesling Sandstein Trocken
Color: White

Score: 91.0

Drinking window: 2018 - 2020

Tasting notes: Weinheim is unusual among Wonnegau villages for harboring the same red Permian sandstone that defines Nackenheim and Nierstein, so it’s natural that Gysler would call attention to that in the nickname of this improbably fine entry-level bottling. A deep gold color, like this wine’s caressing mouth feel, is likely in part a function of low sulfur. A colorful and ultimately luscious amalgam of white peach, lady apple, honeydew melon and grapefruit is suggested on the nose. The flatteringly silken palate boasts delightful buoyancy (with a labeled alcohol level of 12%) and the finish, amid torrential fruit, presents a crab-like meld of sweet-saline meatiness with hints of iodine. This soothes even as it refreshes and milks the salivary glands. 

Producer Commentary:
It’s been more than a quarter-century since I last visited the Gysler estate, which has now adopted the first name of its current proprietor-winemaker, just as it formerly did that of his father, whose off-dry liter bottlings of Silvaner, Riesling and above all Scheurebe often appeared on my own table, amazing values that they were. The ostensible upper end of Gernot Gysler’s portfolio tended toward prominent sweetness and featured Huxelrebe and Scheurebe as well as Riesling, none of which was surprising given the Rheinhessen wine trends of his youth and middle age. When Alexander Gysler took over after his father’s untimely death in 2000, he moved the dial dramatically in the direction of dryness, catching up with what was by then the new Rheinhessen fashion, although until recently the off-dry liter bottlings were still being produced. In 2004, young Gysler began working biodynamically, and sporadic samples that came to my attention from vintages 2010-2013 suggested that a parallel emphasis on spontaneity and lees contact and deemphasizing of filtration and sulfur dioxide had also taken hold. In fact, his website now bears the motto “Striving for less.” Through Gysler’s (now former) importer I acquired three samples of his vintage 2016 production, and after tasting them I was kicking myself for having stayed away for so long. Each wine was distinctively delicious – and suggested that one thing hadn’t changed since dad’s day: ridiculously low prices – but there are tiers of village- and vineyard-designated wines over and above those I sampled, so I must make time for Alexander Gysler when his 2017s are ready to taste.
2014 Riesling Vum Helle Klangwerg Trocken
Color: White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2022

Tasting notes: The nose is a bit reduced – possibly in part due to the screwcap closures that Gysler favors for even his ostensibly top bottlings – but a bit of aeration helps reinforce pungent scents of mirabelle and parsnip, accented by crushed stone, moss and smoky black tea. The feel is silken, and the luscious fruit is nicely supported by a faint suggestion of sweetness, while the finish strongly reprises the aforementioned mineral and herbal elements and adds a saliva-liberating pinch of salt. (For information on this site and vines, consult my review of the corresponding 2016.)

Producer Commentary:
I managed to visit and taste his entire range (and then some) with Alexander Gysler in November 2018, after having written in my previous report about the several impressive vintage 2016 samples that reached me. I had been sampling -- indeed, drinking -- Gysler wines over the years, albeit sporadically, but hadn’t returned since I visited with Gysler’s dad in the late 1980s. This estate caught the attention of Terry Theise, who was lured by Weinheim’s rare outpost of Permian sandstone outside the Rheinfront, and who stayed involved as importer for three decades thanks to wines that offered excellent value. (Apropos of the purported primacy of Permian sandstone, bear in mind that the sensational potential of limestone soils in Rheinhessen’s Wonnegau and of volcanic slopes in Rheinhessen’s “Little Switzerland” went virtually unrecognized until the mid-1990s.) Until Alexander Gysler took over, two acres planted by his grandfather in 1982 represented this estate’s only Riesling. “My father thought that Riesling wouldn’t ripen consistently here,” explained Gysler, “and in fact that’s how it was back then.” Remarkably, though, that 1982 planting represented a reintroduction, relying on a vine selection originally made on this very property in the first two decades of the 20th century, by an agriculturist owner who adopted Gysler’s orphaned great-grandmother, the subsequent inheritor of the estate. (This so-called “Trautwein clone 356” – which has also dominated Gysler’s recent plantings – traveled via Bad Kreuznach and Neustadt to UC Davis, where it was renamed “FPS 14.”)

Like their author, Alexander Gysler’s wines tend to be soft-spoken and reward a bit of extra time taken to appreciate them. A good measure of Gysler the man can be gleaned by considering the intellectual and emotional engagement as well as lofty ambition reflected in his promotional materials, which promise “wines of the purest soul” under the motto “we strive toward [doing] less” – and then comparing that with the uncontrived earnestness and self-effacing modesty one encounters face-to-face. Speaking of promotional mottos, nearly all of Gysler’s wines – even those that are village- or vineyard-designated – possess fantasy names intended to capture the imagination of German-speaking oenophiles but devoid of direct descriptive significance; these names are tricky to translate, so I have not attempted to do so.

“It was a very difficult year,” noted Gysler of 2017. “We lost around 30% to frost, and we had to pick relatively early because our fruit was already quite ripe when the late summer rain hit, which led to our having to throw away a lot of grapes.” And those losses to frost and rot came despite Weinheim’s sites being conspicuously wind-exposed. (For a bit more background on this estate – which has been run biodynamically since 2005 – and Alexander Gysler’s taking of the reins, consult my introduction notes published in my previous report.)

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