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Producer name: Kerpen

Wines:

2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese One Star * #9
Color: White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Scents of apple jelly, pear nectar, yellow plum, vanilla and white raisin. Bittersweet palate stuffed with diverse fruits and subtly tinged with white raisin and pungent spices. Lush, pure and long. 1 star.

Producer Commentary:
Picking started early here this year, but Kerpen says there was no drought stress in the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and his foliage remained green until the late-October frost, after which he finished quickly. "I never did so much tasting of the young wines as this year," he notes, as he tried to decide whether to acidify them after they had fermented (in many instances he did) and as he shook his head in amazement at how diverse and inscrutable was their early evolution. A few of this year's wines struck me as overly sweet, at times syrupy, and lacking in vibrancy, but the best are well worth seeking out. (Terry Theise) Also recommended: 2003 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett Feinherb (1 star), 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett, 2003 Graacher Domprobst Riesling Auslesei, 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Ausleseii A. P. #14, 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Beerenauslesei
2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese
Color: Sweet White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: (for 375 ml.) Honey, malt, vanilla and white raisin aromas. Strikingly creamy on the palate but with lift and elegance. Pure and refined if unevolved. (A yet-riper TBA is still slouching its way toward being wine.) Potential 2 stars.

Producer Commentary:
Picking started early here this year, but Kerpen says there was no drought stress in the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and his foliage remained green until the late-October frost, after which he finished quickly. "I never did so much tasting of the young wines as this year," he notes, as he tried to decide whether to acidify them after they had fermented (in many instances he did) and as he shook his head in amazement at how diverse and inscrutable was their early evolution. A few of this year's wines struck me as overly sweet, at times syrupy, and lacking in vibrancy, but the best are well worth seeking out. (Terry Theise) Also recommended: 2003 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett Feinherb (1 star), 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett, 2003 Graacher Domprobst Riesling Auslesei, 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Ausleseii A. P. #14, 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Beerenauslesei
2018 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Trockenbeerenauslese a.p. #19
Color: Sweet White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2025 - 2045

Tasting notes: The penetratingly high-toned nose evokes sultana, candied lemon peel and varnish. The viscous palate, with paste-like concentration, delivers an edgy yin/yang of dried and candied fruits with bright fresh lemon juiciness. On the finish, the former win that tug-of-war, and sticky sweetness persists. A second Sonnenuhr TBA from this vintage will be auctioned at some future date. “That one really needs time,” remarked Kerpen. Let’s hope that the same will prove true of this A.P. #19. That having been said, I’m not going out on a limb in my assessment of aging potential.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen began harvesting on September 22, 2018 – typically if not notably early by vintage standards. “But you have to bear in mind the size of our estate,” he admonished. (It’s just shy of 20 acres.) “Many estates with far more to harvest did not begin any earlier than we did, and I believe that in Wehlen we were in fact the first. We finished around mid-October,” he added, “though by then we were losing acidity.” Kerpen reported having switched from his usual crush regimen to whole-cluster pressing for two lots of dry wine from 2018 after son Matthias, who is studying at Geisenheim, pointed out the theoretical advantages. “It was just as an experiment, you understand. And logically, the pH was lower, but only a little bit – not enough to justify the trouble taken.” This is in any event a year in which Kerpen’s non-dry bottlings, with their generally higher acidity, fared best, and Graach had a slight acid advantage vis-à-vis Wehlen. “I don’t have the old, ungrafted vines in Graach that I still have in parts of Wehlen,” explained Kerpen, “and for that reason I usually need to start the harvest in Graach, where the fruit is less stable, which often results in a tick higher acidity.” Kerpen is one of those growers who experienced significant botrytis in 2018, and the resulting nobly sweet wines are more successful than many from this vintage. Incidentally, a successful recent innovation chez Kerpen is complete conversion to harvesting with small lug bins, which can be pulled uphill through the vineyard via a cable hooked to Kerpen’s trusty vintage 1963 tractor. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2014 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett Trocken
Color: White

Score: 91.0

Drinking window: 2016 - 2020

Tasting notes: Fresh peach and apple laced with lime peel and iodine, the piquancy of pit and seeds, and the chew of apple skin add to an invigorating sense of cut and energy perfectly suited to a wine of such sheer refreshment and alcoholic levity, yet one that like its Himmelreich counterpart – and more typically, given the site – manages to convey a hint of creaminess. As this opens in the glass, one detects a faintly decadent note to the peaches, suggesting a slight influx of botrytis, but the effect is not disturbing. The juicy and protracted finish conveys a mouthwatering savor of shrimp-shell reduction. 

Producer Commentary:
This estate’s wines first came to prominence when as a very young man in the late 1980s Martin Kerpen took over responsibility for his family’s winery (then known as Weingut Heribert Kerpen) from his mother, a lifelong full-time schoolteacher. From the start, his wines combined generosity with considerable refinement, and high quality at this address has long extended all the way from delicate trocken to opulent T.B.A. Kerpen was especially successful in the tricky 2011 and 2013 vintages, and the 2014s seem to confirm his having reached a new level of overall excellence, not to mention his ability to surmount meteorological obstacles. If there has been an occasional weak point in Kerpen’s frequently sprawling collections, it has been an exaggerated or rustic expression of botrytis, so despite his having beaten the averages in 2014, it’s not too surprising that some of this vintage’s wines hint at aspects of botrytis that lead me to be conservative in predicting their ageabilty. Kerpen has long employed multiple stars for designating riper and ostensibly superior bottlings of Prädikats above Kabinett, although their use in 2014 is sparing, as reflects the challenges of that vintage.
2017 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Trockenbeerenauslese
Color: Sweet White

Score: 94.0

Drinking window: 2025 - 2055

Tasting notes: Deep golden in color, this was a bit inhibited by sulfur on the sole occasion when I tasted it. But there are strong scents of dried apple and apricot, vanilla and lemon zest, subsequently joined by fig and white raisin on an incredibly dense, viscous palate. Imagine a press-cake of dried fruits set down in cream custard and drizzled with Meyer lemon juice. On the prodigious finish, mouthwatering salinity unexpectedly joins the aforementioned set of colorful and contrasting (yet far from inharmonious) impressions. “We really made an effort with this one,” commented Kerpen, “and you can already enjoy it, compared with how closed my TBAs generally are in their youth.” My advice, though, is to wait – provided your life expectancy permits.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen compares 2017 with 2013 – and without any nostalgia. Both vintages suffered from hail damage (in 2017 affecting Graach, and coming on top of April frost). Both were plagued by excessive moisture and troublesome botrytis in the run-up to harvest. Qualitatively, though, both of these high-acid vintages proved quite successful chez Kerpen, though he claims to have suffered “at least” a 50% crop loss in 2017. Harvest began on September 28, 2017 (2018 was to commence a full 10 days earlier), and amid the depressingly tedious work of cutting out hail-affected, ignobly botrytized or acescent clusters (or portions thereof), Kerpen and his crew experienced early delight at being able to select ennobled fruit for a formidable TBA. Even allowing for the requisite selectivity, harvest was finished soon after mid-October, since the weather had stabilized and there wasn’t much fruit to process. In contrast with his neighbors at Joh. Jos. Prüm, Kerpen reported that the precocious early heat and eventually tiny crop of 2017 did not translate into accelerated sugar accumulation to the extent that he had anticipated, so that not only do his dry wines – including that labeled “Grosses Gewächs” – sport less than 12% alcohol across the board, but there was also a relatively decent volume of genuine Kabinett. “But of course,” he added, “that’s why I don’t dawdle when it comes to beginning the harvest. I don’t want any fat dry wines.” As usual for this estate, nearly all of the wines, regardless of style, were bottled in April, and I can’t help wondering whether some of the drier wines – impressive though the best often are – would be even more so if given a bit longer to evolve in cask. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2014 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese Trocken
Color: White

Score: 91.0

Drinking window: 2016 - 2024

Tasting notes: Honeysuckle and heliotrope garland fresh apple on the nose, and a corresponding fruit juiciness and inner-mouth florality follow on the subtly creamy palate. Peach kernels and almond offer bittersweet counterpoint to a long, mouthwateringly salt-tinged finish that projects the clarity and mineral diversity missing from the corresponding “regular” Sonnenuhr Spätlese trocken. 

Producer Commentary:
This estate’s wines first came to prominence when as a very young man in the late 1980s Martin Kerpen took over responsibility for his family’s winery (then known as Weingut Heribert Kerpen) from his mother, a lifelong full-time schoolteacher. From the start, his wines combined generosity with considerable refinement, and high quality at this address has long extended all the way from delicate trocken to opulent T.B.A. Kerpen was especially successful in the tricky 2011 and 2013 vintages, and the 2014s seem to confirm his having reached a new level of overall excellence, not to mention his ability to surmount meteorological obstacles. If there has been an occasional weak point in Kerpen’s frequently sprawling collections, it has been an exaggerated or rustic expression of botrytis, so despite his having beaten the averages in 2014, it’s not too surprising that some of this vintage’s wines hint at aspects of botrytis that lead me to be conservative in predicting their ageabilty. Kerpen has long employed multiple stars for designating riper and ostensibly superior bottlings of Prädikats above Kabinett, although their use in 2014 is sparing, as reflects the challenges of that vintage.
2014 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese Trocken
Color: White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2016 - 2018

Tasting notes: Compared with its Kabinett counterpart, this conveys a much more site-typical dominance of apple and vanilla scents and flavors, as well as a predictably more pronounced textural creaminess. Musky, sweaty and faintly fungal notes add a complexity that might strike some tasters as a bit too ignoble. But the finish here projects plenty of fresh apple and peach juiciness, an attractively cyanic glow of apple pit and peach kernel, and a Mosel-typical undertone of wet stone if not the more savory mineral aspects possessed by the Kabinett. 

Producer Commentary:
This estate’s wines first came to prominence when as a very young man in the late 1980s Martin Kerpen took over responsibility for his family’s winery (then known as Weingut Heribert Kerpen) from his mother, a lifelong full-time schoolteacher. From the start, his wines combined generosity with considerable refinement, and high quality at this address has long extended all the way from delicate trocken to opulent T.B.A. Kerpen was especially successful in the tricky 2011 and 2013 vintages, and the 2014s seem to confirm his having reached a new level of overall excellence, not to mention his ability to surmount meteorological obstacles. If there has been an occasional weak point in Kerpen’s frequently sprawling collections, it has been an exaggerated or rustic expression of botrytis, so despite his having beaten the averages in 2014, it’s not too surprising that some of this vintage’s wines hint at aspects of botrytis that lead me to be conservative in predicting their ageabilty. Kerpen has long employed multiple stars for designating riper and ostensibly superior bottlings of Prädikats above Kabinett, although their use in 2014 is sparing, as reflects the challenges of that vintage.
2014 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett Feinherb
Color: White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2016 - 2019

Tasting notes: Fresh peach and apple are accented by peach kernel and bruised apple skin on the nose as well as on the subtly creamy palate of this generously juicy, buoyant bottling. It finishes with modest length but ample refreshment.

Producer Commentary:
This estate’s wines first came to prominence when as a very young man in the late 1980s Martin Kerpen took over responsibility for his family’s winery (then known as Weingut Heribert Kerpen) from his mother, a lifelong full-time schoolteacher. From the start, his wines combined generosity with considerable refinement, and high quality at this address has long extended all the way from delicate trocken to opulent T.B.A. Kerpen was especially successful in the tricky 2011 and 2013 vintages, and the 2014s seem to confirm his having reached a new level of overall excellence, not to mention his ability to surmount meteorological obstacles. If there has been an occasional weak point in Kerpen’s frequently sprawling collections, it has been an exaggerated or rustic expression of botrytis, so despite his having beaten the averages in 2014, it’s not too surprising that some of this vintage’s wines hint at aspects of botrytis that lead me to be conservative in predicting their ageabilty. Kerpen has long employed multiple stars for designating riper and ostensibly superior bottlings of Prädikats above Kabinett, although their use in 2014 is sparing, as reflects the challenges of that vintage.
2018 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese*
Color: Sweet White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2033

Tasting notes: This “one-star” Auslese favors apple and quince jellies, a sign of both advanced ripeness and noble botrytis. Seedy, fresh kiwi fruit serves for welcome contrasting brightness on the creamy, delicate palate. The finish, while undeniably persistent, is single-mindedly fruity, and shades into the syrupy. The wine will no doubt “live” longer than my quantified prognosis suggests, but I question whether it will genuinely reward extended cellaring.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen began harvesting on September 22, 2018 – typically if not notably early by vintage standards. “But you have to bear in mind the size of our estate,” he admonished. (It’s just shy of 20 acres.) “Many estates with far more to harvest did not begin any earlier than we did, and I believe that in Wehlen we were in fact the first. We finished around mid-October,” he added, “though by then we were losing acidity.” Kerpen reported having switched from his usual crush regimen to whole-cluster pressing for two lots of dry wine from 2018 after son Matthias, who is studying at Geisenheim, pointed out the theoretical advantages. “It was just as an experiment, you understand. And logically, the pH was lower, but only a little bit – not enough to justify the trouble taken.” This is in any event a year in which Kerpen’s non-dry bottlings, with their generally higher acidity, fared best, and Graach had a slight acid advantage vis-à-vis Wehlen. “I don’t have the old, ungrafted vines in Graach that I still have in parts of Wehlen,” explained Kerpen, “and for that reason I usually need to start the harvest in Graach, where the fruit is less stable, which often results in a tick higher acidity.” Kerpen is one of those growers who experienced significant botrytis in 2018, and the resulting nobly sweet wines are more successful than many from this vintage. Incidentally, a successful recent innovation chez Kerpen is complete conversion to harvesting with small lug bins, which can be pulled uphill through the vineyard via a cable hooked to Kerpen’s trusty vintage 1963 tractor. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2017 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese*
Color: Sweet White

Score: 92.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2040

Tasting notes: A greenhouse-like diversity of foliage as well as flowers vies for aromatic attention with fresh apple, quince and lime. The palate is alluringly, soothingly and refreshingly sorbet-like in its prominent but supportive sweetness and its combination of creaminess with succulent fresh-fruit juiciness. Honeysuckle and lily perfume follow well into the lusciously sustained and surprisingly vibrant finish, but without exhibiting the decadence exhibited in the two corresponding Spätlesen. “There are four thousand bottles of this,” noted Kerpen, “which I might not even sell through in five years, but given such quality I have no problem with that.”

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen compares 2017 with 2013 – and without any nostalgia. Both vintages suffered from hail damage (in 2017 affecting Graach, and coming on top of April frost). Both were plagued by excessive moisture and troublesome botrytis in the run-up to harvest. Qualitatively, though, both of these high-acid vintages proved quite successful chez Kerpen, though he claims to have suffered “at least” a 50% crop loss in 2017. Harvest began on September 28, 2017 (2018 was to commence a full 10 days earlier), and amid the depressingly tedious work of cutting out hail-affected, ignobly botrytized or acescent clusters (or portions thereof), Kerpen and his crew experienced early delight at being able to select ennobled fruit for a formidable TBA. Even allowing for the requisite selectivity, harvest was finished soon after mid-October, since the weather had stabilized and there wasn’t much fruit to process. In contrast with his neighbors at Joh. Jos. Prüm, Kerpen reported that the precocious early heat and eventually tiny crop of 2017 did not translate into accelerated sugar accumulation to the extent that he had anticipated, so that not only do his dry wines – including that labeled “Grosses Gewächs” – sport less than 12% alcohol across the board, but there was also a relatively decent volume of genuine Kabinett. “But of course,” he added, “that’s why I don’t dawdle when it comes to beginning the harvest. I don’t want any fat dry wines.” As usual for this estate, nearly all of the wines, regardless of style, were bottled in April, and I can’t help wondering whether some of the drier wines – impressive though the best often are – would be even more so if given a bit longer to evolve in cask. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2016 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese*
Color: Sweet White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2020

Tasting notes: Picked at the beginning of November, this "one-star" Auslese delivers fresh as well as jellied apple and peach laced with vanilla and carob. A faintly fungal overlay points to the problematic quality of so much 2016 botrytis, and that botrytis has robbed this wine of the clarity and primary juiciness that prevailed in most of Kerpen’s 2016s from the Sonnenuhr. But I don’t rule out things improving with some bottle age and in that case being worth holding for longer than I currently suggest. Happily, a hint of salinity serves to stimulate the salivary glands on a finish that is admirable in terms of sheer persistence. 

Producer Commentary:
In setting out to describe 2016, Martin Kerpen immediately pointed to a difference in the character of acidity vis-à-vis 2015, so I was relieved as well as delighted, once we got down to tasting, to realize that he did not mean his 2016s were notably lower or less efficacious in acidity – on the contrary. A few wines dip below eight grams in acidity but most range from eight to nine. Bright animation and refreshment is the norm. Even the Kabinetts were not picked until the second and third weeks in October, but demonstrate that brightness and striking levity were consistent with ripe aromatics and flavor. There has seldom if ever been a more consistently impressive collection from this veteran grower, and it plays to his strengths as well as those of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Graacher Himmelreich by exemplifying poise and levity in dry, off-dry and unapologetically sweet variants. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2015 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese*
Color: Sweet White

Score: 94.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2040

Tasting notes: This "one-star" Auslese reflects both selection in the vineyard and some additional picking out of optimally ripe and subtly botrytized material as the loads of Sonnenuhr grapes came in. Enticingly perfumed with apple blossom and lily-of-the-valley, it delivers an exuberantly juicy and animating palate performance, with concentration of fresh apple and Persian melon accented by brown spices and vanilla. The feel is subtly creamy and an overall impression of energy and intricacy is perfectly complemented by the wine’s sense of delicacy. A rush of fresh lime and grapefruit adds to the vibrant and downright refreshing effect of a lusciously sustained, multifaceted finish. 

Producer Commentary:
A number of Kerpen’s 2015s are more marked by malic acid than is typical for the vintage or best for the wines, which is probably a big reason why he performed better at the residually sweet end of the spectrum. (And yes, I’m aware that certain influential German critics had the opposite impression.) But it isn’t as though he picked especially early; in fact, he continued into November. For reasons I also wasn’t able to draw out from him, and abstracting from a dearth of nobly sweet offerings that reflects paucity of botrytis, Kerpen rendered a significantly smaller than usual number of individual bottlings from 2015. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2018 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese Trocken Alte Reben
Color: White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2023

Tasting notes: Significantly lower in acidity than all but one other legally dry Kerpen bottling of the vintage, this old-vines offering nevertheless preserves a satisfying degree of animation. Piquancy of apple seed, along with the bitter side of vanilla bean, signal austerity on the nose, underscored on the full, satiny palate by a strong impression of wet stone. The finish is glowingly and lastingly piquant, conveying a welcome sense of energy, and just enough apple and lime juiciness to refresh. 

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen began harvesting on September 22, 2018 – typically if not notably early by vintage standards. “But you have to bear in mind the size of our estate,” he admonished. (It’s just shy of 20 acres.) “Many estates with far more to harvest did not begin any earlier than we did, and I believe that in Wehlen we were in fact the first. We finished around mid-October,” he added, “though by then we were losing acidity.” Kerpen reported having switched from his usual crush regimen to whole-cluster pressing for two lots of dry wine from 2018 after son Matthias, who is studying at Geisenheim, pointed out the theoretical advantages. “It was just as an experiment, you understand. And logically, the pH was lower, but only a little bit – not enough to justify the trouble taken.” This is in any event a year in which Kerpen’s non-dry bottlings, with their generally higher acidity, fared best, and Graach had a slight acid advantage vis-à-vis Wehlen. “I don’t have the old, ungrafted vines in Graach that I still have in parts of Wehlen,” explained Kerpen, “and for that reason I usually need to start the harvest in Graach, where the fruit is less stable, which often results in a tick higher acidity.” Kerpen is one of those growers who experienced significant botrytis in 2018, and the resulting nobly sweet wines are more successful than many from this vintage. Incidentally, a successful recent innovation chez Kerpen is complete conversion to harvesting with small lug bins, which can be pulled uphill through the vineyard via a cable hooked to Kerpen’s trusty vintage 1963 tractor. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2017 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese Trocken Alte Reben
Color: White

Score: 91.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2025

Tasting notes: Fresh lemon and apple are garlanded in honeysuckle and apple blossom, signaling on the nose that this wine represents a significant step up in purity and site-typicity over the several other dry wines that preceded it in this year’s Kerpen portfolio. Inner-mouth florality as well as counterpoint of gloss and subtle creaminess with generous juiciness lends charm to a palate that’s downright delicate, as befits the wine’s mere 11% alcohol. Apple seed and nut piquancy along with a stony undertone convey depth and diversity to a lusciously lingering finish. (Amazingly, acidity here is analytically more than two points beneath that of the corresponding “regular” Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese trocken, yet there is no lack of liveliness.)

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen compares 2017 with 2013 – and without any nostalgia. Both vintages suffered from hail damage (in 2017 affecting Graach, and coming on top of April frost). Both were plagued by excessive moisture and troublesome botrytis in the run-up to harvest. Qualitatively, though, both of these high-acid vintages proved quite successful chez Kerpen, though he claims to have suffered “at least” a 50% crop loss in 2017. Harvest began on September 28, 2017 (2018 was to commence a full 10 days earlier), and amid the depressingly tedious work of cutting out hail-affected, ignobly botrytized or acescent clusters (or portions thereof), Kerpen and his crew experienced early delight at being able to select ennobled fruit for a formidable TBA. Even allowing for the requisite selectivity, harvest was finished soon after mid-October, since the weather had stabilized and there wasn’t much fruit to process. In contrast with his neighbors at Joh. Jos. Prüm, Kerpen reported that the precocious early heat and eventually tiny crop of 2017 did not translate into accelerated sugar accumulation to the extent that he had anticipated, so that not only do his dry wines – including that labeled “Grosses Gewächs” – sport less than 12% alcohol across the board, but there was also a relatively decent volume of genuine Kabinett. “But of course,” he added, “that’s why I don’t dawdle when it comes to beginning the harvest. I don’t want any fat dry wines.” As usual for this estate, nearly all of the wines, regardless of style, were bottled in April, and I can’t help wondering whether some of the drier wines – impressive though the best often are – would be even more so if given a bit longer to evolve in cask. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2016 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese Trocken Alte Reben
Color: White

Score: 91.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2024

Tasting notes: The scents of fruits and flowers are more restrained here than in the corresponding “regular” Sonnenuhr Spätlese trocken, but on the nose we have intriguing sea breeze and wet stone that anticipate the prominence of mineral characteristics to follow. At just 11.5% alcohol, this captures much of the levity that characterized its two dry Sonnenuhr stablemates, and there is a similar lovely combination of textural creaminess with infectious juiciness, here of apple, lemon and white peach. The finish is impressively sustained, introducing a smoky, bittersweet nut oil savor to complement mouthwatering salinity and decisive stoniness. With time, I wouldn’t be surprised if this measures up to its ostensibly lesser but for now superior “regular” counterpart.

Producer Commentary:
In setting out to describe 2016, Martin Kerpen immediately pointed to a difference in the character of acidity vis-à-vis 2015, so I was relieved as well as delighted, once we got down to tasting, to realize that he did not mean his 2016s were notably lower or less efficacious in acidity – on the contrary. A few wines dip below eight grams in acidity but most range from eight to nine. Bright animation and refreshment is the norm. Even the Kabinetts were not picked until the second and third weeks in October, but demonstrate that brightness and striking levity were consistent with ripe aromatics and flavor. There has seldom if ever been a more consistently impressive collection from this veteran grower, and it plays to his strengths as well as those of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Graacher Himmelreich by exemplifying poise and levity in dry, off-dry and unapologetically sweet variants. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2015 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese Trocken Alte Reben
Color: White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2024

Tasting notes: A site-typical nose of fresh apple and vanilla leads to a firm, invigoratingly tart-edged, lemony-bright palate impression not unlike that of this year’s “regular” Sonnenuhr Spätlese trocken bottling. But a subtle, flattering textural creaminess emerges with aeration. And here we have admirable transparency in the finish to stony underpinnings as well as a saliva-liberating touch of salinity that assuages the slight rusticity of apple skin chewiness. Above all, there is an impressive sense of sheer energy and grip, even if it doesn’t achieve the excellence often encountered with this old-vines bottling.

Producer Commentary:
A number of Kerpen’s 2015s are more marked by malic acid than is typical for the vintage or best for the wines, which is probably a big reason why he performed better at the residually sweet end of the spectrum. (And yes, I’m aware that certain influential German critics had the opposite impression.) But it isn’t as though he picked especially early; in fact, he continued into November. For reasons I also wasn’t able to draw out from him, and abstracting from a dearth of nobly sweet offerings that reflects paucity of botrytis, Kerpen rendered a significantly smaller than usual number of individual bottlings from 2015. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
1997 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Beerenauslese
Color: Sweet White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Grilled pineapple and shrivelled apricots dominate here. Thick and dense in the mouth, although, like the above, a bit fiery. In this instance, though, the forceful finish is more multifaceted, with refreshing citrus, toasted almond, dried apricot, and slate.

Producer Commentary:
Harvested for the most part very late, Martin Kerpen '97s represent one of his best collections, perhaps his most imposing since 1988 and 1990. Stylistically, the wines are still of a piece with the vast majority of '97 Mittelmosels: elegant and low in acid. But there is focus of flavor and plenty of stuffing in the middle of nearly every wine, precisely what's missing from too many wines of this vintage. The many trocken and halbtrocken wines were largely quite successful, but I omit notes on those below, as none of them were shipped Stateside. (Terry Theise)
2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Beerenauslese
Color: Sweet White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: (for 375 ml.) Overripe peach and baked apple aromas with a smoky, meaty overlay. Thick and sweet, almost syrupy, but leavened by its sheer density of material and bright salinity. A tremendous concentration of apple and quince jellies, sultana raisin, orange zest and brown spices wells up and carries into an imposing finish. (An as yet embryonic "one-star" bottling of Sonnenuhr BA was more obviously botrytized and sweet.) 1 star.

Producer Commentary:
Picking started early here this year, but Kerpen says there was no drought stress in the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and his foliage remained green until the late-October frost, after which he finished quickly. "I never did so much tasting of the young wines as this year," he notes, as he tried to decide whether to acidify them after they had fermented (in many instances he did) and as he shook his head in amazement at how diverse and inscrutable was their early evolution. A few of this year's wines struck me as overly sweet, at times syrupy, and lacking in vibrancy, but the best are well worth seeking out. (Terry Theise) Also recommended: 2003 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett Feinherb (1 star), 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett, 2003 Graacher Domprobst Riesling Auslesei, 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Ausleseii A. P. #14, 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Beerenauslesei
2014 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese *
Color: Sweet White

Score: 91.0

Drinking window: 2016 - 2026

Tasting notes: This "one-star" Spätlese turns a corner into the tropics, with mango and pink grapefruit joining quince and apple on the nose as well as on a creamy, glycerol-rich, deeply fruited and vanilla-tinged palate. The whole performance is wreathed in decadently heady lily and heliotrope perfume. Unlike its non-starred counterpart, this doesn’t sacrifice any clarity or refreshment to its ripeness and botrytis ennoblement, and its lusciously lingering finish projects persistent florality and underpinnings of wet stone. I still suspect, though, that it will mature relatively soon by the standards of Kerpen Spätlesen. 

Producer Commentary:
This estate’s wines first came to prominence when as a very young man in the late 1980s Martin Kerpen took over responsibility for his family’s winery (then known as Weingut Heribert Kerpen) from his mother, a lifelong full-time schoolteacher. From the start, his wines combined generosity with considerable refinement, and high quality at this address has long extended all the way from delicate trocken to opulent T.B.A. Kerpen was especially successful in the tricky 2011 and 2013 vintages, and the 2014s seem to confirm his having reached a new level of overall excellence, not to mention his ability to surmount meteorological obstacles. If there has been an occasional weak point in Kerpen’s frequently sprawling collections, it has been an exaggerated or rustic expression of botrytis, so despite his having beaten the averages in 2014, it’s not too surprising that some of this vintage’s wines hint at aspects of botrytis that lead me to be conservative in predicting their ageabilty. Kerpen has long employed multiple stars for designating riper and ostensibly superior bottlings of Prädikats above Kabinett, although their use in 2014 is sparing, as reflects the challenges of that vintage.
2001 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese *
Color: White

Score: 2.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: In a distant class from Kerpen "no-star" Sonnenuhr Spatlese, this shows creamy, vanilla-tinged apple and tropical fruit but also, from the moment it hits your tongue, the spice and wet stone slatiness of the site at its best. There is real power here but not at the expense of elegance. Quite fat, but also solid and compact in underlying structure. A terrific wine for the cellar. 2 stars.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen is another Mosel grower who may never have rendered a finer collectionx000D than in 2001. (Terry Theise)Also recommended: ($33).
2014 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese
Color: Sweet White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2016 - 2020

Tasting notes: The nose signals the presence of botrytis with scents of quince preserves and brown spices, along with which come site-typical apple and vanilla as well as hints of mothball and wet stone. Decadent ripeness and a botrytis overlay deprive the rich palate and sustained finish of the clarity and refreshment found in the best Kerpen bottlings of this vintage, but this is still a lovely choice, measured in sweetness, for relatively early enjoyment.

Producer Commentary:
This estate’s wines first came to prominence when as a very young man in the late 1980s Martin Kerpen took over responsibility for his family’s winery (then known as Weingut Heribert Kerpen) from his mother, a lifelong full-time schoolteacher. From the start, his wines combined generosity with considerable refinement, and high quality at this address has long extended all the way from delicate trocken to opulent T.B.A. Kerpen was especially successful in the tricky 2011 and 2013 vintages, and the 2014s seem to confirm his having reached a new level of overall excellence, not to mention his ability to surmount meteorological obstacles. If there has been an occasional weak point in Kerpen’s frequently sprawling collections, it has been an exaggerated or rustic expression of botrytis, so despite his having beaten the averages in 2014, it’s not too surprising that some of this vintage’s wines hint at aspects of botrytis that lead me to be conservative in predicting their ageabilty. Kerpen has long employed multiple stars for designating riper and ostensibly superior bottlings of Prädikats above Kabinett, although their use in 2014 is sparing, as reflects the challenges of that vintage.
1997 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese
Color: White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: There was a lovely, sleek, streamlined "regular" Sonnenuhr SpÃ¤tlese. This "one-star" bottling is a small classic. Apple jelly and vanilla cream nose leads to a dense, rich mouthful of baked apple drenched in vanilla cream and studded with black fruits. Forceful finish offers loads of fruit, inhalation of sweet clover and ample minerality. There was also a spicier Sonnenuhr "one-star" which Martin was taking to auction, although I did not prefer it.

Producer Commentary:
Harvested for the most part very late, Martin Kerpen '97s represent one of his best collections, perhaps his most imposing since 1988 and 1990. Stylistically, the wines are still of a piece with the vast majority of '97 Mittelmosels: elegant and low in acid. But there is focus of flavor and plenty of stuffing in the middle of nearly every wine, precisely what's missing from too many wines of this vintage. The many trocken and halbtrocken wines were largely quite successful, but I omit notes on those below, as none of them were shipped Stateside. (Terry Theise)
1999 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese
Color: White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: The smell of Golden Delicious apple and tropical fruits tips off the taster to the soft, creamy and decidedly sweet flavors that follow. The textural richness and youthful sweetness suggest "Kerpen meets J. J. Prum." But a bit more spine would be required for me to feel comfortable recommending that this be cellared. A "one-star" Auslese seemed looser yet, and rather deficient in stuffing.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen has rendered a plush, forward collection in which residual sugar is handled with varying degrees of success. (Terry Theise)
1998 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese
Color: White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Aromas of melon, mango and banana are rather exotic for a Wehlener. Vanilla custard in the mouth, studded with tropical fruits and sprinkled with honey, nutmeg and cinnamon. Luscious and dripping with fruit. A big, plump wine, but with enough acid and extract to balance its high sugar and lend a sense of slate in the finish.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen is on a roll, having again in '98 succeeded in a style which, happily for both parties, could never be confused with that of his famous Uferallee neighbor, Manfred Prum. If the list below seems short, that's largely because only a few of Kerpen's '98s will be coming to the States. (Terry Theise)
2018 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese**
Color: Sweet White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2036

Tasting notes: White raisin, jellied apple, pear and quince signal a wine from grapes significantly shriveled under the influence of botrytis. Decadent lily flower perfume persists on the richly fruited, subtly oily palate. Unexpected and welcome juiciness emerges on the finish via fresh honeydew melon and lime, though sweetness still dominates. I can envision greater clarity and definition emerging with time in bottle.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen began harvesting on September 22, 2018 – typically if not notably early by vintage standards. “But you have to bear in mind the size of our estate,” he admonished. (It’s just shy of 20 acres.) “Many estates with far more to harvest did not begin any earlier than we did, and I believe that in Wehlen we were in fact the first. We finished around mid-October,” he added, “though by then we were losing acidity.” Kerpen reported having switched from his usual crush regimen to whole-cluster pressing for two lots of dry wine from 2018 after son Matthias, who is studying at Geisenheim, pointed out the theoretical advantages. “It was just as an experiment, you understand. And logically, the pH was lower, but only a little bit – not enough to justify the trouble taken.” This is in any event a year in which Kerpen’s non-dry bottlings, with their generally higher acidity, fared best, and Graach had a slight acid advantage vis-à-vis Wehlen. “I don’t have the old, ungrafted vines in Graach that I still have in parts of Wehlen,” explained Kerpen, “and for that reason I usually need to start the harvest in Graach, where the fruit is less stable, which often results in a tick higher acidity.” Kerpen is one of those growers who experienced significant botrytis in 2018, and the resulting nobly sweet wines are more successful than many from this vintage. Incidentally, a successful recent innovation chez Kerpen is complete conversion to harvesting with small lug bins, which can be pulled uphill through the vineyard via a cable hooked to Kerpen’s trusty vintage 1963 tractor. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2017 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese**
Color: Sweet White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2036

Tasting notes: Vanilla-tinged quince and apple jellies dominate on the nose and the glycerol-rich, decidedly sweet, borderline-syrupy palate. But as with the corresponding Bernkasteler Bratenhöfchen, a welcome influx of fresh fruit juiciness enlivens an impressively persistent finish, and here that fresh fruit takes the form of not just apple but also bright, zesty lime.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen compares 2017 with 2013 – and without any nostalgia. Both vintages suffered from hail damage (in 2017 affecting Graach, and coming on top of April frost). Both were plagued by excessive moisture and troublesome botrytis in the run-up to harvest. Qualitatively, though, both of these high-acid vintages proved quite successful chez Kerpen, though he claims to have suffered “at least” a 50% crop loss in 2017. Harvest began on September 28, 2017 (2018 was to commence a full 10 days earlier), and amid the depressingly tedious work of cutting out hail-affected, ignobly botrytized or acescent clusters (or portions thereof), Kerpen and his crew experienced early delight at being able to select ennobled fruit for a formidable TBA. Even allowing for the requisite selectivity, harvest was finished soon after mid-October, since the weather had stabilized and there wasn’t much fruit to process. In contrast with his neighbors at Joh. Jos. Prüm, Kerpen reported that the precocious early heat and eventually tiny crop of 2017 did not translate into accelerated sugar accumulation to the extent that he had anticipated, so that not only do his dry wines – including that labeled “Grosses Gewächs” – sport less than 12% alcohol across the board, but there was also a relatively decent volume of genuine Kabinett. “But of course,” he added, “that’s why I don’t dawdle when it comes to beginning the harvest. I don’t want any fat dry wines.” As usual for this estate, nearly all of the wines, regardless of style, were bottled in April, and I can’t help wondering whether some of the drier wines – impressive though the best often are – would be even more so if given a bit longer to evolve in cask. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2016 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese**
Color: Sweet White

Score: 91.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2035

Tasting notes: There is a fungal side to the botrytis on the nose of this "two-star" Auslese, but it is more restrained and closer to chanterelles or truffle than that of the corresponding “one-star.” More prominent are scents of apple jelly, almond extract and sea spray. The creamy palate introduces a slick of honey, and this finishes with unanticipated fresh fruit juiciness as well as mouthwatering salinity and impressive sheer persistence.

Producer Commentary:
In setting out to describe 2016, Martin Kerpen immediately pointed to a difference in the character of acidity vis-à-vis 2015, so I was relieved as well as delighted, once we got down to tasting, to realize that he did not mean his 2016s were notably lower or less efficacious in acidity – on the contrary. A few wines dip below eight grams in acidity but most range from eight to nine. Bright animation and refreshment is the norm. Even the Kabinetts were not picked until the second and third weeks in October, but demonstrate that brightness and striking levity were consistent with ripe aromatics and flavor. There has seldom if ever been a more consistently impressive collection from this veteran grower, and it plays to his strengths as well as those of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Graacher Himmelreich by exemplifying poise and levity in dry, off-dry and unapologetically sweet variants. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2018 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese Feinherb Alte Reben
Color: White

Score: 91.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2030

Tasting notes: Given his past successes with wines of only very modest sweetness, it’s good to see a feinherb rendition of Sonnenuhr Riesling (and from 2019 there will even be the first-ever Kerpen Auslese feinherb). Vanilla with baked apple and pear on the nose also nicely fit the alluring creaminess of texture on tap here. Honeysuckle and heliotrope perfume the palate. Subtle seed piquancy and a kiss of stone lend counterpoint to the lusciously lingering finish. Even with 26 grams of residual sugar and at low acidity, the overall impression here is nearly dry-tasting. But an advantageous byproduct of that sugar is alcoholic levity to complement the wine’s ripeness of flavor and richness of texture.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen began harvesting on September 22, 2018 – typically if not notably early by vintage standards. “But you have to bear in mind the size of our estate,” he admonished. (It’s just shy of 20 acres.) “Many estates with far more to harvest did not begin any earlier than we did, and I believe that in Wehlen we were in fact the first. We finished around mid-October,” he added, “though by then we were losing acidity.” Kerpen reported having switched from his usual crush regimen to whole-cluster pressing for two lots of dry wine from 2018 after son Matthias, who is studying at Geisenheim, pointed out the theoretical advantages. “It was just as an experiment, you understand. And logically, the pH was lower, but only a little bit – not enough to justify the trouble taken.” This is in any event a year in which Kerpen’s non-dry bottlings, with their generally higher acidity, fared best, and Graach had a slight acid advantage vis-à-vis Wehlen. “I don’t have the old, ungrafted vines in Graach that I still have in parts of Wehlen,” explained Kerpen, “and for that reason I usually need to start the harvest in Graach, where the fruit is less stable, which often results in a tick higher acidity.” Kerpen is one of those growers who experienced significant botrytis in 2018, and the resulting nobly sweet wines are more successful than many from this vintage. Incidentally, a successful recent innovation chez Kerpen is complete conversion to harvesting with small lug bins, which can be pulled uphill through the vineyard via a cable hooked to Kerpen’s trusty vintage 1963 tractor. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2016 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese Feinherb Alte Reben
Color: White

Score: 92.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2030

Tasting notes: Like Kerpen’s other 2016s from the Sonnenuhr, this boasts animating acidity and a fine sense of focus, while also displaying the subtle creaminess that is typically part and parcel of Riesling from this site. A greenhouse-like overlay of flowering and leafing things mingles in the nose with scents of ripe pear and apple, and the inner-mouth impression is similar, with rich almond cream, juicy fresh lime, and subtly stony impingements adding allure that carries into a buoyant and soothingly yet stimulatingly sustained finish. Here is another example in the present collection of ideally judged sweetness: enough to support the fruit but capable of backing off in the finish in a way that will serve this wine well at table.

Producer Commentary:
In setting out to describe 2016, Martin Kerpen immediately pointed to a difference in the character of acidity vis-à-vis 2015, so I was relieved as well as delighted, once we got down to tasting, to realize that he did not mean his 2016s were notably lower or less efficacious in acidity – on the contrary. A few wines dip below eight grams in acidity but most range from eight to nine. Bright animation and refreshment is the norm. Even the Kabinetts were not picked until the second and third weeks in October, but demonstrate that brightness and striking levity were consistent with ripe aromatics and flavor. There has seldom if ever been a more consistently impressive collection from this veteran grower, and it plays to his strengths as well as those of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Graacher Himmelreich by exemplifying poise and levity in dry, off-dry and unapologetically sweet variants. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2015 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese Feinherb Alte Reben
Color: White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2022

Tasting notes: I can’t recall this label designation before from Kerpen. Cidery, appley fruit is nicely supported by modest sweetness and there is a refreshing and invigorating sense of juiciness and tang. Harboring only 11 percent alcohol, the wine is, not surprisingly, buoyant. But despite some sense of crushed stone on an admirably persistent finish, I miss the transparency or sense of animated fruit/mineral interaction that one expects at this address.

Producer Commentary:
A number of Kerpen’s 2015s are more marked by malic acid than is typical for the vintage or best for the wines, which is probably a big reason why he performed better at the residually sweet end of the spectrum. (And yes, I’m aware that certain influential German critics had the opposite impression.) But it isn’t as though he picked especially early; in fact, he continued into November. For reasons I also wasn’t able to draw out from him, and abstracting from a dearth of nobly sweet offerings that reflects paucity of botrytis, Kerpen rendered a significantly smaller than usual number of individual bottlings from 2015. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2014 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett
Color: White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2016 - 2024

Tasting notes: Here is another Kerpen bottling whose appley fruit evokes Normandy cider in its delicacy and aromatic refinement. The buoyant, polished, subtly creamy palate retains delightfully juicy freshness and introduces almond paste richness, quince preserves and seductive inner-mouth lily-of-the-valley perfume, all remarkably reminiscent of this wine’s Graacher Himmelreich counterpart. Supportive, unobtrusive sweetness complements the wine’s fruitiness and florality. 

Producer Commentary:
This estate’s wines first came to prominence when as a very young man in the late 1980s Martin Kerpen took over responsibility for his family’s winery (then known as Weingut Heribert Kerpen) from his mother, a lifelong full-time schoolteacher. From the start, his wines combined generosity with considerable refinement, and high quality at this address has long extended all the way from delicate trocken to opulent T.B.A. Kerpen was especially successful in the tricky 2011 and 2013 vintages, and the 2014s seem to confirm his having reached a new level of overall excellence, not to mention his ability to surmount meteorological obstacles. If there has been an occasional weak point in Kerpen’s frequently sprawling collections, it has been an exaggerated or rustic expression of botrytis, so despite his having beaten the averages in 2014, it’s not too surprising that some of this vintage’s wines hint at aspects of botrytis that lead me to be conservative in predicting their ageabilty. Kerpen has long employed multiple stars for designating riper and ostensibly superior bottlings of Prädikats above Kabinett, although their use in 2014 is sparing, as reflects the challenges of that vintage.
1998 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett
Color: White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Apple cider and sweet vanilla in the nose. Apple juice and birch beer flavors, with a nice slatey edge. Mealy texture. Sweet apple and vanilla finish.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen is on a roll, having again in '98 succeeded in a style which, happily for both parties, could never be confused with that of his famous Uferallee neighbor, Manfred Prum. If the list below seems short, that's largely because only a few of Kerpen's '98s will be coming to the States. (Terry Theise)
1997 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett
Color: White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Aroma of fresh apple. Light and delicate, but properly slatey on the palate. Lovely, juicy back end with salt, slate, sage and apple pit accents. Terrific poise and class for '97.

Producer Commentary:
Harvested for the most part very late, Martin Kerpen '97s represent one of his best collections, perhaps his most imposing since 1988 and 1990. Stylistically, the wines are still of a piece with the vast majority of '97 Mittelmosels: elegant and low in acid. But there is focus of flavor and plenty of stuffing in the middle of nearly every wine, precisely what's missing from too many wines of this vintage. The many trocken and halbtrocken wines were largely quite successful, but I omit notes on those below, as none of them were shipped Stateside. (Terry Theise)
1999 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett
Color: White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Citrus, bitter vanilla and baked apple are the prominent aromatic themes here, and continue to figure on the palate. Juicy and forward in fruit, this Kabinett is delicate and slight in the finish.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen has rendered a plush, forward collection in which residual sugar is handled with varying degrees of success. (Terry Theise)
1997 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese *
Color: White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Nice counterpoint of baked apple and honey, with pleasantly bitter notes of vanilla, peach pit and apple pip. Quite firm and compact compared with its predecessor. Slate‑saturated back end. This was picked late.

Producer Commentary:
Harvested for the most part very late, Martin Kerpen '97s represent one of his best collections, perhaps his most imposing since 1988 and 1990. Stylistically, the wines are still of a piece with the vast majority of '97 Mittelmosels: elegant and low in acid. But there is focus of flavor and plenty of stuffing in the middle of nearly every wine, precisely what's missing from too many wines of this vintage. The many trocken and halbtrocken wines were largely quite successful, but I omit notes on those below, as none of them were shipped Stateside. (Terry Theise)
2000 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese *
Color: White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Pungent spice in the nose signals botrytis. Very full and rich in the mouth, with peach and tropical fruits added to the site-typical apple. An insistent citricity provides drive and lift. A nippy note of botrytis encroaches in the long finish. 1 star.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen's success with 2000 was variable. Acidity alone runs the gamut from a mere seven grams per liter to more than ten in an Auslese that manages to scale the heights of this vintage. (Terry Theise)
2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese *** #15
Color: Sweet White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: This, like its slightly less successful and lower-acid "two-star" counterpart, represented a botrytis selection across many parcels. Aromas of apple jelly, candied cherry and vanilla. Creamy and leesy in the mouth, with suggestions of toasted grain and lemon zest that put me a bit in mind of white Burgundy Lemony brightness carries the very ripe flavors and balances the sweetness. Subtle melange of honey, toasted grain, malt, caramel apple, vanilla and salt in the multi-tiered and promising finish. Potential 2 stars.

Producer Commentary:
Picking started early here this year, but Kerpen says there was no drought stress in the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and his foliage remained green until the late-October frost, after which he finished quickly. "I never did so much tasting of the young wines as this year," he notes, as he tried to decide whether to acidify them after they had fermented (in many instances he did) and as he shook his head in amazement at how diverse and inscrutable was their early evolution. A few of this year's wines struck me as overly sweet, at times syrupy, and lacking in vibrancy, but the best are well worth seeking out. (Terry Theise) Also recommended: 2003 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett Feinherb (1 star), 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett, 2003 Graacher Domprobst Riesling Auslesei, 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Ausleseii A. P. #14, 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Beerenauslesei
2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese #11
Color: Sweet White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Candied caramel apple and nut oils in the nose. Strikingly creamy in texture, very full and sweet, yet it offers an engaging tartness of citrus fruit and a sense of lift and elegance on the palate. Long finish of spiced and caramelized apple. 1 star.

Producer Commentary:
Picking started early here this year, but Kerpen says there was no drought stress in the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and his foliage remained green until the late-October frost, after which he finished quickly. "I never did so much tasting of the young wines as this year," he notes, as he tried to decide whether to acidify them after they had fermented (in many instances he did) and as he shook his head in amazement at how diverse and inscrutable was their early evolution. A few of this year's wines struck me as overly sweet, at times syrupy, and lacking in vibrancy, but the best are well worth seeking out. (Terry Theise) Also recommended: 2003 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett Feinherb (1 star), 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett, 2003 Graacher Domprobst Riesling Auslesei, 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Ausleseii A. P. #14, 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Beerenauslesei
1997 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese **
Color: White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Selectively harvested relatively early (end of October), this "two star" has decisive minerality and fresh apple accented by lemon pip and apple pit. Higher in sugar, but also (at not quite ten grams) the highest‑acid Kerpen wine of the vintage, this does not taste notably sweeter than the "one star." Another impressively firm, dense showing on the palate, finishing with apple skin, brown spice, salt, slate and refreshing tangerine. A "three-star" Auslese was burning with botrytis.

Producer Commentary:
Harvested for the most part very late, Martin Kerpen '97s represent one of his best collections, perhaps his most imposing since 1988 and 1990. Stylistically, the wines are still of a piece with the vast majority of '97 Mittelmosels: elegant and low in acid. But there is focus of flavor and plenty of stuffing in the middle of nearly every wine, precisely what's missing from too many wines of this vintage. The many trocken and halbtrocken wines were largely quite successful, but I omit notes on those below, as none of them were shipped Stateside. (Terry Theise)
2000 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese **
Color: White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Dried apple, white peach, honey and vanilla mark the aroma here and cling to the palate, which exhibits a textural smoothness and gloss that are quite striking, along with a delicacy and buoyancy that characterize the very best wines of this vintage. This may not be the last word in complexity, but for purity, lift and length it is exceptional. Only in a few parcels in the Sonnenuhr, says Kerpen, did he have enough green grapes to make a wine like this. With a BA, a TBA and an Eiswein, Kerpen did not manage to scale the height represented by this Auslese. 2 stars.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen's success with 2000 was variable. Acidity alone runs the gamut from a mere seven grams per liter to more than ten in an Auslese that manages to scale the heights of this vintage. (Terry Theise)
2018 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Grosses Gewächs
Color: White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2022

Tasting notes: At 13%, this registers a degree and a half more alcohol than its superb vintage 2017 counterpart. It’s also marginally lower in acidity than even this year’s Sonnenuhr Alte Reben. The piquancy of apple seed, the bitter side of vanilla bean and the strong wet stone undertone exhibited by that Alte Reben bottling are present here as well, along with inner-mouth heliotrope perfume and a plush, subtly creamy feel. But there isn’t the energy or refreshment to the finish, even if its sheer persistence is impressive. I am concerned lest this bottling’s bitter elements and/or its alcohol hamper positive bottle evolution.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen began harvesting on September 22, 2018 – typically if not notably early by vintage standards. “But you have to bear in mind the size of our estate,” he admonished. (It’s just shy of 20 acres.) “Many estates with far more to harvest did not begin any earlier than we did, and I believe that in Wehlen we were in fact the first. We finished around mid-October,” he added, “though by then we were losing acidity.” Kerpen reported having switched from his usual crush regimen to whole-cluster pressing for two lots of dry wine from 2018 after son Matthias, who is studying at Geisenheim, pointed out the theoretical advantages. “It was just as an experiment, you understand. And logically, the pH was lower, but only a little bit – not enough to justify the trouble taken.” This is in any event a year in which Kerpen’s non-dry bottlings, with their generally higher acidity, fared best, and Graach had a slight acid advantage vis-à-vis Wehlen. “I don’t have the old, ungrafted vines in Graach that I still have in parts of Wehlen,” explained Kerpen, “and for that reason I usually need to start the harvest in Graach, where the fruit is less stable, which often results in a tick higher acidity.” Kerpen is one of those growers who experienced significant botrytis in 2018, and the resulting nobly sweet wines are more successful than many from this vintage. Incidentally, a successful recent innovation chez Kerpen is complete conversion to harvesting with small lug bins, which can be pulled uphill through the vineyard via a cable hooked to Kerpen’s trusty vintage 1963 tractor. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2017 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Grosses Gewächs
Color: White

Score: 92.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2026

Tasting notes: Vanilla-tinged fresh apple and piquant walnut dominate on the nose and creamy, custardy yet (as befits about 11.5% alcohol) buoyant palate. The impressively sustained finish exhibits an imposing sense of richness without sacrificing primary juiciness, animation, levity or transparency to decidedly stony underpinnings.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen compares 2017 with 2013 – and without any nostalgia. Both vintages suffered from hail damage (in 2017 affecting Graach, and coming on top of April frost). Both were plagued by excessive moisture and troublesome botrytis in the run-up to harvest. Qualitatively, though, both of these high-acid vintages proved quite successful chez Kerpen, though he claims to have suffered “at least” a 50% crop loss in 2017. Harvest began on September 28, 2017 (2018 was to commence a full 10 days earlier), and amid the depressingly tedious work of cutting out hail-affected, ignobly botrytized or acescent clusters (or portions thereof), Kerpen and his crew experienced early delight at being able to select ennobled fruit for a formidable TBA. Even allowing for the requisite selectivity, harvest was finished soon after mid-October, since the weather had stabilized and there wasn’t much fruit to process. In contrast with his neighbors at Joh. Jos. Prüm, Kerpen reported that the precocious early heat and eventually tiny crop of 2017 did not translate into accelerated sugar accumulation to the extent that he had anticipated, so that not only do his dry wines – including that labeled “Grosses Gewächs” – sport less than 12% alcohol across the board, but there was also a relatively decent volume of genuine Kabinett. “But of course,” he added, “that’s why I don’t dawdle when it comes to beginning the harvest. I don’t want any fat dry wines.” As usual for this estate, nearly all of the wines, regardless of style, were bottled in April, and I can’t help wondering whether some of the drier wines – impressive though the best often are – would be even more so if given a bit longer to evolve in cask. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2015 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Grosses Gewächs
Color: Sweet White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2032

Tasting notes: Spotting an open bottle of this at Kerpen’s, I re-tasted it and found that my previous assessment proved to have been misleadingly restrained. Scents of fresh pear and apple are mingled with high-toned suggestions of their distilled counterparts. Behind that – and reinforced inner-mouth – are almond and vanilla extracts as well as a slightly earthy suggestion of muskmelon. Creamy in feel and expansive – without (at 12.5% alcohol) being in the least weighty – this finishes with mouthwatering saline savor and a strongly slaty undertow.

Producer Commentary:
In setting out to describe 2016, Martin Kerpen immediately pointed to a difference in the character of acidity vis-à-vis 2015, so I was relieved as well as delighted, once we got down to tasting, to realize that he did not mean his 2016s were notably lower or less efficacious in acidity – on the contrary. A few wines dip below eight grams in acidity but most range from eight to nine. Bright animation and refreshment is the norm. Even the Kabinetts were not picked until the second and third weeks in October, but demonstrate that brightness and striking levity were consistent with ripe aromatics and flavor. There has seldom if ever been a more consistently impressive collection from this veteran grower, and it plays to his strengths as well as those of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Graacher Himmelreich by exemplifying poise and levity in dry, off-dry and unapologetically sweet variants. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2015 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Grosses Gewächs
Color: White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2020

Tasting notes: At 12.5 percent alcohol, this offers a more robust and full-bodied impression than that of a typical Kerpen Spätlese trocken, and its cidery evocation of apple with hints of muskmelon also suggests riper material. The rustic effect of chewy apple skin and piquant seeds certainly invigorates and grips impressively, but like this year’s “regular” Sonnenuhr Spätlese trocken, I miss the textural allure and transparency to mineral nuance that more usually characterize Kerpen’s dry Rieslings. 

Producer Commentary:
A number of Kerpen’s 2015s are more marked by malic acid than is typical for the vintage or best for the wines, which is probably a big reason why he performed better at the residually sweet end of the spectrum. (And yes, I’m aware that certain influential German critics had the opposite impression.) But it isn’t as though he picked especially early; in fact, he continued into November. For reasons I also wasn’t able to draw out from him, and abstracting from a dearth of nobly sweet offerings that reflects paucity of botrytis, Kerpen rendered a significantly smaller than usual number of individual bottlings from 2015. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2018 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese Trocken
Color: White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2023

Tasting notes: Flower shop scents of blossoms and foliage mingle with those of fresh apple and a piquant hint of apple seed. The impression conveyed on a glossy, satiny palate is correspondingly juicy, perfumed and stimulatingly piquant. Zesty lime adds to the invigoration of a refreshingly lingering and appropriately stone-lined finish. 

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen began harvesting on September 22, 2018 – typically if not notably early by vintage standards. “But you have to bear in mind the size of our estate,” he admonished. (It’s just shy of 20 acres.) “Many estates with far more to harvest did not begin any earlier than we did, and I believe that in Wehlen we were in fact the first. We finished around mid-October,” he added, “though by then we were losing acidity.” Kerpen reported having switched from his usual crush regimen to whole-cluster pressing for two lots of dry wine from 2018 after son Matthias, who is studying at Geisenheim, pointed out the theoretical advantages. “It was just as an experiment, you understand. And logically, the pH was lower, but only a little bit – not enough to justify the trouble taken.” This is in any event a year in which Kerpen’s non-dry bottlings, with their generally higher acidity, fared best, and Graach had a slight acid advantage vis-à-vis Wehlen. “I don’t have the old, ungrafted vines in Graach that I still have in parts of Wehlen,” explained Kerpen, “and for that reason I usually need to start the harvest in Graach, where the fruit is less stable, which often results in a tick higher acidity.” Kerpen is one of those growers who experienced significant botrytis in 2018, and the resulting nobly sweet wines are more successful than many from this vintage. Incidentally, a successful recent innovation chez Kerpen is complete conversion to harvesting with small lug bins, which can be pulled uphill through the vineyard via a cable hooked to Kerpen’s trusty vintage 1963 tractor. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2017 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese Trocken
Color: White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2022

Tasting notes: A cider-like expression of apple with twang and tartness dominates on the nose and the polished, pithily concentrated but (at just 11% alcohol) buoyant palate, and faintly sweaty but mouthwateringly savory salinity adds to the stimulation of a generously juicy finish. Amazingly, this harbors 9.9 grams of acidity, a high point of sorts in the history of dry Kerpen Rieslings. (It also pushed the legal limit on Trockenheit, with close to nine grams of residual sugar.)

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen compares 2017 with 2013 – and without any nostalgia. Both vintages suffered from hail damage (in 2017 affecting Graach, and coming on top of April frost). Both were plagued by excessive moisture and troublesome botrytis in the run-up to harvest. Qualitatively, though, both of these high-acid vintages proved quite successful chez Kerpen, though he claims to have suffered “at least” a 50% crop loss in 2017. Harvest began on September 28, 2017 (2018 was to commence a full 10 days earlier), and amid the depressingly tedious work of cutting out hail-affected, ignobly botrytized or acescent clusters (or portions thereof), Kerpen and his crew experienced early delight at being able to select ennobled fruit for a formidable TBA. Even allowing for the requisite selectivity, harvest was finished soon after mid-October, since the weather had stabilized and there wasn’t much fruit to process. In contrast with his neighbors at Joh. Jos. Prüm, Kerpen reported that the precocious early heat and eventually tiny crop of 2017 did not translate into accelerated sugar accumulation to the extent that he had anticipated, so that not only do his dry wines – including that labeled “Grosses Gewächs” – sport less than 12% alcohol across the board, but there was also a relatively decent volume of genuine Kabinett. “But of course,” he added, “that’s why I don’t dawdle when it comes to beginning the harvest. I don’t want any fat dry wines.” As usual for this estate, nearly all of the wines, regardless of style, were bottled in April, and I can’t help wondering whether some of the drier wines – impressive though the best often are – would be even more so if given a bit longer to evolve in cask. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2016 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese Trocken
Color: White

Score: 92.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2024

Tasting notes: Here is a picture-perfect reflection, in completely dry form, of this great site. Apple blossom and heliotrope are even headier here than in the corresponding Kabinett trocken, and no less alluringly present as inner-mouth perfume. The palate impression is creamy, yet juicy fresh apple and lemon deliver delightful refreshment, while a bittersweet sense of chomping on flowers and a mouthwatering saturation of mineral salts stimulate the imagination and the salivary glands on a buoyant, superbly sustained finish.

Producer Commentary:
In setting out to describe 2016, Martin Kerpen immediately pointed to a difference in the character of acidity vis-à-vis 2015, so I was relieved as well as delighted, once we got down to tasting, to realize that he did not mean his 2016s were notably lower or less efficacious in acidity – on the contrary. A few wines dip below eight grams in acidity but most range from eight to nine. Bright animation and refreshment is the norm. Even the Kabinetts were not picked until the second and third weeks in October, but demonstrate that brightness and striking levity were consistent with ripe aromatics and flavor. There has seldom if ever been a more consistently impressive collection from this veteran grower, and it plays to his strengths as well as those of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Graacher Himmelreich by exemplifying poise and levity in dry, off-dry and unapologetically sweet variants. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2015 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese Trocken
Color: White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2020

Tasting notes: Tart, bright lemon and apple deliver an invigorating and refreshing performance, though not one that compares with dry Kerpen Riesling at its best. The subtle, site-typical creaminess of Sonnenuhr and the transparency to mineral nuances that his better 2015s exhibit are missing here. Still, this bottling’s palpable sense of extract is impressive, and its snappy finish is certainly energetically sustained.

Producer Commentary:
A number of Kerpen’s 2015s are more marked by malic acid than is typical for the vintage or best for the wines, which is probably a big reason why he performed better at the residually sweet end of the spectrum. (And yes, I’m aware that certain influential German critics had the opposite impression.) But it isn’t as though he picked especially early; in fact, he continued into November. For reasons I also wasn’t able to draw out from him, and abstracting from a dearth of nobly sweet offerings that reflects paucity of botrytis, Kerpen rendered a significantly smaller than usual number of individual bottlings from 2015. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2017 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese* a.p. #13
Color: Sweet White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2026

Tasting notes: This "one-star" Spätlese smells even more decadent and musky than did its non-starred counterpart. Faded lily, narcissus, lightly desiccated Golden Delicious apple and overripe white peach feature on both the nose and the lush, soft midpalate, where a hint of banana also appears. Heightening the sense of decadence projected here is a faintly spirituous overtone of applejack. “Definitely, this is showing Auslese character,” commented Kerpen. Fortunately, the sustained, prominently sweet finish musters fresh apple juiciness that I had not anticipated. (I subsequently learned of a second “one-star” Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese that Kerpen auctioned, but inexplicably did not show me.)

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen compares 2017 with 2013 – and without any nostalgia. Both vintages suffered from hail damage (in 2017 affecting Graach, and coming on top of April frost). Both were plagued by excessive moisture and troublesome botrytis in the run-up to harvest. Qualitatively, though, both of these high-acid vintages proved quite successful chez Kerpen, though he claims to have suffered “at least” a 50% crop loss in 2017. Harvest began on September 28, 2017 (2018 was to commence a full 10 days earlier), and amid the depressingly tedious work of cutting out hail-affected, ignobly botrytized or acescent clusters (or portions thereof), Kerpen and his crew experienced early delight at being able to select ennobled fruit for a formidable TBA. Even allowing for the requisite selectivity, harvest was finished soon after mid-October, since the weather had stabilized and there wasn’t much fruit to process. In contrast with his neighbors at Joh. Jos. Prüm, Kerpen reported that the precocious early heat and eventually tiny crop of 2017 did not translate into accelerated sugar accumulation to the extent that he had anticipated, so that not only do his dry wines – including that labeled “Grosses Gewächs” – sport less than 12% alcohol across the board, but there was also a relatively decent volume of genuine Kabinett. “But of course,” he added, “that’s why I don’t dawdle when it comes to beginning the harvest. I don’t want any fat dry wines.” As usual for this estate, nearly all of the wines, regardless of style, were bottled in April, and I can’t help wondering whether some of the drier wines – impressive though the best often are – would be even more so if given a bit longer to evolve in cask. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2018 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Beerenauslese*
Color: Sweet White

Score: 91.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2043

Tasting notes: This “one-star” BA reflects a selection of botrytis-affected fruit that was further sorted out in the cellar. Apple jelly, glazed pineapple and marzipan inform the nose and the viscous, creamy palate of almost pasty consistency, backed by a degree of sheer sweetness that flirts with stickiness. Fortunately, there is enough tang of pineapple core to keep the impressively persistent finish from becoming cloying. 

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen began harvesting on September 22, 2018 – typically if not notably early by vintage standards. “But you have to bear in mind the size of our estate,” he admonished. (It’s just shy of 20 acres.) “Many estates with far more to harvest did not begin any earlier than we did, and I believe that in Wehlen we were in fact the first. We finished around mid-October,” he added, “though by then we were losing acidity.” Kerpen reported having switched from his usual crush regimen to whole-cluster pressing for two lots of dry wine from 2018 after son Matthias, who is studying at Geisenheim, pointed out the theoretical advantages. “It was just as an experiment, you understand. And logically, the pH was lower, but only a little bit – not enough to justify the trouble taken.” This is in any event a year in which Kerpen’s non-dry bottlings, with their generally higher acidity, fared best, and Graach had a slight acid advantage vis-à-vis Wehlen. “I don’t have the old, ungrafted vines in Graach that I still have in parts of Wehlen,” explained Kerpen, “and for that reason I usually need to start the harvest in Graach, where the fruit is less stable, which often results in a tick higher acidity.” Kerpen is one of those growers who experienced significant botrytis in 2018, and the resulting nobly sweet wines are more successful than many from this vintage. Incidentally, a successful recent innovation chez Kerpen is complete conversion to harvesting with small lug bins, which can be pulled uphill through the vineyard via a cable hooked to Kerpen’s trusty vintage 1963 tractor. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2018 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett Trocken
Color: White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2023

Tasting notes: An alluring nose of vanilla and apple blossom leads into an appley, perfumed, polished, almost plush palate that nevertheless (at 11.5% alcohol) manages to evince some sense of lift. The finish is soothingly sustained and appropriately stone-lined.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen began harvesting on September 22, 2018 – typically if not notably early by vintage standards. “But you have to bear in mind the size of our estate,” he admonished. (It’s just shy of 20 acres.) “Many estates with far more to harvest did not begin any earlier than we did, and I believe that in Wehlen we were in fact the first. We finished around mid-October,” he added, “though by then we were losing acidity.” Kerpen reported having switched from his usual crush regimen to whole-cluster pressing for two lots of dry wine from 2018 after son Matthias, who is studying at Geisenheim, pointed out the theoretical advantages. “It was just as an experiment, you understand. And logically, the pH was lower, but only a little bit – not enough to justify the trouble taken.” This is in any event a year in which Kerpen’s non-dry bottlings, with their generally higher acidity, fared best, and Graach had a slight acid advantage vis-à-vis Wehlen. “I don’t have the old, ungrafted vines in Graach that I still have in parts of Wehlen,” explained Kerpen, “and for that reason I usually need to start the harvest in Graach, where the fruit is less stable, which often results in a tick higher acidity.” Kerpen is one of those growers who experienced significant botrytis in 2018, and the resulting nobly sweet wines are more successful than many from this vintage. Incidentally, a successful recent innovation chez Kerpen is complete conversion to harvesting with small lug bins, which can be pulled uphill through the vineyard via a cable hooked to Kerpen’s trusty vintage 1963 tractor. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2016 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett Trocken
Color: White

Score: 91.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2022

Tasting notes: Apple blossom and heliotrope on the nose reemerge as alluring inner-mouth perfume on a buoyant, satiny, infectiously juicy palate. This finishes with mouthwatering salinity and striking transparency to stony underpinnings, as well as infectious, consummately refreshing sheer juiciness. Here is yet another delicious demonstration that even under the sign of global warming, a satisfyingly complete, complex dry Mosel Riesling of less than 11% alcohol is possible. I may well be underestimating this one’s evolutionary potential.

Producer Commentary:
In setting out to describe 2016, Martin Kerpen immediately pointed to a difference in the character of acidity vis-à-vis 2015, so I was relieved as well as delighted, once we got down to tasting, to realize that he did not mean his 2016s were notably lower or less efficacious in acidity – on the contrary. A few wines dip below eight grams in acidity but most range from eight to nine. Bright animation and refreshment is the norm. Even the Kabinetts were not picked until the second and third weeks in October, but demonstrate that brightness and striking levity were consistent with ripe aromatics and flavor. There has seldom if ever been a more consistently impressive collection from this veteran grower, and it plays to his strengths as well as those of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Graacher Himmelreich by exemplifying poise and levity in dry, off-dry and unapologetically sweet variants. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2001 Riesling Eiswein Bernkasteler Bratenhofchen
Color: Sweet White

Score: 1.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Mint, bergamot, cherry and lemon in the nose. Pungency of Eiswein acids and sharp herbal notes contribute to a mustard cress character that certainly provides a raucous counterpoint with the honeyed richness and flavors of jellied red fruits. The lime, cherry and herb themes carry on in the finish. Give this some time. (I reserve judgement about a rather quiet, slightly volatile, treacly Wehlener Sonnenuhr TBA.) 1 star.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen is another Mosel grower who may never have rendered a finer collectionx000D than in 2001. (Terry Theise)Also recommended: ($33).
2018 Riesling Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett Trocken Zero
Color: White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2022

Tasting notes: After having failed to achieve it in 2017, Kerpen has once again managed a Graacher Kabinett that could advertise “zero” residual sugar. (The actual reading is 1.8 grams.) While that comes at the price of 12% alcohol, which arguably calls into question a billing as “Kabinett,” the wine is nevertheless stimulatingly tart despite its analytically low acidity. Crab apple and gooseberry mingle with stones and alkali on a firm palate and a clear, zingy, generously juicy finish.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen began harvesting on September 22, 2018 – typically if not notably early by vintage standards. “But you have to bear in mind the size of our estate,” he admonished. (It’s just shy of 20 acres.) “Many estates with far more to harvest did not begin any earlier than we did, and I believe that in Wehlen we were in fact the first. We finished around mid-October,” he added, “though by then we were losing acidity.” Kerpen reported having switched from his usual crush regimen to whole-cluster pressing for two lots of dry wine from 2018 after son Matthias, who is studying at Geisenheim, pointed out the theoretical advantages. “It was just as an experiment, you understand. And logically, the pH was lower, but only a little bit – not enough to justify the trouble taken.” This is in any event a year in which Kerpen’s non-dry bottlings, with their generally higher acidity, fared best, and Graach had a slight acid advantage vis-à-vis Wehlen. “I don’t have the old, ungrafted vines in Graach that I still have in parts of Wehlen,” explained Kerpen, “and for that reason I usually need to start the harvest in Graach, where the fruit is less stable, which often results in a tick higher acidity.” Kerpen is one of those growers who experienced significant botrytis in 2018, and the resulting nobly sweet wines are more successful than many from this vintage. Incidentally, a successful recent innovation chez Kerpen is complete conversion to harvesting with small lug bins, which can be pulled uphill through the vineyard via a cable hooked to Kerpen’s trusty vintage 1963 tractor. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
1998 Riesling Eiswein Bernkasteler Bratenhofchen
Color: Sweet White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Nut oils, incense and cherry in the nose. Meaty and firm on the palate, but with underlying creaminess. Cherry, musk and leather with chewy density, almost reminiscent of pinot noir and not at all obviously Eiswein. Fascinating finish of bitter cherry and pungent spice. This was the more exciting of two successful Eisweins.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen is on a roll, having again in '98 succeeded in a style which, happily for both parties, could never be confused with that of his famous Uferallee neighbor, Manfred Prum. If the list below seems short, that's largely because only a few of Kerpen's '98s will be coming to the States. (Terry Theise)
2016 Riesling Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett Trocken Zero
Color: White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2022

Tasting notes: After his serendipitous success with a batch of 2014 Graacher Himmelreich that fermented to negligible residual sugar, Kerpen has been on the lookout for another lot that might repeat that trick, and this year a portion of Himmelreich descended to 0.7 grams. It won’t make me forget that memorable 2014, but this is lovely, and a further illustration that Riesling can have unique charms (though naturally there can also be pitfalls) at extremely low levels of residual sugar such as we would consider normal in white Burgundy, Muscadet or most Loire Sauvignon Blanc. Musky peony, bruised apple skin and pungent lemon rind on the nose lead into a correspondingly pungent impression on a firm, brightly lemony and appley palate. The stimulating, refreshingly sustained finish is mouthwateringly salt-tinged and underlain with wet stone. This Riesling really sticks to the lips! (This “Zero” is the sole batch of Kerpen Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett trocken from vintage 2016.)

Producer Commentary:
In setting out to describe 2016, Martin Kerpen immediately pointed to a difference in the character of acidity vis-à-vis 2015, so I was relieved as well as delighted, once we got down to tasting, to realize that he did not mean his 2016s were notably lower or less efficacious in acidity – on the contrary. A few wines dip below eight grams in acidity but most range from eight to nine. Bright animation and refreshment is the norm. Even the Kabinetts were not picked until the second and third weeks in October, but demonstrate that brightness and striking levity were consistent with ripe aromatics and flavor. There has seldom if ever been a more consistently impressive collection from this veteran grower, and it plays to his strengths as well as those of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Graacher Himmelreich by exemplifying poise and levity in dry, off-dry and unapologetically sweet variants. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2018 Riesling Graacher Himmelreich Spätlese*
Color: White

Score: 92.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2035

Tasting notes: This “one-star” Himmelreich leads with scents and tangy profusion of pineapple. The feel is oily and rich, with a hint of honey, but without inhibiting apple and pineapple juiciness. Bittersweetly nutty notes and a kiss of stone serve for counterpoint on a lusciously yet animatingly lingering finish that pulls up short of becoming syrupy in sweetness or sacrificing juiciness. 

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen began harvesting on September 22, 2018 – typically if not notably early by vintage standards. “But you have to bear in mind the size of our estate,” he admonished. (It’s just shy of 20 acres.) “Many estates with far more to harvest did not begin any earlier than we did, and I believe that in Wehlen we were in fact the first. We finished around mid-October,” he added, “though by then we were losing acidity.” Kerpen reported having switched from his usual crush regimen to whole-cluster pressing for two lots of dry wine from 2018 after son Matthias, who is studying at Geisenheim, pointed out the theoretical advantages. “It was just as an experiment, you understand. And logically, the pH was lower, but only a little bit – not enough to justify the trouble taken.” This is in any event a year in which Kerpen’s non-dry bottlings, with their generally higher acidity, fared best, and Graach had a slight acid advantage vis-à-vis Wehlen. “I don’t have the old, ungrafted vines in Graach that I still have in parts of Wehlen,” explained Kerpen, “and for that reason I usually need to start the harvest in Graach, where the fruit is less stable, which often results in a tick higher acidity.” Kerpen is one of those growers who experienced significant botrytis in 2018, and the resulting nobly sweet wines are more successful than many from this vintage. Incidentally, a successful recent innovation chez Kerpen is complete conversion to harvesting with small lug bins, which can be pulled uphill through the vineyard via a cable hooked to Kerpen’s trusty vintage 1963 tractor. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2016 Riesling Graacher Himmelreich Spätlese*
Color: Sweet White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2030

Tasting notes: It strikes me that it has been quite some years since there was last a Kerpen Himmelreich Spätlese, let alone one he deemed star-worthy, and this bottling was due to be sold at auction. Scents and flavors of lemon curd and dried apple are complemented by a creamy feel and an unexpected influx of fresh lemon that enlivens a lingering finish. This is one of those 2016s that strikingly combine a sense of stuffing – in this case, of almost custardy richness – with alcoholic levity and refreshment.

Producer Commentary:
In setting out to describe 2016, Martin Kerpen immediately pointed to a difference in the character of acidity vis-à-vis 2015, so I was relieved as well as delighted, once we got down to tasting, to realize that he did not mean his 2016s were notably lower or less efficacious in acidity – on the contrary. A few wines dip below eight grams in acidity but most range from eight to nine. Bright animation and refreshment is the norm. Even the Kabinetts were not picked until the second and third weeks in October, but demonstrate that brightness and striking levity were consistent with ripe aromatics and flavor. There has seldom if ever been a more consistently impressive collection from this veteran grower, and it plays to his strengths as well as those of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Graacher Himmelreich by exemplifying poise and levity in dry, off-dry and unapologetically sweet variants. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2018 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese*
Color: Sweet White

Score: 91.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2032

Tasting notes: While it shares with its “no-star” counterpart a caressingly creamy palate and prominent sweetness, this “one-star” Wehlener Spätlese evinces a brighter sense of fresh apple juiciness. But at the same time, lily-like perfume and a shading into quince and Persian melon point to an advanced state of ripeness. Richness and primary juiciness complement one another on a finish that alluringly perpetuates the floral perfume.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen began harvesting on September 22, 2018 – typically if not notably early by vintage standards. “But you have to bear in mind the size of our estate,” he admonished. (It’s just shy of 20 acres.) “Many estates with far more to harvest did not begin any earlier than we did, and I believe that in Wehlen we were in fact the first. We finished around mid-October,” he added, “though by then we were losing acidity.” Kerpen reported having switched from his usual crush regimen to whole-cluster pressing for two lots of dry wine from 2018 after son Matthias, who is studying at Geisenheim, pointed out the theoretical advantages. “It was just as an experiment, you understand. And logically, the pH was lower, but only a little bit – not enough to justify the trouble taken.” This is in any event a year in which Kerpen’s non-dry bottlings, with their generally higher acidity, fared best, and Graach had a slight acid advantage vis-à-vis Wehlen. “I don’t have the old, ungrafted vines in Graach that I still have in parts of Wehlen,” explained Kerpen, “and for that reason I usually need to start the harvest in Graach, where the fruit is less stable, which often results in a tick higher acidity.” Kerpen is one of those growers who experienced significant botrytis in 2018, and the resulting nobly sweet wines are more successful than many from this vintage. Incidentally, a successful recent innovation chez Kerpen is complete conversion to harvesting with small lug bins, which can be pulled uphill through the vineyard via a cable hooked to Kerpen’s trusty vintage 1963 tractor. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2015 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese*
Color: Sweet White

Score: 92.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2034

Tasting notes: This "one-star" Spätlese reflects Kerpen’s best parcels in the Sonnenuhr as well as a more stringent selection than in the corresponding “regular” bottling. The floral dimension here turns to heady honeysuckle and lily, and to the extent that the appley fruit remains cidery, it’s now the refined, pure Normandy sort. At the same time, there is a refreshing, tangy citrus dimension here, favoring lime and grapefruit, that’s riper, more colorful and more efficacious than in other wines of this collection. The feel is polished, if (for now at least) not quite creamy, and the lingering finish is transparent to a dynamic interchange of diverse fruits and mineral nuances.

Producer Commentary:
A number of Kerpen’s 2015s are more marked by malic acid than is typical for the vintage or best for the wines, which is probably a big reason why he performed better at the residually sweet end of the spectrum. (And yes, I’m aware that certain influential German critics had the opposite impression.) But it isn’t as though he picked especially early; in fact, he continued into November. For reasons I also wasn’t able to draw out from him, and abstracting from a dearth of nobly sweet offerings that reflects paucity of botrytis, Kerpen rendered a significantly smaller than usual number of individual bottlings from 2015. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2016 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese
Color: Sweet White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2026

Tasting notes: Dried apple is tinged with brown spices on the nose, and the doughy-rich palate impression is correspondingly ripe yet lacking in the fresh fruit or floral perfume that rendered most of this collection’s Sonnenuhr bottlings memorable. The finish is soothingly sustained and rounds off sweetly and creamily, with a kiss of nut oils and vanilla. This Spätlese illustrates the hint of overripeness and the touch of botrytis that overtook fruit in certain sectors of the Sonnenuhr at some point in late October. 

Producer Commentary:
In setting out to describe 2016, Martin Kerpen immediately pointed to a difference in the character of acidity vis-à-vis 2015, so I was relieved as well as delighted, once we got down to tasting, to realize that he did not mean his 2016s were notably lower or less efficacious in acidity – on the contrary. A few wines dip below eight grams in acidity but most range from eight to nine. Bright animation and refreshment is the norm. Even the Kabinetts were not picked until the second and third weeks in October, but demonstrate that brightness and striking levity were consistent with ripe aromatics and flavor. There has seldom if ever been a more consistently impressive collection from this veteran grower, and it plays to his strengths as well as those of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Graacher Himmelreich by exemplifying poise and levity in dry, off-dry and unapologetically sweet variants. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2017 Riesling Trocken Blauschiefer
Color: White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2021

Tasting notes: Sourced, as usual, primarily from Bernkastel with a bit of Wehlener Rosenberg, this leads with scents of apple, licorice and vanilla. It comes to the palate refreshingly bright as well as buoyant (reflecting a mere 11.5% alcohol), yet at the same time with a plush, almost custardy texture. Juicy apple is joined by the aforementioned spices as well as by subtly nutty piquancy, leading to a finish where slight earthiness impinges on the fruit. For hardly the first time, this bottling outperforms the expectations aroused by its modest price.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen compares 2017 with 2013 – and without any nostalgia. Both vintages suffered from hail damage (in 2017 affecting Graach, and coming on top of April frost). Both were plagued by excessive moisture and troublesome botrytis in the run-up to harvest. Qualitatively, though, both of these high-acid vintages proved quite successful chez Kerpen, though he claims to have suffered “at least” a 50% crop loss in 2017. Harvest began on September 28, 2017 (2018 was to commence a full 10 days earlier), and amid the depressingly tedious work of cutting out hail-affected, ignobly botrytized or acescent clusters (or portions thereof), Kerpen and his crew experienced early delight at being able to select ennobled fruit for a formidable TBA. Even allowing for the requisite selectivity, harvest was finished soon after mid-October, since the weather had stabilized and there wasn’t much fruit to process. In contrast with his neighbors at Joh. Jos. Prüm, Kerpen reported that the precocious early heat and eventually tiny crop of 2017 did not translate into accelerated sugar accumulation to the extent that he had anticipated, so that not only do his dry wines – including that labeled “Grosses Gewächs” – sport less than 12% alcohol across the board, but there was also a relatively decent volume of genuine Kabinett. “But of course,” he added, “that’s why I don’t dawdle when it comes to beginning the harvest. I don’t want any fat dry wines.” As usual for this estate, nearly all of the wines, regardless of style, were bottled in April, and I can’t help wondering whether some of the drier wines – impressive though the best often are – would be even more so if given a bit longer to evolve in cask. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2016 Riesling Trocken Blauschiefer
Color: White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2019

Tasting notes: Sourced primarily from Bernkastel plus a bit of Wehlener Rosenberg, this cuvée delivers a meld of juicy dark cherry, fresh apple and grapefruit on a surprisingly glossy, satiny palate. Hints of pit and seed lend invigoratingly piquant counterpoint on a refreshing finish. Once again, Martin Kerpen has managed to deliver excellent value in a generic dry Mosel Riesling.

Producer Commentary:
In setting out to describe 2016, Martin Kerpen immediately pointed to a difference in the character of acidity vis-à-vis 2015, so I was relieved as well as delighted, once we got down to tasting, to realize that he did not mean his 2016s were notably lower or less efficacious in acidity – on the contrary. A few wines dip below eight grams in acidity but most range from eight to nine. Bright animation and refreshment is the norm. Even the Kabinetts were not picked until the second and third weeks in October, but demonstrate that brightness and striking levity were consistent with ripe aromatics and flavor. There has seldom if ever been a more consistently impressive collection from this veteran grower, and it plays to his strengths as well as those of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Graacher Himmelreich by exemplifying poise and levity in dry, off-dry and unapologetically sweet variants. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2015 Riesling Trocken Blauschiefer
Color: White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2019

Tasting notes: From Bernkastel and Graach fruit, this cuvée projects a brashly cidery and tart amalgam of apple and lemon but also hints at Bernkastel-typical, piquantly pit-tinged cherry. Firm in feel but generously and refreshingly juicy, it finishes with nutty and stony counterpoint, chew of apple skin and zest of lemon serving for tingling invigoration. (This year’s sappy, cidery non-trocken Blauschiefer bottling was considerably less interesting or invigorating.)

Producer Commentary:
A number of Kerpen’s 2015s are more marked by malic acid than is typical for the vintage or best for the wines, which is probably a big reason why he performed better at the residually sweet end of the spectrum. (And yes, I’m aware that certain influential German critics had the opposite impression.) But it isn’t as though he picked especially early; in fact, he continued into November. For reasons I also wasn’t able to draw out from him, and abstracting from a dearth of nobly sweet offerings that reflects paucity of botrytis, Kerpen rendered a significantly smaller than usual number of individual bottlings from 2015. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2014 Riesling Trocken Blauschiefer
Color: White

Score: 87.0

Drinking window: 2016 - 2017

Tasting notes: This diversely-sourced Kerpen generic projects juicy, tart-edged fresh apple and lemon against an appropriate background of wet stone, finishing with sustained refreshment, if simplicity and a certain austerity. 

Producer Commentary:
This estate’s wines first came to prominence when as a very young man in the late 1980s Martin Kerpen took over responsibility for his family’s winery (then known as Weingut Heribert Kerpen) from his mother, a lifelong full-time schoolteacher. From the start, his wines combined generosity with considerable refinement, and high quality at this address has long extended all the way from delicate trocken to opulent T.B.A. Kerpen was especially successful in the tricky 2011 and 2013 vintages, and the 2014s seem to confirm his having reached a new level of overall excellence, not to mention his ability to surmount meteorological obstacles. If there has been an occasional weak point in Kerpen’s frequently sprawling collections, it has been an exaggerated or rustic expression of botrytis, so despite his having beaten the averages in 2014, it’s not too surprising that some of this vintage’s wines hint at aspects of botrytis that lead me to be conservative in predicting their ageabilty. Kerpen has long employed multiple stars for designating riper and ostensibly superior bottlings of Prädikats above Kabinett, although their use in 2014 is sparing, as reflects the challenges of that vintage.
2015 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Beerenauslese
Color: Sweet White

Score: 94.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2045

Tasting notes: This reflects selections from numerous parcels both at the vine and in the cellar. High-toned, penetrating aromas of apple and quince in jellied and distilled form, along with candied lime and tangerine peels, set the stage for an oily, creamy, viscous, concentrated palate performance favoring the confitured and confectionary, almost syrupy, but shot through with efficacious fresh lime and tangerine. Hints of caramel and white raisin join in on a resounding, vibrantly sustained finish.

Producer Commentary:
A number of Kerpen’s 2015s are more marked by malic acid than is typical for the vintage or best for the wines, which is probably a big reason why he performed better at the residually sweet end of the spectrum. (And yes, I’m aware that certain influential German critics had the opposite impression.) But it isn’t as though he picked especially early; in fact, he continued into November. For reasons I also wasn’t able to draw out from him, and abstracting from a dearth of nobly sweet offerings that reflects paucity of botrytis, Kerpen rendered a significantly smaller than usual number of individual bottlings from 2015. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2017 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett
Color: White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2025

Tasting notes: Apple blossom, honeysuckle, heliotrope and peony waft alluringly from the glass, then migrate as inner-mouth perfume to a palate at once creamy and brightly juicy with fresh apple fruit. Inexplicably, this lets one down just a tad, given a finish that, while sustained, lacks a mineral dimension or quite the anticipated florality and animation. That said, the overall effect here is very satisfying, and the wine is well worth revisiting. 

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen compares 2017 with 2013 – and without any nostalgia. Both vintages suffered from hail damage (in 2017 affecting Graach, and coming on top of April frost). Both were plagued by excessive moisture and troublesome botrytis in the run-up to harvest. Qualitatively, though, both of these high-acid vintages proved quite successful chez Kerpen, though he claims to have suffered “at least” a 50% crop loss in 2017. Harvest began on September 28, 2017 (2018 was to commence a full 10 days earlier), and amid the depressingly tedious work of cutting out hail-affected, ignobly botrytized or acescent clusters (or portions thereof), Kerpen and his crew experienced early delight at being able to select ennobled fruit for a formidable TBA. Even allowing for the requisite selectivity, harvest was finished soon after mid-October, since the weather had stabilized and there wasn’t much fruit to process. In contrast with his neighbors at Joh. Jos. Prüm, Kerpen reported that the precocious early heat and eventually tiny crop of 2017 did not translate into accelerated sugar accumulation to the extent that he had anticipated, so that not only do his dry wines – including that labeled “Grosses Gewächs” – sport less than 12% alcohol across the board, but there was also a relatively decent volume of genuine Kabinett. “But of course,” he added, “that’s why I don’t dawdle when it comes to beginning the harvest. I don’t want any fat dry wines.” As usual for this estate, nearly all of the wines, regardless of style, were bottled in April, and I can’t help wondering whether some of the drier wines – impressive though the best often are – would be even more so if given a bit longer to evolve in cask. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2018 Riesling Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett Feinherb
Color: White

Score: 92.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2032

Tasting notes: This year’s art-label (a.k.a. “Kollektion Kerpen”) bottling exhibits crunchy apple and celery as well as cooling basil and mint inflections and a cress-like bite. The polished palate is luscious and buoyant, and the stone-lined, mouthwateringly salt-tinged finish is not just surprisingly crunchy and cooling but also uncommonly energetic and refreshing for a 2018 (although, analytically speaking, total acidity is very modest). For by no means the first time, Kerpen has outdone himself with this particular bottling.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen began harvesting on September 22, 2018 – typically if not notably early by vintage standards. “But you have to bear in mind the size of our estate,” he admonished. (It’s just shy of 20 acres.) “Many estates with far more to harvest did not begin any earlier than we did, and I believe that in Wehlen we were in fact the first. We finished around mid-October,” he added, “though by then we were losing acidity.” Kerpen reported having switched from his usual crush regimen to whole-cluster pressing for two lots of dry wine from 2018 after son Matthias, who is studying at Geisenheim, pointed out the theoretical advantages. “It was just as an experiment, you understand. And logically, the pH was lower, but only a little bit – not enough to justify the trouble taken.” This is in any event a year in which Kerpen’s non-dry bottlings, with their generally higher acidity, fared best, and Graach had a slight acid advantage vis-à-vis Wehlen. “I don’t have the old, ungrafted vines in Graach that I still have in parts of Wehlen,” explained Kerpen, “and for that reason I usually need to start the harvest in Graach, where the fruit is less stable, which often results in a tick higher acidity.” Kerpen is one of those growers who experienced significant botrytis in 2018, and the resulting nobly sweet wines are more successful than many from this vintage. Incidentally, a successful recent innovation chez Kerpen is complete conversion to harvesting with small lug bins, which can be pulled uphill through the vineyard via a cable hooked to Kerpen’s trusty vintage 1963 tractor. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2017 Riesling Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett Feinherb
Color: White

Score: 91.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2028

Tasting notes: This year’s art-label (a.k.a. “Kollektion Kerpen”) bottling shares with certain other 2017s at this address a cidery apple character and sweaty salinity, to which is added a hint of pineapple core. The upshot is tinglingly tangy as well as mouthwatering. Yet there is also a hint of textural creaminess. The finish is invigoratingly and refreshingly sustained, to all intents and purposes dry, yet with highly efficacious “hidden sweetness” from 15 grams of residual sugar. This won’t make one forget its sensational 2016 predecessor (which the winery is still selling in magnum), but is still sheer delight. (Given losses to frost and hail, Kerpen essayed no overtly sweet vintage 2017 Graacher Himmelreich.)

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen compares 2017 with 2013 – and without any nostalgia. Both vintages suffered from hail damage (in 2017 affecting Graach, and coming on top of April frost). Both were plagued by excessive moisture and troublesome botrytis in the run-up to harvest. Qualitatively, though, both of these high-acid vintages proved quite successful chez Kerpen, though he claims to have suffered “at least” a 50% crop loss in 2017. Harvest began on September 28, 2017 (2018 was to commence a full 10 days earlier), and amid the depressingly tedious work of cutting out hail-affected, ignobly botrytized or acescent clusters (or portions thereof), Kerpen and his crew experienced early delight at being able to select ennobled fruit for a formidable TBA. Even allowing for the requisite selectivity, harvest was finished soon after mid-October, since the weather had stabilized and there wasn’t much fruit to process. In contrast with his neighbors at Joh. Jos. Prüm, Kerpen reported that the precocious early heat and eventually tiny crop of 2017 did not translate into accelerated sugar accumulation to the extent that he had anticipated, so that not only do his dry wines – including that labeled “Grosses Gewächs” – sport less than 12% alcohol across the board, but there was also a relatively decent volume of genuine Kabinett. “But of course,” he added, “that’s why I don’t dawdle when it comes to beginning the harvest. I don’t want any fat dry wines.” As usual for this estate, nearly all of the wines, regardless of style, were bottled in April, and I can’t help wondering whether some of the drier wines – impressive though the best often are – would be even more so if given a bit longer to evolve in cask. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2016 Riesling Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett Feinherb
Color: White

Score: 93.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2026

Tasting notes: This year’s art-label (a.k.a. “Kollektion Kerpen”) bottling is scented and juicily brims with fresh apple and lemon, of which the merest hint of sweetness is entirely supportive. A range of maritime mineral notes serve for intrigue and saliva inducement on a subtly creamy palate as well as in a buoyant, lusciously lingering, consummately refreshing finish to which piquant, smoky nuttiness and a raw scallop-like sense of sweet-saline, animal savor lend further complexity and allure. This multidimensional display demonstrates not only the compatibility of profound complexity with alcoholic levity born of modest must weight, but also the singular ability of Riesling to display hidden sweetness whose significance will hit you the minute you begin deploying this wine at table. 

Producer Commentary:
In setting out to describe 2016, Martin Kerpen immediately pointed to a difference in the character of acidity vis-à-vis 2015, so I was relieved as well as delighted, once we got down to tasting, to realize that he did not mean his 2016s were notably lower or less efficacious in acidity – on the contrary. A few wines dip below eight grams in acidity but most range from eight to nine. Bright animation and refreshment is the norm. Even the Kabinetts were not picked until the second and third weeks in October, but demonstrate that brightness and striking levity were consistent with ripe aromatics and flavor. There has seldom if ever been a more consistently impressive collection from this veteran grower, and it plays to his strengths as well as those of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Graacher Himmelreich by exemplifying poise and levity in dry, off-dry and unapologetically sweet variants. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2015 Riesling Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett Feinherb
Color: White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2022

Tasting notes: Buoyant at 10.5 percent alcohol and subtly but supportively sweet, this delivers a brightly juicy, satisfyingly cooling amalgam of green-herb-laced apple, honeydew melon and lime. The feel is firm, and the invigoratingly sustained finish is tinglingly laced with lime zest and suggestive of crystalline mineral impingements.

Producer Commentary:
A number of Kerpen’s 2015s are more marked by malic acid than is typical for the vintage or best for the wines, which is probably a big reason why he performed better at the residually sweet end of the spectrum. (And yes, I’m aware that certain influential German critics had the opposite impression.) But it isn’t as though he picked especially early; in fact, he continued into November. For reasons I also wasn’t able to draw out from him, and abstracting from a dearth of nobly sweet offerings that reflects paucity of botrytis, Kerpen rendered a significantly smaller than usual number of individual bottlings from 2015. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2018 Riesling Graacher Domprobst Spätlese Feinherb
Color: White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2022

Tasting notes: Apple with bruised skin on the nose is joined by bittersweet grapefruit peel on the soft midpalate. Suggestions of apple blossom and heliotrope make for pleasing inner-mouth perfume. The finish is undeniably persistent, but lacking in focus, refreshment or transparency to mineral nuances. In the context of Kerpen’s current collection, this appears to be the proverbial “one that got away.”

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen began harvesting on September 22, 2018 – typically if not notably early by vintage standards. “But you have to bear in mind the size of our estate,” he admonished. (It’s just shy of 20 acres.) “Many estates with far more to harvest did not begin any earlier than we did, and I believe that in Wehlen we were in fact the first. We finished around mid-October,” he added, “though by then we were losing acidity.” Kerpen reported having switched from his usual crush regimen to whole-cluster pressing for two lots of dry wine from 2018 after son Matthias, who is studying at Geisenheim, pointed out the theoretical advantages. “It was just as an experiment, you understand. And logically, the pH was lower, but only a little bit – not enough to justify the trouble taken.” This is in any event a year in which Kerpen’s non-dry bottlings, with their generally higher acidity, fared best, and Graach had a slight acid advantage vis-à-vis Wehlen. “I don’t have the old, ungrafted vines in Graach that I still have in parts of Wehlen,” explained Kerpen, “and for that reason I usually need to start the harvest in Graach, where the fruit is less stable, which often results in a tick higher acidity.” Kerpen is one of those growers who experienced significant botrytis in 2018, and the resulting nobly sweet wines are more successful than many from this vintage. Incidentally, a successful recent innovation chez Kerpen is complete conversion to harvesting with small lug bins, which can be pulled uphill through the vineyard via a cable hooked to Kerpen’s trusty vintage 1963 tractor. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2017 Riesling Graacher Domprobst Spätlese Feinherb
Color: White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2027

Tasting notes: Scents of bruised skin and crushed seeds signal that the appley fruit on display here will incorporate abundant tang, tartness and piquancy. At the same time, there is a hint of textural creaminess as well as a fascinating sense of fresh and baked apple coexisting in productive tension. The stimulatingly sustained, very discreetly sweet finish adds nutty richness and a decisive undertone of wet stone. (Given losses to frost and hail, Kerpen essayed no vintage 2017 Domprobst Grosses Gewächs.)

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen compares 2017 with 2013 – and without any nostalgia. Both vintages suffered from hail damage (in 2017 affecting Graach, and coming on top of April frost). Both were plagued by excessive moisture and troublesome botrytis in the run-up to harvest. Qualitatively, though, both of these high-acid vintages proved quite successful chez Kerpen, though he claims to have suffered “at least” a 50% crop loss in 2017. Harvest began on September 28, 2017 (2018 was to commence a full 10 days earlier), and amid the depressingly tedious work of cutting out hail-affected, ignobly botrytized or acescent clusters (or portions thereof), Kerpen and his crew experienced early delight at being able to select ennobled fruit for a formidable TBA. Even allowing for the requisite selectivity, harvest was finished soon after mid-October, since the weather had stabilized and there wasn’t much fruit to process. In contrast with his neighbors at Joh. Jos. Prüm, Kerpen reported that the precocious early heat and eventually tiny crop of 2017 did not translate into accelerated sugar accumulation to the extent that he had anticipated, so that not only do his dry wines – including that labeled “Grosses Gewächs” – sport less than 12% alcohol across the board, but there was also a relatively decent volume of genuine Kabinett. “But of course,” he added, “that’s why I don’t dawdle when it comes to beginning the harvest. I don’t want any fat dry wines.” As usual for this estate, nearly all of the wines, regardless of style, were bottled in April, and I can’t help wondering whether some of the drier wines – impressive though the best often are – would be even more so if given a bit longer to evolve in cask. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2016 Riesling Graacher Domprobst Spätlese Feinherb
Color: White

Score: 91.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2026

Tasting notes: Fresh apple, walnut and almond on the nose reconvene on a glossy, subtly creamy palate, where peach, mango and muskmelon, reinforced by subtle sweetness, add to the wine’s fruity allure. The nuttiness offers welcome counterpoint on a lusciously lingering, stone-lined finish. I miss the focus, animation and mouthwateringly saline aspects that characterized several of this year’s legally dry Kerpen bottlings, but this represents a gorgeous expression of its site as well as adeptly balanced residual sugar.

Producer Commentary:
In setting out to describe 2016, Martin Kerpen immediately pointed to a difference in the character of acidity vis-à-vis 2015, so I was relieved as well as delighted, once we got down to tasting, to realize that he did not mean his 2016s were notably lower or less efficacious in acidity – on the contrary. A few wines dip below eight grams in acidity but most range from eight to nine. Bright animation and refreshment is the norm. Even the Kabinetts were not picked until the second and third weeks in October, but demonstrate that brightness and striking levity were consistent with ripe aromatics and flavor. There has seldom if ever been a more consistently impressive collection from this veteran grower, and it plays to his strengths as well as those of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Graacher Himmelreich by exemplifying poise and levity in dry, off-dry and unapologetically sweet variants. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2015 Riesling Graacher Domprobst Spätlese Feinherb
Color: White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2022

Tasting notes: Fresh apple and wet stone on the nose translate into juicy abundance on a firm palate, with subtle sweetness providing support on a finish invigoratingly tinged with piquant apple seeds as well as stony and alkaline nuances. This lacks the diversity or buoyancy of this year’s Himmelreich Kabinett feinherb, but its interaction of relatively single-minded fruitiness with pronounced minerality is highly appealing and inimitably Mosel.

Producer Commentary:
A number of Kerpen’s 2015s are more marked by malic acid than is typical for the vintage or best for the wines, which is probably a big reason why he performed better at the residually sweet end of the spectrum. (And yes, I’m aware that certain influential German critics had the opposite impression.) But it isn’t as though he picked especially early; in fact, he continued into November. For reasons I also wasn’t able to draw out from him, and abstracting from a dearth of nobly sweet offerings that reflects paucity of botrytis, Kerpen rendered a significantly smaller than usual number of individual bottlings from 2015. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2018 Riesling Graacher Domprobst Kabinett Trocken
Color: White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2025

Tasting notes: Bruised apple skin and wet stone on the nose anticipate what follows. This bottling combines rounded richness with modest lift (at 11.5% alcohol) as well as welcome, surprising tang. Site-typical apple and toasted hickory nut feature on a polished palate and a sustained finish transparent to stony underpinnings. The wine’s nearly nine grams of residual sugar, when taken together with its modest acidity, engender a supportive sense of hidden sweetness. 

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen began harvesting on September 22, 2018 – typically if not notably early by vintage standards. “But you have to bear in mind the size of our estate,” he admonished. (It’s just shy of 20 acres.) “Many estates with far more to harvest did not begin any earlier than we did, and I believe that in Wehlen we were in fact the first. We finished around mid-October,” he added, “though by then we were losing acidity.” Kerpen reported having switched from his usual crush regimen to whole-cluster pressing for two lots of dry wine from 2018 after son Matthias, who is studying at Geisenheim, pointed out the theoretical advantages. “It was just as an experiment, you understand. And logically, the pH was lower, but only a little bit – not enough to justify the trouble taken.” This is in any event a year in which Kerpen’s non-dry bottlings, with their generally higher acidity, fared best, and Graach had a slight acid advantage vis-à-vis Wehlen. “I don’t have the old, ungrafted vines in Graach that I still have in parts of Wehlen,” explained Kerpen, “and for that reason I usually need to start the harvest in Graach, where the fruit is less stable, which often results in a tick higher acidity.” Kerpen is one of those growers who experienced significant botrytis in 2018, and the resulting nobly sweet wines are more successful than many from this vintage. Incidentally, a successful recent innovation chez Kerpen is complete conversion to harvesting with small lug bins, which can be pulled uphill through the vineyard via a cable hooked to Kerpen’s trusty vintage 1963 tractor. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2017 Riesling Graacher Domprobst Kabinett Trocken
Color: White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2023

Tasting notes: Apple and pear on the nose are invigoratingly marked on a buoyant, otherwise waxy palate by the insistent tang and cut of their skins. Musky floral overtones also carry onto the palate. There is a hint of earthiness to the buoyant, stimulatingly sustained, generously juicy finish. (Given losses to frost and hail, Kerpen essayed no vintage 2017 Domprobst Grosses Gewächs.)

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen compares 2017 with 2013 – and without any nostalgia. Both vintages suffered from hail damage (in 2017 affecting Graach, and coming on top of April frost). Both were plagued by excessive moisture and troublesome botrytis in the run-up to harvest. Qualitatively, though, both of these high-acid vintages proved quite successful chez Kerpen, though he claims to have suffered “at least” a 50% crop loss in 2017. Harvest began on September 28, 2017 (2018 was to commence a full 10 days earlier), and amid the depressingly tedious work of cutting out hail-affected, ignobly botrytized or acescent clusters (or portions thereof), Kerpen and his crew experienced early delight at being able to select ennobled fruit for a formidable TBA. Even allowing for the requisite selectivity, harvest was finished soon after mid-October, since the weather had stabilized and there wasn’t much fruit to process. In contrast with his neighbors at Joh. Jos. Prüm, Kerpen reported that the precocious early heat and eventually tiny crop of 2017 did not translate into accelerated sugar accumulation to the extent that he had anticipated, so that not only do his dry wines – including that labeled “Grosses Gewächs” – sport less than 12% alcohol across the board, but there was also a relatively decent volume of genuine Kabinett. “But of course,” he added, “that’s why I don’t dawdle when it comes to beginning the harvest. I don’t want any fat dry wines.” As usual for this estate, nearly all of the wines, regardless of style, were bottled in April, and I can’t help wondering whether some of the drier wines – impressive though the best often are – would be even more so if given a bit longer to evolve in cask. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2016 Riesling Graacher Domprobst Grosses Gewächs
Color: White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2022

Tasting notes: Scents of apple and almond anticipate the soothing satisfaction on a palate that is creamy and suggests stuffing without being heavy. There is a hint of overt lactic acid, and perhaps for that reason I don’t perceive the focus, diversity or animation that characterizes most of Kerpen’s current collection. That having been noted, the finish boasts impressive persistence, stimulatingly piquant, smoky nut oils and a strong undertone of wet stone. I call your attention to my substantially revised note in this report on Kerpen’s 2015 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Grosses Gewächs. It could be that this 2016 will similarly benefit from another year in bottle.

Producer Commentary:
In setting out to describe 2016, Martin Kerpen immediately pointed to a difference in the character of acidity vis-à-vis 2015, so I was relieved as well as delighted, once we got down to tasting, to realize that he did not mean his 2016s were notably lower or less efficacious in acidity – on the contrary. A few wines dip below eight grams in acidity but most range from eight to nine. Bright animation and refreshment is the norm. Even the Kabinetts were not picked until the second and third weeks in October, but demonstrate that brightness and striking levity were consistent with ripe aromatics and flavor. There has seldom if ever been a more consistently impressive collection from this veteran grower, and it plays to his strengths as well as those of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Graacher Himmelreich by exemplifying poise and levity in dry, off-dry and unapologetically sweet variants. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2015 Riesling Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett Trocken
Color: White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2022

Tasting notes: Fresh apple accented with piquant hickory nut and lemon peel makes for a pungently penetrating nose and pithily concentrated but subtly satiny and refreshingly juicy palate. The finish here is nicely transparent to a Mosel-typical undertone of wet stone, its faintly bitter nip of lemon peel contributing invigoration.

Producer Commentary:
A number of Kerpen’s 2015s are more marked by malic acid than is typical for the vintage or best for the wines, which is probably a big reason why he performed better at the residually sweet end of the spectrum. (And yes, I’m aware that certain influential German critics had the opposite impression.) But it isn’t as though he picked especially early; in fact, he continued into November. For reasons I also wasn’t able to draw out from him, and abstracting from a dearth of nobly sweet offerings that reflects paucity of botrytis, Kerpen rendered a significantly smaller than usual number of individual bottlings from 2015. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2014 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett Trocken
Color: White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2016 - 2020

Tasting notes: The remainder of Kerpen’s Himmelreich Kabinett (after separately bottling the striking lot he nicknamed “Zero”) weighs in at a feather-light 10 percent alcohol. Chewy, tart-edged apple and bright lemon cavort on a surprisingly subtly creamy palate, leading to a refreshingly sustained, vibratory finish underlain with Mosel-typical wet stone. 

Producer Commentary:
This estate’s wines first came to prominence when as a very young man in the late 1980s Martin Kerpen took over responsibility for his family’s winery (then known as Weingut Heribert Kerpen) from his mother, a lifelong full-time schoolteacher. From the start, his wines combined generosity with considerable refinement, and high quality at this address has long extended all the way from delicate trocken to opulent T.B.A. Kerpen was especially successful in the tricky 2011 and 2013 vintages, and the 2014s seem to confirm his having reached a new level of overall excellence, not to mention his ability to surmount meteorological obstacles. If there has been an occasional weak point in Kerpen’s frequently sprawling collections, it has been an exaggerated or rustic expression of botrytis, so despite his having beaten the averages in 2014, it’s not too surprising that some of this vintage’s wines hint at aspects of botrytis that lead me to be conservative in predicting their ageabilty. Kerpen has long employed multiple stars for designating riper and ostensibly superior bottlings of Prädikats above Kabinett, although their use in 2014 is sparing, as reflects the challenges of that vintage.
2018 Riesling Classic
Color: White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2022

Tasting notes: This very discreetly off-dry counterpart of the Kerpen Blauschiefer trocken is sourced primarily from Graach and Wehlen. The hint of sweetness is nicely supportive of generously juicy apple, while piquant apple seed and lemon zest accents are stimulatingly folded in. The refreshingly and quite vibrantly sustained finish exhibits admirable brightness, which is understandable given significantly higher acidity than in any of this year’s legally dry bottlings. (There is also a third, sweeter generic bottling from 2018, but I did not get to taste it.)

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen began harvesting on September 22, 2018 – typically if not notably early by vintage standards. “But you have to bear in mind the size of our estate,” he admonished. (It’s just shy of 20 acres.) “Many estates with far more to harvest did not begin any earlier than we did, and I believe that in Wehlen we were in fact the first. We finished around mid-October,” he added, “though by then we were losing acidity.” Kerpen reported having switched from his usual crush regimen to whole-cluster pressing for two lots of dry wine from 2018 after son Matthias, who is studying at Geisenheim, pointed out the theoretical advantages. “It was just as an experiment, you understand. And logically, the pH was lower, but only a little bit – not enough to justify the trouble taken.” This is in any event a year in which Kerpen’s non-dry bottlings, with their generally higher acidity, fared best, and Graach had a slight acid advantage vis-à-vis Wehlen. “I don’t have the old, ungrafted vines in Graach that I still have in parts of Wehlen,” explained Kerpen, “and for that reason I usually need to start the harvest in Graach, where the fruit is less stable, which often results in a tick higher acidity.” Kerpen is one of those growers who experienced significant botrytis in 2018, and the resulting nobly sweet wines are more successful than many from this vintage. Incidentally, a successful recent innovation chez Kerpen is complete conversion to harvesting with small lug bins, which can be pulled uphill through the vineyard via a cable hooked to Kerpen’s trusty vintage 1963 tractor. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2016 Riesling Classic
Color: White

Score: 87.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2018

Tasting notes: This is among the last remaining German Rieslings labeled for the official “Classic” category that I still taste. (Max. Ferd. Richter is another such holdout.) Dry-tasting, though legally halbtrocken, this widely sourced cuvée features juicy fresh apple on a silken palate, leading to a refreshing finish stimulatingly tinged with toasted nuts and wet stone.

Producer Commentary:
In setting out to describe 2016, Martin Kerpen immediately pointed to a difference in the character of acidity vis-à-vis 2015, so I was relieved as well as delighted, once we got down to tasting, to realize that he did not mean his 2016s were notably lower or less efficacious in acidity – on the contrary. A few wines dip below eight grams in acidity but most range from eight to nine. Bright animation and refreshment is the norm. Even the Kabinetts were not picked until the second and third weeks in October, but demonstrate that brightness and striking levity were consistent with ripe aromatics and flavor. There has seldom if ever been a more consistently impressive collection from this veteran grower, and it plays to his strengths as well as those of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Graacher Himmelreich by exemplifying poise and levity in dry, off-dry and unapologetically sweet variants. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2014 Riesling Classic
Color: White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2016 - 2017

Tasting notes: Fresh apple on a juicy, subtly creamy, palpably extract-rich yet buoyant palate leads to a satisfyingly sustained, simultaneously soothing and stimulating finish that tingles with apple skin and lime zest. Kerpen, who sources this bottling from Graach and Lieser, is among the few growers I visit to have continued utilizing the legally defined term “Classic” for a Riesling on the cusp of legal dryness, with results that are consistently a credit to that largely discredited and discarded relic of a late-20th-century attempt to render Riesling trendy inside Germany. Besides sporting an English name, “Classic” Rieslings utilized Bordeaux-shaped bottles – a practice Kerpen perpetuates – in the hope of appealing to German consumers who would more likely purchase a Pinot Grigio. (A slightly sweet, diffuse non-“Classic” generic bottling in this collection was its only real disappointment.)

Producer Commentary:
This estate’s wines first came to prominence when as a very young man in the late 1980s Martin Kerpen took over responsibility for his family’s winery (then known as Weingut Heribert Kerpen) from his mother, a lifelong full-time schoolteacher. From the start, his wines combined generosity with considerable refinement, and high quality at this address has long extended all the way from delicate trocken to opulent T.B.A. Kerpen was especially successful in the tricky 2011 and 2013 vintages, and the 2014s seem to confirm his having reached a new level of overall excellence, not to mention his ability to surmount meteorological obstacles. If there has been an occasional weak point in Kerpen’s frequently sprawling collections, it has been an exaggerated or rustic expression of botrytis, so despite his having beaten the averages in 2014, it’s not too surprising that some of this vintage’s wines hint at aspects of botrytis that lead me to be conservative in predicting their ageabilty. Kerpen has long employed multiple stars for designating riper and ostensibly superior bottlings of Prädikats above Kabinett, although their use in 2014 is sparing, as reflects the challenges of that vintage.
2017 Riesling Bernkasteler Bratenhöfchen Auslese**
Color: Sweet White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2025 - 2038

Tasting notes: From small holdings whose fruit often stays hanging in hope of Eiswein, not infrequently gets decimated by wild boar from the neighboring woods, and this year was hit hard by frost not at harvest but in April, I was happy to again see a “normal” Riesling. Well, normal if you consider that after picking everything that looked good – healthy as well as nobly botrytized – Kerpen ended up with an extremely concentrated high-end Auslese must. There is a downright syrupy impression here from viscosity and high residual sugar, candied dark cherry, licorice and vanilla cream dominating on both nose and palate. A welcome influx of fresh albeit overripe honeydew melon adds appeal to an impressively persistent if overbearingly sweet finish. With enough time in bottle – we might be talking a decade, though – this will probably back off in sweetness and might display greater complexity.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen compares 2017 with 2013 – and without any nostalgia. Both vintages suffered from hail damage (in 2017 affecting Graach, and coming on top of April frost). Both were plagued by excessive moisture and troublesome botrytis in the run-up to harvest. Qualitatively, though, both of these high-acid vintages proved quite successful chez Kerpen, though he claims to have suffered “at least” a 50% crop loss in 2017. Harvest began on September 28, 2017 (2018 was to commence a full 10 days earlier), and amid the depressingly tedious work of cutting out hail-affected, ignobly botrytized or acescent clusters (or portions thereof), Kerpen and his crew experienced early delight at being able to select ennobled fruit for a formidable TBA. Even allowing for the requisite selectivity, harvest was finished soon after mid-October, since the weather had stabilized and there wasn’t much fruit to process. In contrast with his neighbors at Joh. Jos. Prüm, Kerpen reported that the precocious early heat and eventually tiny crop of 2017 did not translate into accelerated sugar accumulation to the extent that he had anticipated, so that not only do his dry wines – including that labeled “Grosses Gewächs” – sport less than 12% alcohol across the board, but there was also a relatively decent volume of genuine Kabinett. “But of course,” he added, “that’s why I don’t dawdle when it comes to beginning the harvest. I don’t want any fat dry wines.” As usual for this estate, nearly all of the wines, regardless of style, were bottled in April, and I can’t help wondering whether some of the drier wines – impressive though the best often are – would be even more so if given a bit longer to evolve in cask. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2001 Graacher Domprobst Riesling Selection
Color: White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Disconcertingly contained in a blue Bordeaux bottle, this is in effect an Auslese Trocken and a quite successful one, with lots of slate and nutty richness, and free of warmth or bitterness in the back. Would be a shocker in a blind tasting.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen is another Mosel grower who may never have rendered a finer collectionx000D than in 2001. (Terry Theise)Also recommended: ($33).
2018 Riesling Blauschiefer Trocken
Color: White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2022

Tasting notes: This year’s dry generic is sourced primarily from Wehlen and Lieser. It weighs in at the same 11.5% alcohol as last year’s edition and does not lack for liveliness or what Germans are fond of calling “acid interplay” (Säuerspiel). The yin/yang of generously juicy apple with stony and alkaline notes is delightful, and a combination of apple skin tartness with subtle salinity serves for back-end stimulation.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen began harvesting on September 22, 2018 – typically if not notably early by vintage standards. “But you have to bear in mind the size of our estate,” he admonished. (It’s just shy of 20 acres.) “Many estates with far more to harvest did not begin any earlier than we did, and I believe that in Wehlen we were in fact the first. We finished around mid-October,” he added, “though by then we were losing acidity.” Kerpen reported having switched from his usual crush regimen to whole-cluster pressing for two lots of dry wine from 2018 after son Matthias, who is studying at Geisenheim, pointed out the theoretical advantages. “It was just as an experiment, you understand. And logically, the pH was lower, but only a little bit – not enough to justify the trouble taken.” This is in any event a year in which Kerpen’s non-dry bottlings, with their generally higher acidity, fared best, and Graach had a slight acid advantage vis-à-vis Wehlen. “I don’t have the old, ungrafted vines in Graach that I still have in parts of Wehlen,” explained Kerpen, “and for that reason I usually need to start the harvest in Graach, where the fruit is less stable, which often results in a tick higher acidity.” Kerpen is one of those growers who experienced significant botrytis in 2018, and the resulting nobly sweet wines are more successful than many from this vintage. Incidentally, a successful recent innovation chez Kerpen is complete conversion to harvesting with small lug bins, which can be pulled uphill through the vineyard via a cable hooked to Kerpen’s trusty vintage 1963 tractor. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2016 Riesling Bernkasteler Bratenhöfchen Eiswein
Color: Sweet White

Score: 93.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2032

Tasting notes: Picked November 30, this is a model of freshness and purity. Jellied apple and quince are tinged with white raisin and laced with fresh lime on a lush, creamy yet delicately and animatingly sorbet-like palate, leading to a penetratingly bright, invigoratingly sharp Eiswein-typical finish. Despite extremely prominent sweetness, there is no risk of this becoming cloying, and a lick of salt adds mouthwateringly to its sustained appeal. While it is always a bit of a gamble to hold Eiswein past ten or a dozen years, here is the sort that I can imagine offering rewards for much longer. “Curiously,” noted Kerpen, “many of my colleagues said it wasn’t cold enough for them to pick Eiswein on November 30 and they ended up doing so on December 5, whereas I had some fruit left hanging on December 5, too, but in my neighborhood it wasn’t even cold enough that day to be worth getting out of bed early and driving over to investigate.” (Kerpen is among the minority of growers who specifies the Einzellage Bratenhöfchen rather than the small, consistently high-quality Grosslage that encompasses it, namely Badstube. The Bernkasteler Matheisbildchen is similarly little-known.)

Producer Commentary:
In setting out to describe 2016, Martin Kerpen immediately pointed to a difference in the character of acidity vis-à-vis 2015, so I was relieved as well as delighted, once we got down to tasting, to realize that he did not mean his 2016s were notably lower or less efficacious in acidity – on the contrary. A few wines dip below eight grams in acidity but most range from eight to nine. Bright animation and refreshment is the norm. Even the Kabinetts were not picked until the second and third weeks in October, but demonstrate that brightness and striking levity were consistent with ripe aromatics and flavor. There has seldom if ever been a more consistently impressive collection from this veteran grower, and it plays to his strengths as well as those of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Graacher Himmelreich by exemplifying poise and levity in dry, off-dry and unapologetically sweet variants. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2018 Graacher Himmelreich Auslese*
Color: White

Score: 91.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2038

Tasting notes: This "one-star" Auslese is richly fruited by way of baked and jellied pear and quince. These are alluringly wreathed in honeysuckle and tinged with smoky piquancy suggestive of toasted pecan. Bittersweet nuttiness and inner-mouth floral perfume nicely complement the wine’s rich creaminess and subtle oiliness. A hint of Meyer lemon adds unexpected and welcome juiciness and zest to the finish, banishing any risk of stickiness, and there is a surprisingly vivid sense of wet stone for a wine so prominently sweet and far gone in ripeness. 

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen began harvesting on September 22, 2018 – typically if not notably early by vintage standards. “But you have to bear in mind the size of our estate,” he admonished. (It’s just shy of 20 acres.) “Many estates with far more to harvest did not begin any earlier than we did, and I believe that in Wehlen we were in fact the first. We finished around mid-October,” he added, “though by then we were losing acidity.” Kerpen reported having switched from his usual crush regimen to whole-cluster pressing for two lots of dry wine from 2018 after son Matthias, who is studying at Geisenheim, pointed out the theoretical advantages. “It was just as an experiment, you understand. And logically, the pH was lower, but only a little bit – not enough to justify the trouble taken.” This is in any event a year in which Kerpen’s non-dry bottlings, with their generally higher acidity, fared best, and Graach had a slight acid advantage vis-à-vis Wehlen. “I don’t have the old, ungrafted vines in Graach that I still have in parts of Wehlen,” explained Kerpen, “and for that reason I usually need to start the harvest in Graach, where the fruit is less stable, which often results in a tick higher acidity.” Kerpen is one of those growers who experienced significant botrytis in 2018, and the resulting nobly sweet wines are more successful than many from this vintage. Incidentally, a successful recent innovation chez Kerpen is complete conversion to harvesting with small lug bins, which can be pulled uphill through the vineyard via a cable hooked to Kerpen’s trusty vintage 1963 tractor. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2014 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett Feinherb
Color: White

Score: 88.0

Drinking window: 2016 - 2019

Tasting notes: Alkaline, mossy and slightly dank scents share aromatic billing with intimations of fresh apple and grapefruit. There is satisfying midpalate juiciness and attractive subtle creaminess, and while the finish here – which adds notes of almond – is a bit diffuse, it delivers persistent refreshment. 

Producer Commentary:
This estate’s wines first came to prominence when as a very young man in the late 1980s Martin Kerpen took over responsibility for his family’s winery (then known as Weingut Heribert Kerpen) from his mother, a lifelong full-time schoolteacher. From the start, his wines combined generosity with considerable refinement, and high quality at this address has long extended all the way from delicate trocken to opulent T.B.A. Kerpen was especially successful in the tricky 2011 and 2013 vintages, and the 2014s seem to confirm his having reached a new level of overall excellence, not to mention his ability to surmount meteorological obstacles. If there has been an occasional weak point in Kerpen’s frequently sprawling collections, it has been an exaggerated or rustic expression of botrytis, so despite his having beaten the averages in 2014, it’s not too surprising that some of this vintage’s wines hint at aspects of botrytis that lead me to be conservative in predicting their ageabilty. Kerpen has long employed multiple stars for designating riper and ostensibly superior bottlings of Prädikats above Kabinett, although their use in 2014 is sparing, as reflects the challenges of that vintage.
2018 Graacher Himmelreich Auslese**
Color: White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2034

Tasting notes: Overripe, candied and jellied apple dominate the nose of this “two-star” Domprobst Auslese. Vanilla cream as well as sheer sweetness enhance the sense of confection on a creamy, oily palate. The lingering finish flirts with outright stickiness. I’m sure this is one of those many nobly sweet 2018s that will far “outlive” my quantified prognosis, but I question to what gain. 

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen began harvesting on September 22, 2018 – typically if not notably early by vintage standards. “But you have to bear in mind the size of our estate,” he admonished. (It’s just shy of 20 acres.) “Many estates with far more to harvest did not begin any earlier than we did, and I believe that in Wehlen we were in fact the first. We finished around mid-October,” he added, “though by then we were losing acidity.” Kerpen reported having switched from his usual crush regimen to whole-cluster pressing for two lots of dry wine from 2018 after son Matthias, who is studying at Geisenheim, pointed out the theoretical advantages. “It was just as an experiment, you understand. And logically, the pH was lower, but only a little bit – not enough to justify the trouble taken.” This is in any event a year in which Kerpen’s non-dry bottlings, with their generally higher acidity, fared best, and Graach had a slight acid advantage vis-à-vis Wehlen. “I don’t have the old, ungrafted vines in Graach that I still have in parts of Wehlen,” explained Kerpen, “and for that reason I usually need to start the harvest in Graach, where the fruit is less stable, which often results in a tick higher acidity.” Kerpen is one of those growers who experienced significant botrytis in 2018, and the resulting nobly sweet wines are more successful than many from this vintage. Incidentally, a successful recent innovation chez Kerpen is complete conversion to harvesting with small lug bins, which can be pulled uphill through the vineyard via a cable hooked to Kerpen’s trusty vintage 1963 tractor. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2014 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett Trocken Zero
Color: White

Score: 91.0

Drinking window: 2016 - 2020

Tasting notes: As its nickname implies, this wine – unexpectedly – spontaneously fermented all the way down to negligible residual sugar. Kerpen assumed he would blend it with other Graacher lots, but once he tasted it, he wisely changed his mind. Scents of peach, lime and grapefruit are surprisingly effusive for a wine of extreme dryness, and they follow on a juicy, firm, piquantly almond- and pit-tinged but by no means austere palate that boasts striking transparency to floral, wet stone and maritime mineral nuances. Delightfully buoyant, ultra-bright but by no means sharp or brittle, this finishes with mouthwatering salinity and spine-tingling refreshment. What a remarkable success!

Producer Commentary:
This estate’s wines first came to prominence when as a very young man in the late 1980s Martin Kerpen took over responsibility for his family’s winery (then known as Weingut Heribert Kerpen) from his mother, a lifelong full-time schoolteacher. From the start, his wines combined generosity with considerable refinement, and high quality at this address has long extended all the way from delicate trocken to opulent T.B.A. Kerpen was especially successful in the tricky 2011 and 2013 vintages, and the 2014s seem to confirm his having reached a new level of overall excellence, not to mention his ability to surmount meteorological obstacles. If there has been an occasional weak point in Kerpen’s frequently sprawling collections, it has been an exaggerated or rustic expression of botrytis, so despite his having beaten the averages in 2014, it’s not too surprising that some of this vintage’s wines hint at aspects of botrytis that lead me to be conservative in predicting their ageabilty. Kerpen has long employed multiple stars for designating riper and ostensibly superior bottlings of Prädikats above Kabinett, although their use in 2014 is sparing, as reflects the challenges of that vintage.
2014 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett
Color: White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2016 - 2024

Tasting notes: A pungent nose of lemon and grapefruit peels also hints at honey, and the palate performance that follows is both caressing and brightly juicy, its apple and citrus laced with marzipan, tinged with quince jelly, and layered with inner-mouth floral perfume. The finish is long and refreshing, its unapologetic sweetness perfectly suited to accentuating the fruit. 

Producer Commentary:
This estate’s wines first came to prominence when as a very young man in the late 1980s Martin Kerpen took over responsibility for his family’s winery (then known as Weingut Heribert Kerpen) from his mother, a lifelong full-time schoolteacher. From the start, his wines combined generosity with considerable refinement, and high quality at this address has long extended all the way from delicate trocken to opulent T.B.A. Kerpen was especially successful in the tricky 2011 and 2013 vintages, and the 2014s seem to confirm his having reached a new level of overall excellence, not to mention his ability to surmount meteorological obstacles. If there has been an occasional weak point in Kerpen’s frequently sprawling collections, it has been an exaggerated or rustic expression of botrytis, so despite his having beaten the averages in 2014, it’s not too surprising that some of this vintage’s wines hint at aspects of botrytis that lead me to be conservative in predicting their ageabilty. Kerpen has long employed multiple stars for designating riper and ostensibly superior bottlings of Prädikats above Kabinett, although their use in 2014 is sparing, as reflects the challenges of that vintage.
2001 Graacher Domprobst Riesling Auslese *
Color: White

Score: 2.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Classic Domprobst packed with citrus and honey-drenched melon; possessed of deep, nutty richness; creamy in texture; full of fascinating mineral and spice nuances; and finishing with terrific purity of fruit, length, and an uncanny sense of delicacy. 2 stars.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen is another Mosel grower who may never have rendered a finer collectionx000D than in 2001. (Terry Theise)Also recommended: ($33).
1998 Bernkasteler Bratenhofchen Riesling Spatlese
Color: White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Black cherries in a matrix of apple jelly and vanilla cream. Sweet and succulent, with tangerine, fresh cherry and subtle slate. A fine example of '98 fruit and of the usual generous style of Kerpen wines.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen is on a roll, having again in '98 succeeded in a style which, happily for both parties, could never be confused with that of his famous Uferallee neighbor, Manfred Prum. If the list below seems short, that's largely because only a few of Kerpen's '98s will be coming to the States. (Terry Theise)
1997 Bernkasteler Bratenhofchen Riesling Spatlese
Color: White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Black cherry, apple blossom and raw hazelnut aromas. Lovely creamy, rich mouth feel, with a pretty fruit‑filled finish.

Producer Commentary:
Harvested for the most part very late, Martin Kerpen '97s represent one of his best collections, perhaps his most imposing since 1988 and 1990. Stylistically, the wines are still of a piece with the vast majority of '97 Mittelmosels: elegant and low in acid. But there is focus of flavor and plenty of stuffing in the middle of nearly every wine, precisely what's missing from too many wines of this vintage. The many trocken and halbtrocken wines were largely quite successful, but I omit notes on those below, as none of them were shipped Stateside. (Terry Theise)
2001 Bernkasteler Bratenhofchen Riesling Spatlese
Color: White

Score: 1.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Black cherry and lime aromas. Deep, rich fruit on the palate yet with more overtly salty slatiness than one usually associates with a Bernkasteler. Smoked nuts, mineral salts, citrus and cherry in an invigorating finish. 1 star.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen is another Mosel grower who may never have rendered a finer collectionx000D than in 2001. (Terry Theise)Also recommended: ($33).
2003 Bernkasteler Bratenhofchen Riesling Spatlese
Color: White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Black cherry and blueberry laced with fresh lime in the nose. Lush and sleek on the palate, with penetrating and vivid berry and citrus carrying into a long, bell-clear finish. What this lacks in complexity at this early stage of its evolution it makes up for in sheer intensity and drive. Potential 2 stars.

Producer Commentary:
Picking started early here this year, but Kerpen says there was no drought stress in the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and his foliage remained green until the late-October frost, after which he finished quickly. "I never did so much tasting of the young wines as this year," he notes, as he tried to decide whether to acidify them after they had fermented (in many instances he did) and as he shook his head in amazement at how diverse and inscrutable was their early evolution. A few of this year's wines struck me as overly sweet, at times syrupy, and lacking in vibrancy, but the best are well worth seeking out. (Terry Theise) Also recommended: 2003 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett Feinherb (1 star), 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett, 2003 Graacher Domprobst Riesling Auslesei, 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Ausleseii A. P. #14, 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Beerenauslesei
2014 Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese Feinherb
Color: White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2016 - 2022

Tasting notes: Scents and flavors akin to Normandy apple cider mingled with grapefruit lend appeal to this very subtly sweet Riesling. Underlying hints of almond and cashew add richness to a creamily textured yet buoyant and juicy palate, leading to a sustained, at once soothing and refreshing finish. 

Producer Commentary:
This estate’s wines first came to prominence when as a very young man in the late 1980s Martin Kerpen took over responsibility for his family’s winery (then known as Weingut Heribert Kerpen) from his mother, a lifelong full-time schoolteacher. From the start, his wines combined generosity with considerable refinement, and high quality at this address has long extended all the way from delicate trocken to opulent T.B.A. Kerpen was especially successful in the tricky 2011 and 2013 vintages, and the 2014s seem to confirm his having reached a new level of overall excellence, not to mention his ability to surmount meteorological obstacles. If there has been an occasional weak point in Kerpen’s frequently sprawling collections, it has been an exaggerated or rustic expression of botrytis, so despite his having beaten the averages in 2014, it’s not too surprising that some of this vintage’s wines hint at aspects of botrytis that lead me to be conservative in predicting their ageabilty. Kerpen has long employed multiple stars for designating riper and ostensibly superior bottlings of Prädikats above Kabinett, although their use in 2014 is sparing, as reflects the challenges of that vintage.
2000 Bernkasteler Bratenhofchen Riesling Kabinett
Color: White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Juicy, sappy black cherry fruit is backed by delicate slate, making for a sheer drinkability that belies this wine's deft construction and subtle complexity. Smoky notes along with fine minerality accent the lipsmacking finish. 1 star.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen's success with 2000 was variable. Acidity alone runs the gamut from a mere seven grams per liter to more than ten in an Auslese that manages to scale the heights of this vintage. (Terry Theise)
2015 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett
Color: White

Score: 91.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2028

Tasting notes: An alluring nose of fresh apple wreathed in apple blossom, honeysuckle and heliotrope sets the tone for a delicate, tender, subtly creamy palate impression both refreshingly juicy and haunted by seductive inner-mouth perfume. The finish, at once soothing and stimulating, does a remarkable job even by Mosel Riesling standards of hiding and harnessing nearly 50 grams of residual sugar. That this harbors 9 percent alcohol is an indication of just how high the must weight was before Kerpen felt that the flavors met his Kabinett standards, and also helps explain why he stopped the fermentation with relatively high residual sugar.

Producer Commentary:
A number of Kerpen’s 2015s are more marked by malic acid than is typical for the vintage or best for the wines, which is probably a big reason why he performed better at the residually sweet end of the spectrum. (And yes, I’m aware that certain influential German critics had the opposite impression.) But it isn’t as though he picked especially early; in fact, he continued into November. For reasons I also wasn’t able to draw out from him, and abstracting from a dearth of nobly sweet offerings that reflects paucity of botrytis, Kerpen rendered a significantly smaller than usual number of individual bottlings from 2015. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2001 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett
Color: White

Score: 1.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Vivid fresh apple and apple pit in the nose. Juicy, sleek and fine in the mouth, with a deliciously salty expression of minerals and a nip of apple pit in the finish. Archetypical Mosel Kabinett. 1 star.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen is another Mosel grower who may never have rendered a finer collectionx000D than in 2001. (Terry Theise)Also recommended: ($33).
2016 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett
Color: White

Score: 92.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2030

Tasting notes: Fresh apple is garlanded on the nose with honeysuckle and heliotrope, anticipating the generous juiciness and inner-mouth perfume that prevails on the silken palate. This finishes with inhalative, near-weightless intensity yet ample refreshment, and with persistent but alluring, well-integrated sweetness. While not picked at notably low must weight, it manages the trick of projecting utmost delicacy and complete ripeness while hiding its high residual sugar. 

Producer Commentary:
In setting out to describe 2016, Martin Kerpen immediately pointed to a difference in the character of acidity vis-à-vis 2015, so I was relieved as well as delighted, once we got down to tasting, to realize that he did not mean his 2016s were notably lower or less efficacious in acidity – on the contrary. A few wines dip below eight grams in acidity but most range from eight to nine. Bright animation and refreshment is the norm. Even the Kabinetts were not picked until the second and third weeks in October, but demonstrate that brightness and striking levity were consistent with ripe aromatics and flavor. There has seldom if ever been a more consistently impressive collection from this veteran grower, and it plays to his strengths as well as those of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Graacher Himmelreich by exemplifying poise and levity in dry, off-dry and unapologetically sweet variants. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2018 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett
Color: White

Score: 91.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2032

Tasting notes: Apple blossom and honeysuckle on the nose persist as inner-mouth perfume on a buoyant, polished, subtly creamy palate, but with accompaniment of infectious apple and pear juiciness. The lingering finish, to which a hint of fresh lime adds zest, is consummately refreshing as well as transparent to stony and alkaline nuances. A model Kabinett of appropriately modest sweetness in a vintage from which “genuine” Kabinett was arguably challenging to achieve.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen began harvesting on September 22, 2018 – typically if not notably early by vintage standards. “But you have to bear in mind the size of our estate,” he admonished. (It’s just shy of 20 acres.) “Many estates with far more to harvest did not begin any earlier than we did, and I believe that in Wehlen we were in fact the first. We finished around mid-October,” he added, “though by then we were losing acidity.” Kerpen reported having switched from his usual crush regimen to whole-cluster pressing for two lots of dry wine from 2018 after son Matthias, who is studying at Geisenheim, pointed out the theoretical advantages. “It was just as an experiment, you understand. And logically, the pH was lower, but only a little bit – not enough to justify the trouble taken.” This is in any event a year in which Kerpen’s non-dry bottlings, with their generally higher acidity, fared best, and Graach had a slight acid advantage vis-à-vis Wehlen. “I don’t have the old, ungrafted vines in Graach that I still have in parts of Wehlen,” explained Kerpen, “and for that reason I usually need to start the harvest in Graach, where the fruit is less stable, which often results in a tick higher acidity.” Kerpen is one of those growers who experienced significant botrytis in 2018, and the resulting nobly sweet wines are more successful than many from this vintage. Incidentally, a successful recent innovation chez Kerpen is complete conversion to harvesting with small lug bins, which can be pulled uphill through the vineyard via a cable hooked to Kerpen’s trusty vintage 1963 tractor. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
1999 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese
Color: White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Aromas of baked apple, pineapple, vanilla and honey lead to a creamy palate in which the juicy pineapple fruit character provides just enough sense of leavening acidity. Pure and elegant, this wine has a dreamy, placid personality, with just a subtle hint of slate rippling the surface in the finish.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen has rendered a plush, forward collection in which residual sugar is handled with varying degrees of success. (Terry Theise)
2014 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese *
Color: Sweet White

Score: 93.0

Drinking window: 2016 - 2032

Tasting notes: This "one-star" Auslese reflects a relatively late picking. Its pungent, high-toned scents of candied citrus peel, brown spices, kirsch and hard cider remind me a bit of Eiswein. As such, they also suggest a significant measure of volatility, but Kerpen demonstrates that chemical analysis does not bear that out. And the subtly creamy, almond-paste-tinged palate surprises with infectious fresh apple juiciness as well as clarity, permitting smoky black tea, wet stone and crystalline mineral notes to add complexity to a lusciously lingering finish.

Producer Commentary:
This estate’s wines first came to prominence when as a very young man in the late 1980s Martin Kerpen took over responsibility for his family’s winery (then known as Weingut Heribert Kerpen) from his mother, a lifelong full-time schoolteacher. From the start, his wines combined generosity with considerable refinement, and high quality at this address has long extended all the way from delicate trocken to opulent T.B.A. Kerpen was especially successful in the tricky 2011 and 2013 vintages, and the 2014s seem to confirm his having reached a new level of overall excellence, not to mention his ability to surmount meteorological obstacles. If there has been an occasional weak point in Kerpen’s frequently sprawling collections, it has been an exaggerated or rustic expression of botrytis, so despite his having beaten the averages in 2014, it’s not too surprising that some of this vintage’s wines hint at aspects of botrytis that lead me to be conservative in predicting their ageabilty. Kerpen has long employed multiple stars for designating riper and ostensibly superior bottlings of Prädikats above Kabinett, although their use in 2014 is sparing, as reflects the challenges of that vintage.
2001 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese
Color: White

Score: 1.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: As so often in 2001, only a few degrees Oechsle separate this Auslese from the Spatlese from the same site. And in fact I find this wine more pronounced in its faintly bitter apple pit suggestions and friskier in its acids, so that the overall effect is drier. The nose seems to be in hiding, but the flavors gather momentum on the palate, ending with a rush of apple jelly, apple pit, and nut oils. This massively concentrated wine is one to revisit. 1 star.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen is another Mosel grower who may never have rendered a finer collectionx000D than in 2001. (Terry Theise)Also recommended: ($33).
2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese * #13
Color: Sweet White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: Spiced dried apple and vanilla in the nose. At first this seemed a bit balled-up on the palate and lacking in juiciness, but it evolved in the open bottle to a satisfying creaminess, with abundant baked apple, vanilla and white raisin, and refreshing note of citricity that emerges in the finish. 1 star.

Producer Commentary:
Picking started early here this year, but Kerpen says there was no drought stress in the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and his foliage remained green until the late-October frost, after which he finished quickly. "I never did so much tasting of the young wines as this year," he notes, as he tried to decide whether to acidify them after they had fermented (in many instances he did) and as he shook his head in amazement at how diverse and inscrutable was their early evolution. A few of this year's wines struck me as overly sweet, at times syrupy, and lacking in vibrancy, but the best are well worth seeking out. (Terry Theise) Also recommended: 2003 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett Feinherb (1 star), 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett, 2003 Graacher Domprobst Riesling Auslesei, 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Ausleseii A. P. #14, 2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Beerenauslesei
1997 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese
Color: White

Score: 0.0

Drinking window: 0 - 0

Tasting notes: You could call this "A.P. #20," but you can also refer to it as the lone "no-star" Auslese. Apple blossom, cherry and banana oil aromas. Comes on big and overtly fruity. Finish is sweet and juicy, if a tad simple, though the whole wine is quite winsome.

Producer Commentary:
Harvested for the most part very late, Martin Kerpen '97s represent one of his best collections, perhaps his most imposing since 1988 and 1990. Stylistically, the wines are still of a piece with the vast majority of '97 Mittelmosels: elegant and low in acid. But there is focus of flavor and plenty of stuffing in the middle of nearly every wine, precisely what's missing from too many wines of this vintage. The many trocken and halbtrocken wines were largely quite successful, but I omit notes on those below, as none of them were shipped Stateside. (Terry Theise)
2018 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese
Color: Sweet White

Score: 89.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2030

Tasting notes: Lightly baked apple is laced with honeysuckle, heliotrope and vanilla on a fetching nose and a caressingly creamy palate. There is a slight, exotic hint of banana. This finishes quite sweet, but still manages to refresh while perpetuating a lovely sense of floral perfume.

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen began harvesting on September 22, 2018 – typically if not notably early by vintage standards. “But you have to bear in mind the size of our estate,” he admonished. (It’s just shy of 20 acres.) “Many estates with far more to harvest did not begin any earlier than we did, and I believe that in Wehlen we were in fact the first. We finished around mid-October,” he added, “though by then we were losing acidity.” Kerpen reported having switched from his usual crush regimen to whole-cluster pressing for two lots of dry wine from 2018 after son Matthias, who is studying at Geisenheim, pointed out the theoretical advantages. “It was just as an experiment, you understand. And logically, the pH was lower, but only a little bit – not enough to justify the trouble taken.” This is in any event a year in which Kerpen’s non-dry bottlings, with their generally higher acidity, fared best, and Graach had a slight acid advantage vis-à-vis Wehlen. “I don’t have the old, ungrafted vines in Graach that I still have in parts of Wehlen,” explained Kerpen, “and for that reason I usually need to start the harvest in Graach, where the fruit is less stable, which often results in a tick higher acidity.” Kerpen is one of those growers who experienced significant botrytis in 2018, and the resulting nobly sweet wines are more successful than many from this vintage. Incidentally, a successful recent innovation chez Kerpen is complete conversion to harvesting with small lug bins, which can be pulled uphill through the vineyard via a cable hooked to Kerpen’s trusty vintage 1963 tractor. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2015 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese
Color: Sweet White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2028

Tasting notes: Lime and tartly fresh apple make for a penetrating nose and invigorating, juicy palate impression, yet there is also a hint of site-typical textural creaminess. Heliotrope and apple blossom cast an alluring aromatic aura that persists as inner-mouth perfume wafting all the way through a refreshingly sustained finish. 

Producer Commentary:
A number of Kerpen’s 2015s are more marked by malic acid than is typical for the vintage or best for the wines, which is probably a big reason why he performed better at the residually sweet end of the spectrum. (And yes, I’m aware that certain influential German critics had the opposite impression.) But it isn’t as though he picked especially early; in fact, he continued into November. For reasons I also wasn’t able to draw out from him, and abstracting from a dearth of nobly sweet offerings that reflects paucity of botrytis, Kerpen rendered a significantly smaller than usual number of individual bottlings from 2015. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2016 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese*
Color: Sweet White

Score: 91.0

Drinking window: 2017 - 2032

Tasting notes: This "one-star" Spätlese smells and tastes even riper in its expression of pear and apple than the corresponding “regular” Spätlese, but it is also far fresher, juicier and more animating, not to mention returning one to the floral perfume – headily suggestive of honeysuckle and heliotrope – that is characteristic of Wehlener Sonnenuhr at its best. Creamy yet refreshing, this finishes lusciously fruity and hauntingly perfumed. I don’t doubt it will gain depth with bottle age.

Producer Commentary:
In setting out to describe 2016, Martin Kerpen immediately pointed to a difference in the character of acidity vis-à-vis 2015, so I was relieved as well as delighted, once we got down to tasting, to realize that he did not mean his 2016s were notably lower or less efficacious in acidity – on the contrary. A few wines dip below eight grams in acidity but most range from eight to nine. Bright animation and refreshment is the norm. Even the Kabinetts were not picked until the second and third weeks in October, but demonstrate that brightness and striking levity were consistent with ripe aromatics and flavor. There has seldom if ever been a more consistently impressive collection from this veteran grower, and it plays to his strengths as well as those of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Graacher Himmelreich by exemplifying poise and levity in dry, off-dry and unapologetically sweet variants. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)
2017 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese
Color: Sweet White

Score: 90.0

Drinking window: 2019 - 2030

Tasting notes: Decadent lily and musky peony mingle on the nose with overwintered apple. The buoyant palate is soft, if not exactly creamy in the flattering way so often encountered in wines from this site. A wealth of inner-mouth florality helps make up for any lack of textural allure, and the soothingly sustained finish musters ample juiciness as well as impressive transparency to stony and alkaline nuances. 

Producer Commentary:
Martin Kerpen compares 2017 with 2013 – and without any nostalgia. Both vintages suffered from hail damage (in 2017 affecting Graach, and coming on top of April frost). Both were plagued by excessive moisture and troublesome botrytis in the run-up to harvest. Qualitatively, though, both of these high-acid vintages proved quite successful chez Kerpen, though he claims to have suffered “at least” a 50% crop loss in 2017. Harvest began on September 28, 2017 (2018 was to commence a full 10 days earlier), and amid the depressingly tedious work of cutting out hail-affected, ignobly botrytized or acescent clusters (or portions thereof), Kerpen and his crew experienced early delight at being able to select ennobled fruit for a formidable TBA. Even allowing for the requisite selectivity, harvest was finished soon after mid-October, since the weather had stabilized and there wasn’t much fruit to process. In contrast with his neighbors at Joh. Jos. Prüm, Kerpen reported that the precocious early heat and eventually tiny crop of 2017 did not translate into accelerated sugar accumulation to the extent that he had anticipated, so that not only do his dry wines – including that labeled “Grosses Gewächs” – sport less than 12% alcohol across the board, but there was also a relatively decent volume of genuine Kabinett. “But of course,” he added, “that’s why I don’t dawdle when it comes to beginning the harvest. I don’t want any fat dry wines.” As usual for this estate, nearly all of the wines, regardless of style, were bottled in April, and I can’t help wondering whether some of the drier wines – impressive though the best often are – would be even more so if given a bit longer to evolve in cask. (For a bit more about Martin Kerpen and his estate, consult particularly the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)

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