Choices, choices! We’re hitting you with a stupendous set of wines from three fantastic winegrowers: Gunderloch, Christmann and Dönnhoff. The quality and character on offer among these Grosses Gewächs bottlings will make for tough choices. However, our German friends are practised at the art of selection, triumphing in another extreme vintage with a set of pulsating, memorable whites.
Generally speaking, the rollercoaster season was wet, and slow, then dry, then wet, then warm and frenetically fast. Nothing fazes these smooth operators, though. They count on generations of intimate viticulture and endless reserves of energy to see the fruit of their precise expressions of top VDP-rated vineyards come in just-so.
“The Rieslings are super-crunchy and pristine in 2023,” wrote Anne Krebiehl MW of Christmann. The same commentator was bowled over by arguably Johannes Hasselbach’s best set of wines to date. “The 2023 Rieslings at Gunderloch are exquisite renditions of the Red Slope, packing all that savour and fruit of this Permian escarpment into light-footed yet profound Rieslings,” she wrote. “The wines are stunning.”
That “just” leaves Dönnhoff. Cornelius needed 75% more pickers than in the previous year to keep up the furious pace and meticulous selection of perfect grapes. “Just look at the stunning results that Dönnhoff achieved,” wrote Stuart Pigott of jamessuckling.com, who dished out a couple of maximum scores for the GGs. “That’s a testament to the Dönnhoff team’s dedication.”
2023 Gunderloch ‘Hipping’ Grosses Gewächs Riesling $133 RRP
The 2023 Riesling Niersteiner Hipping Grosses Gewächs was made with whole berries in the ferment rather than prolonged pre-fermentation skin contact. It opens with stone dust, crushed lemon balm, a touch of flinty reduction and an enticing blend of red apple and juicy tangerine, even with a touch of creaminess. That creaminess is also immediate on the palate, pervaded by fine freshness. There’s real concentration and drive here, tingling with lemon brightness and savory red stone. Beautiful, serene and slender, it has lovely substance and a lasting, salty finish (Bone-dry). 95 points. Anne Krebiehl, Vinous
2023 Gunderloch ‘Pettenthal’ Grosses Gewächs Riesling $150 RRP
The 2023 Riesling Niersteiner Pettenthal Grosses Gewächs offers creaminess, peppery lemon balm, ripe red apple crunchiness and intense iron-oxide and petrichor savor, all still wrapped in enticing reductive tones. The palate is smooth and streamlined, moving forward with grace, determination and emollience. Everything here is buffered, but at the core, bright citrus tanginess tingles, edged with mouthwatering saltiness. Beautifully coherent, seamless and flowing, this seems to sink deeper into its red stone nature, leaving a spicy, peppery aftertaste that’s as much informed by fine acidity as by veil-like phenolics. (Bone-dry). 95 points. Anne Krebiehl, Vinous Media
2023 Gunderloch ‘Rothenberg’ Grosses Gewächs Riesling $164 RRP
The 2023 Riesling Nackenheimer Rothenberg Grosses Gewächs still rings with the finest flinty reduction on the nose. Underneath comes a gorgeous streak of pink grapefruit peel, lifted, serene and almost heady with crushed lemongrass and lemon balm. The palate is buffered but shows a clear vein of agile fluidity and serene, sleek, dynamic movement. Leaving gorgeous traces of stony, irony, savory saltiness and unfolding with Seville orange and tangerine, it’s layered, beautiful, soothing, refreshing and long. Citrus zest lingers on the finish. (Bone-dry). 96 points. Anne Krebiehl, Vinous Media
The 2023 Riesling Nackenheimer Rothenberg Grosses Gewächs still rings with the finest flinty reduction on the nose. Underneath comes a gorgeous streak of pink grapefruit peel, lifted, serene and almost heady with crushed lemongrass and lemon balm. The palate is buffered but shows a clear vein of agile fluidity and serene, sleek, dynamic movement. Leaving gorgeous traces of stony, irony, savory saltiness and unfolding with Seville orange and tangerine, it’s layered, beautiful, soothing, refreshing and long. Citrus zest lingers on the finish. (Bone-dry). 96 points. Anne Krebiehl, Vinous Media
2023 Christmann ‘Ölberg-Hart’ Grosses Gewächs Riesling $231 RRP
Complex herbal aromas are interwoven with intense Amalfi lemon fruit and a very subtle flinty character that gives this stunning Pfalz riesling GG an electric vitality. The freshness on the extremely focused medium-bodied palate must be experienced to be believed. Incredibly long, precise and stony finish. From organically grown grapes. Drinkable now, but best from 2026. 97 points. Stuart Pigott, jamessuckling.com
Complex herbal aromas are interwoven with intense Amalfi lemon fruit and a very subtle flinty character that gives this stunning Pfalz riesling GG an electric vitality. The freshness on the extremely focused medium-bodied palate must be experienced to be believed. Incredibly long, precise and stony finish. From organically grown grapes. Drinkable now, but best from 2026. 97 points. Stuart Pigott, jamessuckling.com
2023 Christmann ‘Idig’ Grosses Gewächs Riesling $240 RRP
Intensely flinty and expressive on the nose like a young Chablis Grand Cru, this great Pfalz dry riesling very slowly unwinds on the palate. Gigantic power and energy are pressed into a sleek silhouette, with an Amalfi lemon freshness that’s off the scale. How can you not be moved by the almost endless finish of this great masterpiece of minerality? From organically grown grapes. Drinkable now, but best from 2026. 99 points. Stuart Pigott, jamessuckling.com
Intensely flinty and expressive on the nose like a young Chablis Grand Cru, this great Pfalz dry riesling very slowly unwinds on the palate. Gigantic power and energy are pressed into a sleek silhouette, with an Amalfi lemon freshness that’s off the scale. How can you not be moved by the almost endless finish of this great masterpiece of minerality? From organically grown grapes. Drinkable now, but best from 2026. 99 points. Stuart Pigott, jamessuckling.com
2023 Christmann ‘Vogelsang’ Grosses Gewächs Riesling $240 RRP
The 2023 Vogelsang Neustadt Riesling VDP.Grosse Lage is from pure Muschelkalk soils and opens with a pure yet intense and mineral as well as sur lie-scented nose of very fine Riesling berries. Round and elegant on the palate, this is a full-bodied, pure, saline and crunchy Riesling whose style is clearly aligned with the Pinot Noir. This is based on vines planted in the early 1980s and a very small part of very young vines from 2019. 12% stated alcohol. Diam 30 cork. Tasted at the domaine in January 2024. 96 points. Stephan Reinhardt, The Wine Advocate
2023 Dönnhoff ‘Dellchen’ Grosses Gewächs Riesling $213 RRP
This dry Riesling has a hypnotic beauty that leaves no doubt how this wine redefines what peachy means in the context of this grape variety. As it aerates, a wealth of wild berry and flower nuances develop and expand. Given the mind-bending concentration of this wine, it is staggeringly fresh and absolutely precise. Then comes the finish, which is like a prima ballerina dancing on pointe off into the distance. Drink from release. 100 points. Stuart Pigott, jamessuckling.com
This dry Riesling has a hypnotic beauty that leaves no doubt how this wine redefines what peachy means in the context of this grape variety. As it aerates, a wealth of wild berry and flower nuances develop and expand. Given the mind-bending concentration of this wine, it is staggeringly fresh and absolutely precise. Then comes the finish, which is like a prima ballerina dancing on pointe off into the distance. Drink from release. 100 points. Stuart Pigott, jamessuckling.com
2023 Dönnhoff ‘Hermannshöhle’ Grosses Gewächs Riesling $231 RRP
Incredibly refined and precise, yet with Grand Canyon-like depths and layers, this incredible dry Riesling has a horizon-to-horizon spectrum of stone fruit, citrus and wild berry aromas, plus a touch of dusty hot soil as rain starts to fall on it. On the compact, medium-bodied palate, this side of the wine builds and builds to a giant crescendo in the almost endless finish. Drink or hold. 100 points. Stuart Pigott, jamessuckling.com
Incredibly refined and precise, yet with Grand Canyon-like depths and layers, this incredible dry Riesling has a horizon-to-horizon spectrum of stone fruit, citrus and wild berry aromas, plus a touch of dusty hot soil as rain starts to fall on it. On the compact, medium-bodied palate, this side of the wine builds and builds to a giant crescendo in the almost endless finish. Drink or hold. 100 points. Stuart Pigott, jamessuckling.com
2023 Dönnhoff ‘Felsenberg’ Grosses Gewächs Riesling $181 RRP
Radically smoky and massively structured in spite of being only medium-bodied, this astonishingly dry Riesling expresses the personality of this volcanic site with great authority and precision. So much spice, structure and hardness in the positive sense, meaning that this is not a wine for the faint of heart. Massive power in the imposing finish, yet absolutely clean and bright. Drink or hold. 98 points. Stuart Pigott, jamessuckling.com
Radically smoky and massively structured in spite of being only medium-bodied, this astonishingly dry Riesling expresses the personality of this volcanic site with great authority and precision. So much spice, structure and hardness in the positive sense, meaning that this is not a wine for the faint of heart. Massive power in the imposing finish, yet absolutely clean and bright. Drink or hold. 98 points. Stuart Pigott, jamessuckling.com
