2017 Dönnhoff Estate Riesling

Dönnhoff

Germany / Nahe / Dönnhoff

Characterful dry Riesling from vines aged 15 to 30 years old on the steeply sloping vineyards of the middle Nahe region. The vines grow in stony, weathered volcanic soils of porphyry and melaphyr in particular, with certain amounts of slate and quartzite. Fermented and matured in stainless steel vats and large oak barrels. Wonderfully fresh and well defined, elegant with a tingling minerality. A delicious wine for every day with moderate alcohol and very soothing acidity.

September, 2018

Stuart Pigott

jamessuckling.com

92 points

At once fine and elegant with delicate peach and citrus aromas, but also unusually powerful for the humble category and this producer. Long, ripe and crisp finish. From organically grown grapes. Fair'n Green certification. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

April, 2019

David Schildknecht

Vinous Media

89 points

Issuing as usual from the volcanic Oberhäuser Felsenberg and (as its name suggests) cobbled Kieselberg, this year’s dry Dönnhoff Gutsriesling is scented with lemon, pear and crushed stone. The palate is distinguished by a combination of textural gloss and palpable density with refreshing primary juiciness and invigorating counterpoint thanks to tangy pear skin, piquant pear pip and lemon zest, as well as smoky, stony impingements. The finish is quite formidably gripping, but a youthful tendency toward slight hardening and austerity, that I noticed at the estate in early November, 2018 had largely dissipated when I re-tasted the wine stateside a month later. The label reads “12% alcohol,” but you could have persuaded me that the wine harbored less, as there is a nice sense of bounce and lift.

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About Dönnhoff

Helmut Dönnhoff and son Cornelius make the best wines in the Nahe region and some of the finest anywhere in the world. We can't possibly overstate how much we cherish and revere these wines. They are sheer perfection in their elegantly defined structure and flawless harmony. The epitome of their meticulous winemaking is the Eiswein. Dönnhoff wines have such power and complexity that their signature weightlessness seems nigh on miraculous. One taste and you sense the magic. These wines are on a par with the best of Germany in a very unique way: the sweet wines rival those of Prüm, Loosen and Egon Müller and the dry wines are mentioned in the same breath as luminaries such as Wittmann and Weil. Very few - if any - have this degree of versatility...

About

Cornelius Dönnhoff bears with him the promise and burden of great expectations. Dönnhoff’'s world-renowned Rieslings were first carried into the international limelight by his father, but now it is the son assuming an increasing share of the responsibility for the estate in the small town of Oberhausen on the Nahe (population 400). “No one knows the Nahe, but everyone knows Dönnhoff,” they say in the USA. And with the recent conclusion of his seventh vintage, this young, university-trained viticulturalist has every reason to smile. He won three consecutive Feinschmecker Cups for his dry Riesling collection, and in 2012 the simultaneous distinction of both “Estate of the Year” and “Best White Wine Collection” from the renowned Eichelmann wine guide. In 2014 Stuart Pigott named him Winemaker of the Year in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Cornelius acquired his initial winemaking experience at his parents' estate, followed by an apprenticeship at the Dr. Heger wine estate in Ihringen. University studies in viticultural techniques in Bad Kreuznach came next, followed by time abroad in New Zealand and Australia. In 2007 he assumed the role of cellarmaster at Dönnhoff and currently runs the estate together with his father.