2015 Dönnhoff Hermannshöhle Riesling Grosses Gewächs

Dönnhoff

Germany / Nahe / Dönnhoff

A perfect, steep southern slope with soils consisting of blackish grey slate and volcanic elements, extremely rich in minerals. This legendary site is the best-rated vineyard in the entire Nahe region. The vines are up to 60 years old and give yields of about 40hl/ha. 100% selective hand harvest. The must is fermented and the wine matured in stainless steel vats and classic oak barrels. A very complex Riesling of noble elegance with a hugely intense, rich fullness of flavour and deep mineral tones. A great dry wine with a mysterious, aristocratic character.

September, 2016

Stuart Pigott

jamessuckling.com

98 points

Tasting this wine is like standing on the peak of a high mountain surveying range upon range of peaks into an unfathomable distance. At first it is much more yeasty than the other Dönnhoff GGs, but unlike them it opens up slowly. This is an enormously deep and complex wine, and it would require half a page to list all the fruit (most importantly every shade of peach), herbal and floral aromas you can find in here. However, the most important thing is how the enormous depth is accommodated in such an incredibly elegant package. The finish goes on and on and on, revealing ever more new nuances. The perfect balance give it decades of ageing potential.

August, 2016

Michael Schmidt

jancisrobinson.com

19.5/20

The hardest thing when describing Dönnhoff’s 2015 Hermannshöhle is to refrain from an accumulation of superlatives. The ripe fruit of local orchards growing along the banks of a crystal-clear stream flowing over rocks and stones in the pure air of a cool Indian summer morning… well, there is more veritas in this vino than today’s nature can throw at you even with its best efforts. Let’s just say: purity, minerality, vibrancy, complexity. If you want more – (try to) buy it!

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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.