2017 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Leistenberg Riesling Kabinett

Dönnhoff

Germany / Nahe / Dönnhoff

Steep, southeast-facing slope with grey clay slate soil. The morning sun dries the grapes, keeping them healthy; while the afternoon sun is not so direct, allowing the grapes to ripen for a very long time without becoming overripe. A perfect vineyard for Kabinett wines! The vines are 25 to 30 years old and yield about 50hl/ha. 100% selective hand harvest. Fermented and matured in stainless steel vats and large oak barrels. This is a Riesling with well-defined, spicy fruit, very elegant with a wonderful balance between fine fruit sweetness and firm acidity.

April, 2019

Mike Bennie

The Wine Front

93 points

Yum! Addictively good drinking, sweet yes, but zingy almost in fizzy acidity. Has good whiffs of green apple, fern, honeycomb, lemon juice. So vivacious! Nicely balanced, precise and refreshing, zingy and cool. Delicious wine here.

September, 2018

Stuart Pigott

jamessuckling.com

94 points

Maybe this isn't the most concentrated Riesling on planet wine, but the balance is so perfect that you don't think about sweetness or acidity. Yet, that's exactly what this wine is all about – an exact balance of the two. From organically grown grapes. Fair 'n Green certification. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

June, 2018

Michael Schmidt

jancisrobinson.com

17.5/20

Year in, year out, Dönnhoff’s Leistenberg challenges for the title of Kabinett of the year. Never one to overpower the sensory perception, it teases with delicate delights of zesty citrus fruit, a gentle floral whisper and racy acidity to get the salivary glands contracting.

December, 2018

Jon Bonné

Punch, ‘The 25 Essential Wines of 2018’

One thing about German wine’s nit-picky taxonomy is its exacting quality order. Late-picked spätlese rieslings were historically intended to be “better” than earlier-picked kabinett, which often meant that the latter style—picked at normal ripeness, slightly fruity—often hasn’t gotten its due. This wine from Cornelius Dönnhoff, one of the true modern masters of riesling, shows kabinett’s inscrutable charms: citrus fruit and smoky savory tones and crackling minerality that catalyze perfectly, thanks to a dry, exceptional vintage. It’s good enough to renew faith in a style of wine that’s due for a revival.

April, 2019

David Schildknecht

Vinous Media

91 points

Scents of apple and black raspberry anticipate the invigorating tang and crunch that arrive on a firm, buoyant palate. A hint of anise adds to the appeal, while an undertone of wet stone serves as a sounding board for the fruit in a brightly-sustained, unapologetically sweet finish.

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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.