Dönnhoff • Dellchen Riesling Großes Gewächs 2021

Über das Weingut Helmut Dönnhoff

Helmut Dönnhoff hat wie kein anderer Winzer den Ruf des deutschen Rieslings in den letzten 20 Jahren geprägt. Das Weingut selbst besteht seit über 250 Jahren und gilt als das beste Weingut der Nahe und für einige als das beste Weingut Deutschlands. Vor allem die 3 Großen Lagen Dellchen (Norheim), Hermannshöhle (Niederhausen) und Brücke (Oberhausen) haben den Ruf des Weingutes in die ganze Welt getragen und sind jedem Riesling-Kenner ein Inbegriff.

Über den Wein Dellchen Großes Gewächs 2021

Das Dellchen aus Norheim ist wohl das berühmteste Große Gewächs Dönnhoffs und einer der besten trockenen Weißweine der Welt. Dramatische Aromen vereinen sich mit klarer Struktur und belebender Säure zu einem unvergleichlichen Genuss. Der extrem rare 2021er Jahrgang ist wohl der beste je vinifizierte Wein aus dieser grandiosen Lage. Wahrlich ein Großes Gewächs! Nahezu ewig haltbar und doch jetzt schon in Perfektion.

Stephan Reinhardt hat in Robert Parker's Wine Advocate den Wein mit der Höchstnote ausgezeichnet

100/100 Punkte

und ihn wie folgt im Wortlaut bewertet:

From slate and volcanic soils, the 2021 Dellchen GG opens with a radiant, bright, pure and flinty bouquet with fascinating, refined and subtle, highly elegant yet delicate mirabelle and Amalfi lemon fruit intertwined with slatey notes. The bouquet is heavenly to me (and will be, believe me, for all true Riesling lovers). Mahler's 8th symphony, Fausten's Ascension—it's all here. Subtle intensity, a sense of wonder, perfectly interwoven, natural beauty. This nose already tells everything, and I couldn't go on to the next wine for more than half an hour. On the palate, this is a subtle and delicate, highly filigreed yet also incredibly intense, lush and slatey, long, stimulatingly saline and always uplifted Riesling with perfectly ripe and lush fruit with fine tannins. It is a juicy, ripe wine with crystalline acidity and endless salinity that carries everything. This Dellchen is intense yet never gets heavy, but it becomes even more intense. This is immaculate, highly emotional Riesling. It's not just the most beautiful Dellchen I have ever tasted but certainly also the most fascinating dry Riesling I have ever had. This is pure art. An adorable wine and with so much soul. It can't be expensive enough. When Helmut Dönnhoff was speaking about the feminine, charming and tender character of the cru, it is all here. 13% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine in July 2022.

2021 is, after a long time, once again a classic vintage, something Cornelius Dönnhoff has not had in this century, but for his father Helmut, a harvest in late October and November was still common. The harvest at Dönnhoff was a good two or three weeks later than in recent years, after there had been no hot spells but frequent showers without thunderstorms. Peronospora was the challenge of the vintage. It required meticulous crop protection as well as foliar work to keep the foliage wall airy and healthy. Without such, as well as a late harvest, physiological ripeness would not have been achievable in 2021. The harvest began in the last week of September and lasted until the second week of November, when the nights had long since returned to a sensitive cool. Must weights were low, but the grapes were still ripe, even though acids were very high. Dönnhoff maintains a large team and was able to harvest at the right time in every site. Since there was virtually no botrytis in the middle Nahe, it was not possible to select any Beerenauslesen and Trockenbeerenauslesen here, just Eiswein.

The musts were cool due to the cold nights and could be processed without haste.

That the 2021s also managed without residual sugar to balance the high acidity (10 grams per liter) is something no one would have thought at the beginning of harvest, even at Dönnhoff. But since it was partly precipitated as tartar, the wines are riper and rounder on the palate than was thought in the fall. In order to buffer the acidity naturally (with potassium and calcium), the musts were left on the extract-rich grapes longer than usual. The tartaric acid thus found binding partners and could partially precipitate, if the wine was given enough time.

The results of the vintage are outstanding, especially with Dönnhoff, especially with the Grosses Gewächs and the Auslese category. I caught the GG from the Dellchen at the perfect moment at the end of July, but the wine still tasted great to me four weeks later in Wiesbaden.

Drink Date: 2022 - 2070