Dr Deinhard (Von Winning) Ruppertsberger Riesling Kabinett Trocken

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The Deinhard 2008 Ruppertsberger Riesling Kabinett trocken represents the estate’s new version of an old favorite, namely their liter bottling of dry Nussbien Riesling Kabinett. Peach, almond, and walnut mingle on a juicy, medium-bodied palate, finishing with invigorating salinity and a hint of peach kernel bitterness. This will prove versatile for the next 2-3 years. For general updates on the change of ownership and radical recent developments at this venerable estate, I refer readers to my report in issue 185. The official winery name is now Von Winning and the Dr. Deinhard label will be used only for selected wines, not including any of the ostensibly top dry bottlings. I have conjoined the names, and continued to use Dr. Deinhard as a shorthand, because that is still how this winery is routinely referred to (even inside Germany), and readers should simply be on the lookout for either of these names on a label as an indication that it came from the winery in question (and, what’s more, is worth tasting). Young wine-geek-as-director Stefan Attmann – another of the many protegees of Hans-Gunter Schwarz, whose friend Joachim Niederberger now owns the winery – is attacking his work here with frenetic passion, but you have only to taste the latest crop of wines to recognize what discipline and determination he and his vineyard manager Joachim Jaillet (with whom I toured their sites) also bring to their jobs. Aspects of vinification worth bearing in mind are skin contact; near-absence of sedimentation; largely spontaneous fermentation; absence of fining; and filtration only immediately before bottling. (Common practice with German Riesling is still to filter at least twice.) “No risk, no fun,” is among Attmann’s mottos, though as he pointed out, the low pHs and cool weather of 2008 improved one’s odds. The U.S. importer, incidentally, offered last year a much extended range of 2007s, so that with two exceptions the stateside prices for wines of the 2008 vintage have not been set, although many can be expected to arrive here in the course of 2010. Precisely which wines of Deinhard will in future be bottled as Grosses Gewachs remains up in the air. The winery is promoting several individual parcels – i.e. not official post 1971 Einzellagen – for this status.Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

The 2007 Ruppertsberger Riesling Kabinett trocken represents the latest rendition of what I have long considered one of the best wine values in the Pflaz, a liter-bottling from Deinhard’s extensive holdings in Nussbien and Reiterpfad. Peach, peach kernel, and suggestions of wet stone mingle on a waxy-textured palate, and this finishes with impeccable balance and refreshment even if a hint of rusticity and no particular intricacy. The late 2007 purchase of the Dr. Deinhard (a.k.a. VON WINNING) estate by entrepreneur Achim Niederberger – who already owned Bassermann-Jordan and von Buhl, with which it was once one – has brought rapid changes, most notably the arrival at the estate’s helm of Stefan Attmann (former wine merchant and consummate wine geek with a degree in marketing) who is – to put it mildly – a gifted young man on a mission and full of stimulating ideas. His and Niederberger’s specific notions for the reorganization of the estate and its line of wines had not yet entirely gelled when I tasted a subset of their 2007s, a collection whose outcome at this address they were not able to influence until after its harvest. That said, my visit found Attmann still working with long-time cellar master Kurt Rathgeber who – along with now-retired director Heinz Bauer – rendered much more delicious and interesting (if unabashedly old-fashioned) wine than a great many German critics were willing to credit them. Many of the Deinhard 2007s were only selected by the importer to offer this Spring, by which point I had no time to go back and taste those that I had missed while visiting the estate. The ostensibly top dry wines from 2008 will be bottled under the label Weingut von Winning (from the name of an early 20th Century owner by marriage) which beginning this year has becomes the new official name for the winery, with Dr. Deinhard as a sub-label.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

Long-time cellar master Heinz Bauer sticks to the traditional, cask-matured Pfalz wine virtues and, while the quality of this estate’s wide range of wines is seldom as consistent as one might wish, the best of them are delicious and frequently include amazing values. An excellent example of the latter is the outstanding value offered by their liter bottling of 2004 Ruppertsberger Riesling Kabinett trocken which smells of ripe peaches and toasted grains along with Scheurebe- or Sauvignon-like mint and cassis. This offers brisk palate refreshment with luscious orchard and citrus fruit and an alluringly oily surface slick, leading to a lip-smacking, ear-to-ear finish. Not only don’t you think about its being trocken, you aren’t really asked to think about much of anything: just take a refreshing fruit bath and come back for another dip! Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300