Keller’s 2007 Dalsheimer Hubacker Riesling Grosses Gewachs smells flinty, pungent, and smoky – in short (and among other things) slightly reductive – and needs time in the air to open up. Zesty grapefruit and juicy lime and peach mingle with alkaline, chalky, and smoky mineral elements on a dynamic palate which however lacks the singular combination of creaminess and energy exhibited by the Kirchspiel. The striking thing about this Hubacker is its sheer grip, not so much a savory as rather a sheer tactile intensity of finish which, however, never crosses to the unpleasant side of bitterness. Anticipate more than a dozen years of fascination, and make no assumptions as to whether this or the Kirchspiel will ultimately prove more complex or satisfying as that will in any event depend on the occasion and one’s predilections, not to mention their as yet inscrutable stages of evolution.
Klaus-Peter Keller has acquired in time for the 2009 vintage a piece of Nierstein’s famous red Rhine shore slopes, but while he is obviously excited by the prospects he is anxious to remind me that “in the 15th Century, the bishops in Worms were not drinking wine from the Red Slope, but rather an aptes erden” – an allusion to the Abtserde vineyard, from which he began rendering dedicated Riesling in 2006 – “and they were certainly very savvy.” Keller considers 2007 “the most successful vintage in Germany for dry wine in a long while,” and when pressed admits he means an unprecedented vintage, since in his opinion he and his colleagues have been on a steep learning curve and were less well-positioned to take full advantage of past vintages that might have been theoretically ideally suited to Riesling trocken. Today, he says, he aims to “achieve slimness and elegance as well as ripeness.” Keller’s relentless pursuit of quality is encompassing longer cask maturation and later release of his best dry wines as well as experimentation in both red and sweet wine methodology. (Note that for all of the Keller 2007s I have tasted, there are also Auslesen from Hubacker and Morstein; a T.B.A. from Hubacker; and several other wines that I did not have chance to experience.) Judging by Keller’s three Pinots – tasted from barrel, and then from bottle – for him, at least, this is a vintage of exceptional potential in red as well.
Imported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608 9644, Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA tel. (877) 389-9463, and Frances Rose Imports Inc., Huntley, IL; tel. (815) 382 9533
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