2011 Wintricher Ohligsberg GG

Given a typical total volume of just 300 liters – which in this vintage reflects what fruit was available at high ripeness but botrytis-free – the Haart 2011 Wintricher Ohligsberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs was raised in tank. A chalky crushed stone suffusion and hints of fennel and cardamom in an apple, pumpkin and rutabaga matrix inform this full and expansive bottling, whose nearly 13.5% alcohol (at barely 3 grams residual sugar) is betrayed just a bit in terms of inelegance and warmth. That said, a bottle open for a week proved less-freighted as well as clearer, exactly as the Haarts had predicted. Nutty piquancy and stoniness in the finish certainly remind one of the corresponding Goldtropfchen. This is quite fascinating stuff that I would recommend following, watchfully, for at least several years. I was shocked to learn that it harbored a mere 5.4 grams of acidity, a level I rarely encounter in any German Riesling. Theo and Johannes Haart began picking already on September 27 – several days earlier than they had even in 2003. As warm as the weather was in late September, they explained, dropping acidity and the potential for early botrytis – especially in the more water-retentive top sites of Piesport, but also in Wintrich in the aftermath of hail – left them no choice but to start early. “At first we picked nothing but healthy berries,” relates Johannes Haart, “but after three or four days there was botrytis; and three days after that we already had Trockenbeerenauslese.” That said, harvest continued all the way through October in order to optimize the potential of individual sites. But two notable features of this collection – the first analytically verifiable; the second an observation on my part – are that, surprisingly, its wines’ unusually low levels of acidity did not significantly increase under the influence of greater botrytization, and also, their flavor profiles have a lot in common and site-specificity strikes me as significantly less evident than usual. Kabinetts were fermented in stainless steel with watchful cooling because the Haarts were convinced that given the chemistry of their musts and elevated ambient temperatures, fermentations would otherwise have galloped. They bottled most of their 2011 collection in July, a bit later than usual because they believed the young wines definitely gained (and continue to gain after bottling) from aeration. Two different lots of Ohligsberg Trockenbeerenauslese and one of Goldtropfchen were still fermenting when I visited to taste the rest of the Haart’s 2011 collection. Importer: Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA; tel. (800) 596- 9463