2008 Rudesheimer Berg Rottland Trocken

An almost sweaty animal-saline pungency in the nose of Leitz’s 2008 Rudesheimer Berg Rottland Riesling trocken Alte Reben (which proved to be bottle-invariant and not susceptible to dissipation from decanting) mingles with aromatic high-toned and equally pungent notes of kumquat, orange, and their rinds. On the palate, this is engagingly juicy and seems to tap into the same high-voltage socket as its siblings from Kaisersteinfels and Schlossberg. Grapefruit and pineapple lend another tart but luscious dimension to the wine’s citricity, while faintly bitter citrus oil and caraway add depth to is saline mineral side. This 12% alcohol Riesling is lean and slightly aggressive in a way that will not appeal to all, but I’ll be very interested to chart its evolution over the coming decade. As intimated in my introduction to this report, 2008 was – to now borrow Johannes Leitz’s phrase – a year for Rudesheim, in which these steep, notoriously optimal (but, of late frequently hyper-effective) Riesling-ripening slopes could show their stuff. We starting picking on October 6, relates Leitz, and we genuinely harvested through until November 20. Genuinely harvested. There are a lot of growers who because they left one wine hanging and then harvested it on, say, November 15 will tell you that they harvested until November 15. We were at it nearly the whole time. A majority of Leitz’s production continues to consist of wines from contract fruit that are exported, mostly to the U.S. I have been praising the superb value offered by this range of bottlings ever since – in their fifth vintage – the sensational bottled fruits of Leitz’s young vines in the Rudesheimer Drachenstein were re-christened as Dragonstone Riesling. Within a few years, Leitz had an established brand that required him to contract for increasing amounts of fruit, which continued over the years until now a significant share of the Drachenstein’s extensive acreage feeds his pipeline. Importer:Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel (516) 677-9300