2017 Kupfergrube GG (19 23)

Zesty tangerine and kumquat share aromatic billing with lightly-toasted almond as well as pungent hints of peat moss, struck flint and fresh radish, all of which anticipate the surprisingly plush palate’s combination of stimulating zest, smoke and sizzle. High extract is palpable, and the wine finishes with near mouth-shaking grip as well as infectious juiciness. Fröhlich was as usual keen to harvest his Schlossböckelheim grapes ahead of his others, as the acid levels were more than a gram lower than in Monzingen or Bockenau. He wanted to make sure, too, that the grapes still had “crunch.” That said, not only did this wine lose no acidity in the course of vinification, “but something happened that I have never experienced before,” relates Fröhlich, “there was even a modest gain.” That phenomenon is almost certainly due to the formation of succinic acid, a byproduct of fermentation that, conveniently, can manifest itself especially in warm, inherently lower-acid years. Relevant too is Fröhlich’s observation that the chilly early October weather cause considerable tartrate precipitation already in the grapes themselves, so that there was scarcely any in the cellar. “We picked this wine in just two days,” he reports, “without having to do any significant selection.”

So many wild flowers and herbs on the nose with a hint of flint. A great combination of juiciness and crystalline freshness on the palate and a long, ripe and mineral finish. Drink or hold.

It's not an acquired taste, it's an acquired fragrance. Pungent with what some may call sulphur; others the wild and funky smell of the spontaneous combustion of ambient yeasts. After years of searching I find the scent of sage rubbed between your fingers the most adequate of inadequate associations. On the palate it's green, sharp, pure, precise, mineral, herbaceous. There's no fence to sit on. (MS)