2019 Riesling, Pettenthal, Grosses Gäwachs, Kühling-Gillot, Rheinhessen, Germany
About this WINE
Weingut Kuhling-Gillot
Rheinhessen
Situated in southwestern Germany, Rheinhessen is the country's largest and one of the most prominent wine regions. It's known for its rich winemaking heritage and diverse terroirs, significantly contributing to the nation's wine production.
Rheinhessen covers a vast area, with vineyards extending along the banks of the Rhine River. It's located in Rhineland-Palatinate and neighbours other well-known wine regions such as the Pfalz and the Rheingau.
The region benefits from a temperate continental climate with relatively mild temperatures. This climate, along with the moderating influence of the Rhine River, provides a favourable environment for grape cultivation.
Rheinhessen is home to a diverse range of grape varieties. While Riesling is the most celebrated, other grapes like Silvaner, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Noir are also cultivated. The region's versatility in grape varieties allows for producing a broad spectrum of wine styles, from dry and crisp whites to fruity reds.
The soils vary throughout the region. Loess, limestone, and clay soils are prevalent, contributing to the diverse terroirs that influence the characteristics of the wines.
Like many wine regions worldwide, Rheinhessen has embraced sustainable and eco-friendly winemaking practices. Several wineries, such as Weingut Wittmann, have gained international recognition for their commitment to organic and biodynamic farming. These practices prioritize environmentally responsible viticulture and have resulted in high-quality, terroir-driven wines.
Riesling
Riesling's twin peaks are its intense perfume and its piercing crisp acidity which it manages to retain even at high ripeness levels.
In Germany, Riesling constitutes around 20% of total plantings, yet it is responsible for all its greatest wines. It is planted widely on well-drained, south-facing slate-rich slopes, with the greatest wines coming from the best slopes in the best villages. It produces delicate, racy, nervy and stylish wines that cover a wide spectrum of flavours from steely and bone dry with beautifully scented fruits of apples,apricots, and sometimes peaches, through to the exotically sweet flavours of the great sweet wines.
It is also an important variety in Alsace where it produces slightly earthier, weightier and fuller wines than in Germany. The dry Rieslings can be austere and steely with hints of honey while the Vendages Tardives and Sélection de Grains Nobles are some of the greatest sweet wines in the world.
It is thanks to the New World that Riesling is enjoying a marked renaissance. In Australia the grape has developed a formidable reputation, delivering lime-sherbet fireworks amid the continental climate of Clare Valley an hour's drive north of Adelaide, while Barossa's Eden Valley is cooler still, producing restrained stony lime examples from the elevated granitic landscape; Tasmania is fast becoming their third Riesling mine, combining cool temperatures with high UV levels to deliver stunning prototypes.
New Zealand shares a similar climate, with Riesling and Pinot Gris neck to neck in their bid to be the next big thing after Sauvignon Blanc; perfectly suited is the South Island's Central Otago, with its granitic soils and continental climate, and the pebbly Brightwater area near Nelson. While Australia's Rieslings tend to be full-bodied & dry, the Kiwis are more inclined to be lighter bodied, more ethereal and sometimes off-dry; Alsace plays Mosel if you like.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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