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Donnhoff,
Ready, but will improve,
The vines that contributed to this exceptionally rare wine are located adjacent to the River Nahe itself, partly obscured from the sun and in a relatively cool air pocket. This apparently unpromising scenario is, in fact, ideal for Eiswein in those rare years when the conditions are suitable. 2007 was such a year and 20th December was deemed to be the day. The wines rarity is matched only by its purity and length.
Donnhoff,
Ready, but will improve,
From one of the great vineyards in Germany, Donnhoff have produced another seamless and superb Spatlese. Showing all the purity of the vintage, this has an effortless richness, yet is not sweet or cloying. Very finely balanced, this has a finish that lasts over a minute. Delicious even now, this will be at its best given 5 to 10 years in the cellar. Bravo! 2018 - 2025.
Fergus Stewart, Private Account Manager
Fergus Stewart, Private Account Manager
Donnhoff,
Ready, but will keep,
Helmut sees 2009 as a seminal year for dry/trocken German wines. He recounts that ten years ago the customer & consumer was not prepared to pay for premium fruit with which to make a dry wine, so hence Helmut picked accordingly. Now they are, he does; the result being a focused yet gentle wine, ripe with lemon, lime, even grapefruit flavours, backed with a hint of smokiness that rises from Felsenberg’s volcanic soils. Relish the scintillating lime tang & savour the wine’s ripe fluidity. 5 grams RS. Drinking now till 2019.
(David Berry Green)
(David Berry Green)
Donnhoff,
Ready, but will keep,
Hollenpfad' meaning 'the path to hell' (as opposed to 'the stairway to heaven'?) & is a vineyard detached from the rive Nahe in the village of Noxheim. Here it endures a hotter microclimate, compounded by red slate & steep slopes. The Riesling fruit is consequently very small & spicy. The 2011 example appears dry, soft with a loamy texture, & noticeably lower acidity; under 200 cases in total were made. Drinking but will keep if not improve.
David Berry Green
David Berry Green
Donnhoff,
Ready, but will keep,
Such is the demand for Donnhoffs wines that hes starting buying fruit from neighbours; this time from the Anhauser family in Bad Kreuznach just round the corner from Oberhausen. Quartz pebbles & a warmer mesoclimate as closer to the Rhine (than the cooler tribs), makes for a four-week earlier harvest giving a spotlessly clean, fresher fruitier style of wine; the way it dances lightly on the palate makes it a spring wine. Its very immediate, for drinking now but will age too.
(David Berry Green)
(David Berry Green)
Donnhoff,
Ready, but will keep,
This sites higher up the purple slated slope facing Oberhauser & comes packed with more botrytis (approx 10% or 2 berries per bunch). The rockier soil & aspect bring a more structured, compact, emphatic wine with layers of sweet limy fruit, stones & spring water minerality. The quality of the vintage is such that the vineyard character still shines through. When tasting this wine Helmut compares to those of the 70s (71), when he vinified in 100% wood; he says it would be too warm to do that now, hence the stainless-steel element. Drinking from 2019!
(David Berry Green)
(David Berry Green)
Donnhoff,
Ready, but will keep,
Leistenberg differs by being on site, on purple slate, & based on older vines. The result is a wine which shows real confidence, depth & assurance, allied with stunning ‘watery’ minerality – the sense you get when you either lick a slate stone or smell if after a rain shower! Perfect balance even with 30 grams of RS. Drinking till 2019.
(David Berry Green)
(David Berry Green)
Donnhoff,
Ready, but will improve,
While Brücke’s character is favoured by Helmut’s mother, Hermannshöhle is very much his father’s; female versus male. Hermannshöhle has prime position overlooking Oberhäusen, on free-draining grey slate. Helmut also favours it, seeing it as the region’s primary vineyard; their original plot planted in the year he was born: 1949. Focussed and filigree there’s a smoky linearity that streaks ahead, underpin by a cool rocky fruit. Drinking from 2020.
(David Berry Green, Berrys' Germany Buyer)
(David Berry Green, Berrys' Germany Buyer)
Donnhoff,
Ready, but will improve,
The Leistenberg vineyard benefits from being south-east facing, enabling the morning dew to be quickly dried, so avoiding botrytis and facilitating a long hang time till the November harvest in 2010. As the result the wine’s spotlessly clean; the porous grey slate enabling the soil’s calcareous minerality to be felt. Soft, gentle, pulpy lemon and feminine. Drinking now or will develop till 2020.
(David Berry Green, Berrys' Germany Buyer)
(David Berry Green, Berrys' Germany Buyer)
The wine's prickly pungency is further reflected on the palate, yet along side is a suggestion of creaminess as well as salted caramel and honey from the subtle botrytis concentration that was present before these grapes froze. More viscous and superficially sweet than the A.P. #35, this simultaneously projects intense acidity, even if - as Donnhoff suggests - some acid fell out after the first day's freeze.
Perhaps that effect - or the wine's embryonic state - accounts for the absence of the vibratory intensity that rivets attention on A.P. #35. We have here the same 7.5% alcohol though from more than 20 additional degrees Oechsle because, explains Donnhoff, the yeasts simply couldn't manage any further conversion. For unifying botrytis with frost concentration, and for sheer palate persistence, the elixir in question here is nothing short of phenomenal. "In 20 years," contends Donnhoff with a wry smile and a nod toward this Eiswein, "Cornelius may be able to beat me."
96/100 points, Wine Advocate, Feb 2011