German Riesling 2023 Part Two

What complex and original aromas this excellent dry riesling GG has: all the Mediterranean herbs, also grapefruit peel, pomelo and bergamot. This beautifully balances excellent ripeness that has a slight tropical edge with cool minerality on the medium-bodied palate. Very long, refined finish with a stony intensity that builds and builds. (96) STUART PIGOTT, James Suckling

The 2023 Hipping Nierstein Riesling VDP.GG initially shows a restrained, slightly phenolic nose with a dense, light fruitiness that has some tropical notes, such as lychee. It is juicy and creamy on the palate, with a beautiful fullness combined with elegance. The finish is dense and mineral, quite complex and long, although not as refined STEPHAN REINHARDT, Wine Advocate

The 2023 Riesling Niersteiner Hipping Grosses Gewächs was made with whole berries in the ferment rather than prolonged pre-fermentation skin contact. It opens with stone dust, crushed lemon balm, a touch of flinty reduction and an enticing blend of red apple and juicy tangerine, even with a touch of creaminess. That creaminess is also immediate on the palate, pervaded by fine freshness. There's real concentration and drive here, tingling with lemon brightness and savory red stone. Beautiful, serene and slender, it has lovely substance and a lasting, salty finish. ANNE KREBIEHL MW

Intensely flint with stacks of wild herb aromas, this is a powerful dry riesling that is very straight on the medium- to full-bodied palate. Very focused with a compact, stony core, this has excellent concentration and precision in the long, driving finish. (96) STUART PIGOTT, James Suckling

The 2023 Pettenthal Nierstein Riesling VDP.GG shows a bright, clear, finely spicy, mineral and complex nose of broken rock. Very elegant and vital as well as delicate on the palate, it has ripe, dense but elegant fruit and stimulating salty acidity on the finish, which has good length. This will be more brilliant in a year or two. STEPHAN REINHARDT, Wine Advocate

The 2023 Riesling Niersteiner Pettenthal Grosses Gewächs offers creaminess, peppery lemon balm, ripe red apple crunchiness and intense iron-oxide and petrichor savor, all still wrapped in enticing reductive tones. The palate is smooth and streamlined, moving forward with grace, determination and emollience. Everything here is buffered, but at the core, bright citrus tanginess tingles, edged with mouthwatering saltiness. Beautifully coherent, seamless and flowing, this seems to sink deeper into its red stone nature, leaving a spicy, peppery aftertaste that's as much informed by fine acidity as by veil-like phenolics. ANNE KREBIEHL MW

This stunning expression of the great Rothenberg site is still very tightly wound, the flintiness very pronounced in the first moment, the delicate white peach and wild berry fruit expanding like a rosebud slowly opening during a period of cool weather. Underplayed power and concentration on the extremely precise, medium-bodied palate. Tremendous finesse in the very long, filigreed finish. (97) STUART PIGOTT, James Suckling

Gunderloch's 2023 Rothenberg Nackenheim Riesling VDP.GG impresses with a deep, very clear and terroir-influenced nose of Rotliegend rock, along with elegant fruit aromas of ripe stone fruit and herbal-spicy notes. Gentle and elegant on the palate, dense and balanced and juicy, carried by elegant, ripe acidity, this Rothenberg develops a concentrated and long-lasting finish that reflects the warm vintage as well as the good water supply. It is persistently salty, with citrusy freshness in the complex aftertaste. STEPHAN REINHARDT, Wine Advocate

The 2023 Riesling Nackenheimer Rothenberg Grosses Gewächs still rings with the finest flinty reduction on the nose. Underneath comes a gorgeous streak of pink grapefruit peel, lifted, serene and almost heady with crushed lemongrass and lemon balm. The palate is buffered but shows a clear vein of agile fluidity and serene, sleek, dynamic movement. Leaving gorgeous traces of stony, irony, savory saltiness and unfolding with Seville orange and tangerine, it's layered, beautiful, soothing, refreshing and long. Citrus zest lingers on the finish ANNE KREBIEHL MW

Radically smoky and massively structured in spite of being only medium-bodied, this astonishingly dry riesling expresses the personality of this volcanic site with great authority and precision. So much spice, structure and hardness in the positive sense, meaning that this is not a wine for the faint of heart. Massive power in the imposing finish, yet absolutely clean and bright. (98) STUART PIGOTT, James Suckling

The 2023 Schlossböckelheimer Felsenberg Riesling trocken GG is beautifully pure, clear and bright or even coolish on the deep and complex nose that is still remarkably discreet but refined for this warm, volcanic terroir and offers elegant notes of melting stones and domestic seed fruits. Round, refined and elegant on the palate, this is a generous, juicy and fruity Riesling with fine tannins and a long, intense, spicy and aromatic, finely saline and mineral finish. This is a mouth-filling, complex and textured Riesling with crunchy tannins on the finish. It's a superb 2023 that should develop beautifully over the years in the bottle STEPHAN REINHARDT, Wine Advocate

The 2023 Riesling Schlossböckelheimer Felsenberg Felsentürmchen Grosses Gewächs is picked in the fully south-facing site of porphyry and melaphyr. Cornelius Dönnhoff says this is the most challenging site to work, simply because the stones are so hard and unforgiving, retaining almost no water. Thus, a year like 2023 was brilliant for this site. It is always the first GG site to be harvested because the rock retains heat from the day. Tender reduction still casts a flinty spell on the nose. Lovely savor implies crushed citrus foliage merged into iron oxide on the nose. The palate is taut, citric, bright with immense linearity, moving with absolute ease and direction, with energy and punch, towards a zesty, cool finish, long, sustained, all with savor and saltiness. The 2023 is a total joy of clarity, direction and stony poise. This is so elegant, so slender, so powerful, and no, this is not a contradiction. ANNE KREBIEHL MW

Complex herbal aromas are interwoven with intense Amalfi lemon fruit and a very subtle flinty character that gives this stunning Pfalz riesling GG an electric vitality. The freshness on the extremely focused medium-bodied palate must be experienced to be believed. Incredibly long, precise and stony finish. (97) STUART PIGOTT, James Suckling

From 34-year-old vines on tertiary limestone soils. the 2023 Ölberg-Hart Königsbach Riesling VDP.Grosse Lage is deep, pure, flinty and particularly smoky on the intense and complex, distinctively mineral nose. The wine is pure, saline and tensioned on the palate yet also reveals ripe and dense as well as juicy fruit with a fine and persistent mineral structure and lingering salinity. This is a young but complex GG from Königsbach. STEPHAN REINHARDT, Wine Advocate

The 2023 Riesling Königsbach Ölberg-Hart Grosses Gewächs comes from the core parcel of the Ölberg on calcareous marl. Yeasty funk on the nose, for now, obscures the fruit. However, the palate is bright, lithe, vivid and citric, with a beautiful concentration and supple, smooth, cooling depth. There is an excellent combination of profound freshness and supple, slender mouthfeel. ANNE KREBIEHL MW

Intensely flinty and expressive on the nose like a young Chablis Grand Cru, this great Pfalz dry riesling very slowly unwinds on the palate. Gigantic power and energy are pressed into a sleek silhouette, with an Amalfi lemon freshness that's off the scale. How can you not be moved by the almost endless finish of this great masterpiece of minerality? (99) STUART PIGOTT, James Suckling

The 2023 Idig Königsbach Riesling VDP.Grosse Lage is deep, ripe, pure and intense on the nose that reveals concentrated fruit intermingled with saline notes. Full-bodied, intense and dense in its texture, this is a compact, saline and very mineral, still tight and crunchy yet stimulating Idig with fine tannins and a long, intense and sustainable finish. STEPHAN REINHARDT, Wine Advocate

For now, the 2023 Riesling Königsbach Idig Grosses Gewächs is faintly citric on the nose. However, the palate sprays with lemon and fizzes with brightness and vivid juiciness, evoking a rushing brook, running over mossy stones, cooling, pure and rapid. Everything here is alive with citric verve, leaving such a gorgeous, long citrus savor. The 2023 is wonderful and so pure. ANNE KREBIEHL MW