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94 VM. "This 'Kalkstein Reserve' or 'Kirchspiel Reserve' – take your pick – reflects a share of wine from Kirchspiel that finished not quite legally trocken and corresponds with the wine formerly known simply as “Riesling RR.” Its 11 grams of sugar surely play a role in what comes off as an explosively fruity albeit dry-tasting performance loaded with succulent white peach, tart-edged, seedy kiwi and crisp apple. The upshot is a silken-textured, infectiously juicy, startlingly tingling and consummately refreshing Riesling. A combination of mint and chalk suffusion lends the long, vibrant finish a delightfully cooling cast. 'You ferment spontaneously, and I don’t get a bellyache over whether you end up being trocken, halbtrocken or with 30 grams of sugar. Do whatever you think right!' quipped Keller, imagining that he was addressing the newly pressed must. He didn’t let me back him into a corner over the question of why his must from the especially iron-rich portion of Kirchspiel in question so often finishes halbtrocken, a condition that seems to perfectly complement the cool, chalky Kirchspiel traits that in the realm of legal dryness can sometimes become austere. But he did offer this further comment with a grin: 'You could never do this with Morstein' - by which I presume he means he would never let it happen." David Schildknecht, Vinous.com, May 2018 |