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96 WA.
"The 2015 Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Auslese is lovely, clear and flinty on the nose and, like the Spätlese, is characterized by its noble aristocracy, but also lemony freshness and great purity. There seems to be more crushed stones than grapes in this wine, which reflects a lot of the fastidious selection and the healthy condition of the processed grapes. On the palate, this is a generous and concentrated, but pure, piquant and buoyant Auslese of great expression and finesse. This vibrating wine is dancing over the palate, leaving loads of minerals and salts, which makes this a dangerous drug. The finish is piquant and salty--you simply can't stop drinking and adoring it. There is so much grip, tension and finesse here. The wine is also available in 375 milliliter bottles ($50) and 1500 milliliter bottles ($190). Helmut Dönnhoff can be really proud. His son Cornelius, responsible for the wines in recent years, has bottled probably the best wine series in the history of the domaine. The Rieslings, most of all the Grossen Gewächse (for the first time a GG has been made from the Oberhäuser Brücke!) and the noble sweet wines, are immortal beauties that cause emotional well-being. Next to the Dellchen and Hermannshöhle GG, other highlights are the Brücke Eiswein, the BA and the two TBA's from the Hermannshöhle, the former pressed on a Thursday, the latter--a 100-pointer--on Friday. The Hermannshöhle Spätlese is one one of the best wines I have tasted from this category this year and Dönnhoff fans shouldn't miss it. "In 2015, all of your vineyards were excellent. You could go where you want and the grapes were perfect at the right moment," said Helmut Dönnhoff, whereas Cornelius is busy pressing the first Pinot Blancs of the 2016 vintage coming in. It is October and the 2015s show brilliant today. "We had an early flowering in 2015, but then, in July and August, it was very dry and we feared problems with drought. In fact, the younger vines were suffering and we had to irrigate them to keep them alive. We reduced the yield down to zero with all our vines under three years. So, the thunderstorm rainfalls in summer were very welcome. The vineyards started breathing again. Since the nights were cool in August and September the grapes reduced their acidity levels very slowly and we did not face any problems with botrytis. When there was botrytis it was a perfect one." The only conflict of 2015 is independent from the vintage because it is an obligatory one: Helmut and Cornelius dispute about the right moment to start harvesting for three days every year. "It is deeply anchored in my soul to gamble, to keep the grapes on the vines as long as possible to reach the highest possible ripeness," Helmut explains with a smile, quoting his grandmother: "As long as there are leaves on the vines we don't harvest." But since the grapes are ripe at least a week earlier today than 10 or 20 years ago and Cornelius takes great care about the potential alcohol levels and the balance between sugar ripeness and physiological ripeness, the Dönnhoffs pick earlier than in former times. In 2015, the family started October 1st and finished October 31. "We could pick each vineyard at the best moment and the acidity levels remained pretty high." Dönnhoff enjoys it to have his vineyards not only in one spot around Niederhausen and Oberhausen, but also in Norheim, Kreuznach and Roxheim. Closer to the Rhine, the vegetation period starts earlier than in Oberhausen. Thus, the harvest starts closer to the Rhine and then goes deeper into the Nahe valley until it ends often in der Oberhäuser Brücke, Dönnhoff's vineyard for his world famous Eiswein. For winelovers it is a fascinating experience to learn Dönnhoff's art of expressing the talents of each single vineyard. Often, only one style is connected to a certain vineyard whereas in his most important and best cru, the Hermannshöhle, several Rieslings are selected from dry to noble sweet. In 2015, the Hermannshöhle shines through all its wines. The differences in taste are only based on different levels of ripeness." Wine Advocate #228, Dec 2016 |