Riesling GG Monopol 2022

Intense straw to golden yellow, pure and clear on the nose. A light veil of reduction and volatile acidity lies over it, not defining the wine but sharpening it: soft apple, lemon, fennel greens, anise and lemon balm, along with iodine and sourdough.

The monopole vineyard Wachenheimer Odinstal lies 350 metres above the Rhine valley, a hollow enclosed by ten hectares of mixed forest with no vine-growing neighbours. Faults of the Rhine Rift Valley have laid basalt from the Pechsteinkopf, shell limestone, Keuper marl and yellow variegated sandstone side by side across five hectares. It is the highest Grosses Gewächs site in the Palatinate, where the grapes ripen 20 days later than in the valley.

Pure-varietal Riesling, farmed biodynamically according to Demeter guidelines since 2013. Estate manager Andreas Schumann follows the principle of non-intervention in the cellar: spontaneous fermentation without temperature control, long ageing in large oak cask, minimal use of sulphur. 12.0% vol., bottled dry.

A wine of texture and structure: fine grip, salt and a silky yet gripping acidity over deep minerality. Layered above it are thinly shaved, almost transparent notes of lemon, apple, pear, quince and mirabelle plum, along with verbena, lemon balm and chamomile, plus crushed stone. It all swirls together into a whole that is long and deep, yet weightless.

With pan-fried char with herb foam, grilled octopus or risotto with fennel and lemon.

Demeter logo on the label. The VDP estate is run as a closed organism: five nurse cows graze among the vines, and bees kept by beekeeper Andreas Kramer pollinate the meadows.