Riesling Lenchen Grosses Gewächs 2022

A fragrant, refined Riesling that still carries something wild and untamed within it. It oscillates between reductive and oxidative notes, between quartz rock and mellow stone fruit, between floral scent and hay, between chitin and lemon.

The "Le(h)ne" (slope) of the Pfingstbach once gave the Oestrich vineyard its name. The stream at the foot of the site produces early morning mist that spreads botrytis, which is why this site mainly yields noble-sweet and off-dry Rieslings. Lenchen is also a Grosse Lage under the VDP classification, and so in 2018 the Kühns produced a Grosses Gewächs for the first time, from a parcel planted in 1964. The site rises to the west at a gradient of around 12 to 15 percent, lies at 120 to 170 metres, and consists of fertile, gravelly loess interspersed with ferrous quartzite and clay marl. The old field name Eiserberg points to this geological base.

Pure Riesling. After hand harvesting, the whole clusters were pressed over several hours, the must fermented spontaneously, and the wine was aged for 18 months on full lees in a traditional 1,200-litre cask, without altering the natural composition of the musts. The estate in Oestrich-Winkel, family-owned since 1786 and now run in the twelfth generation by Peter Bernhard and Viktoria, farms its 21 hectares according to Demeter biodynamic principles.

Intense and pure, with great length and depth. Power and energy, a vibrant minerality and a taut acidity of 7.5 grams. Despite just 1.9 grams of residual sugar, a trace of lemony sweetness remains, mingling mouth-wateringly with salt and mellow fruit.

A dry Grosses Gewächs from a site that owes its reputation to sweet Rieslings. The Demeter logo appears on the label.