Riesling "Fuchs" 2019

A dry Riesling with 0.5 grams of residual sugar and 7 grams of acidity, bottled unsulphured and unfiltered. It comes across as open and inviting, holding tension and ease at the same time, carrying its confidence without ever raising its voice.

Fuchsloch is a single parcel within the Grand Cru site of Hipping in Rheinhessen, a small plot of roughly 40-year-old vines. The Schätzel family has farmed its plots on the Roten Hang in Nierstein since 1350; the reddish-brown clay slate of the Rotliegend lends the wines a mineral, earthy and almost salty character.

Riesling, hand-harvested in several passes up to the golden cut, foot-trodden, left to macerate for three days, then pressed without prior settling over 36 hours. The spontaneous, warm fermentation, uncontrolled for temperature, took place in an old 600-litre oak cask until slight oxygen deprivation set in. Malolactic fermentation followed, along with 35 months of ageing under a clean, reductive flor yeast veil. It was bottled slightly hazy in its natural state.

The nose shows apple, quince, pear with its skin and apple cider, along with lanolin, a touch of liquorice and hops, grapefruit with peel, star fruit and cape gooseberry. The palate is intense, juicy, silky and round; polished acidity, clear minerality and the influence of the flor yeasts keep it fresh, while fine tannin and ripe fruit give it grip. Salinity and juiciness carry through into a long, deep finish.

With calamari with smoked filling, sauce vierge and mango-chili seasoning, with sole with charred smoke and leek coulis, or with slow-steamed eggs with pea pod coulis, dried mushrooms and sorrel.

Kai Schätzel has run the family estate since 2008 and vinifies in a wooden-cask cellar over 800 years old; a VDP member since 2016, Demeter-certified since 2023. The label carries the Demeter logo. In Rheinhessen, this style is still rarely found in this form.