Riesling Muschelkalk 2023

A Riesling that tells of its origin through herbal spice and structure rather than fruit. Shortly after opening it appears reduced in the glass, with fermentation aromas and hop shoots masking everything; decanted swiftly and vigorously, it becomes a calmly flowing, meditative wine.

The Odinstal estate lies in a hollow enclosed by forest above Wachenheim, roughly 350 metres above the Rhine valley. Across the five hectares of the monopole vineyard Wachenheimer Odinstal, four types of rock lie side by side: basalt, shell limestone, Keuper marl and yellow variegated sandstone. Ten hectares of mixed forest enclose the plots; there are no winegrowing neighbours, and consequently no drift from spray treatments either. The grapes for this wine grow on the shell-limestone parcels planted in 1996; at this altitude the vines ripen around 20 days later than in the valley.

Pure Riesling, harvested on 8 October 2023. Estate manager Andreas Schumann works in the cellar on the principle of non-intervention: fermentation, both alcoholic and malolactic, proceeded spontaneously in stainless steel tank with around five percent whole-cluster fruit, followed by roughly seven months of full lees ageing until July 2025. The analysis shows 12.8 g/l residual sugar, 6.8 g/l total acidity and 48 mg/l total sulphur. 2,632 bottles of 0.75 litres were filled, along with large formats; the wine is marketed as Pfalz country wine.

The entry belongs to a distinctive residual sweetness, immediately caught by bitter, spicy aromas. Chamomile tea and long-steeped green tea form the base, above which sits extract-rich fruit: peach and apricot kernel, more skin than juice, together with linden blossom, lemon balm and lemongrass. An austere tannic backbone gives pace to this otherwise calm flow.

Odinstal is a VDP member and Demeter-certified since 2013, with the Demeter logo featured on the label. The estate is run as a closed organism according to Demeter guidelines.