Riesling Pettenthal GG 2020

Young and still closed: yeast and pronounced minerality overlay the fruit, which is why this Riesling belongs in a decanter. Given enough oxygen, it turns spicy and smoky, revealing quince, apple skin, apricot, orange and vineyard peach. A rough diamond that demands time.

For Kai Schätzel, the Grand Cru Pettenthal is the most dramatic site on the Roter Hang near Nierstein: steep slopes, striking red slate, narrow vine rows that shade one another and can only be worked by hand. The reddish-brown clay slate of the Rotliegend gives the wines a mineral, earthy, almost saline character. The family has farmed its parcels on the Roter Hang since 1350, and Kai Schätzel has run the winery since 2008.

Riesling, spontaneously fermented in large wooden casks and bottled after several months on full lees. It was aged in the winery's wooden-cask cellar, which is over 800 years old.

Gripping and dense, almost bitable: tart citrus fruit, fine tannin, plus richness and power at a pleasingly modest 11.5% vol. The wine holds great ageing potential and will only fully reveal itself with further maturity. Anyone wanting to drink it now should definitely decant it and pour it not too cold into a large Burgundy glass.

Oven-roasted leek hearts and celeriac baked in salt crust with hazelnut crunch, spiny lobster with carrot and orange-ginger butter on black rice cake, or quail with raspberry vinegar jus and wild herb polenta.

In 2020, Schätzel became the first German winery to bring natural-wine Grand Crus to market: spontaneously fermented, without sulphur, bottled unfiltered. The estate has been a VDP member since 2016 and Demeter-certified since 2023, with the Demeter logo featured on the label.