Riesling "Fuchs" 2021

The Riesling "Fuchs" 2021 from Schätzel is a dry white wine from the Fuchsloch parcel on the Roter Hang in Nierstein, aged 36 months under a veil of flor yeast. In the glass, a slightly hazy orange-gold. A purist: racy, powerful, at a light 11.0% ABV and uncompromisingly dry.

The Fuchsloch parcel belongs to the VDP.Grosse Lage Hipping on the Roter Hang. The red-brown clay slate of the Rotliegend defines the steep slopes and lends the wines an earthy, almost saline trace. Trees, shrubs and herbs surround the vines, some of which grow in shade or trained on pergolas. The family has farmed its parcels on the Roter Hang since 1350, and Kai Schätzel has run the estate in Nierstein since 2008.

Riesling from forty-year-old vines. After harvest, the grapes are hand-selected, the must foot-trodden and cold-macerated for 48 hours. Fermentation and malolactic conversion then follow in old 600-litre oak barrels in the more than 800-year-old wooden-cask cellar. The flor yeast then forms, under which the wine rests for 36 months.

The nose is richly layered: nut, zest and peel of orange and mandarin right through to bitter mandarin skin, alongside cardamom, cinnamon and clove, apple and orange blossom, salt dough and a touch of turmeric. Beneath that, ripe apple, caramelised quince, candied ginger and compote of mirabelle and peach, all far removed from sweetness. On the palate, the floral notes recede. What remains is high acidity, salinity and a taut, angular structure, firm and crisp. The finish carries nut, quince and ginger, the spice now only a faint trace.

A VDP member since 2016, Schätzel has been Demeter-certified since 2023, with the Demeter logo featured on the label. Kai Schätzel's credo: lighter, longer and sometimes a little wilder.