Battenfeld-Spanier Hohen Sulzer Kirchenstuck Riesling Grosses Gewachs

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Battenfeld-Spanier’s 2011 Hohen-Sulzer Kirchenstuck Riesling Grosses Gewachs is scented with coriander and marjoram, lemon and apple. Firm and full on the palate, it displays a relative sense of opacity and diffusion when compared with its immediate stable mates. Humus and tobacco lend a metaphorically dark note while herbal pungency, apple, black pepper and lemon zest all carry with impressive tenacity – just not much sheer juiciness or engagement of the salivary glands. Perhaps I saw this at an awkward moment. I won’t attempt for now to prognosticate as to its bottle evolution. Oliver Spanier (for an account of his methods and still internationally little-known sites, consult especially my issue 185 report) began picking on September 20, 2011 and didn’t finish until November 2 (in his Am Schwarzen Herrgott parcel), an indication of the micro-climatic, topographical and geological diversity among his sites in three communes. That it was necessary to cull botrytis this year is evidenced in an unprecedented set of brilliantly successful nobly sweet wines from this normally trocken-only estate. (Mea Culpa: Somehow, I let Spanier omit pouring me samples of this year’s Eisbach Riesling or his and Gillot’s 2010 CO Riesling – always late-released – without my realizing the omissions and asking that they be remedied.)Imported by Domaine Select Wine Estates, New York, NY; tel. (212) 279-0799

Battenfeld-Spanier 2010 年的 Hohen-Sulzer Kirchenstuck Riesling Grosses Gewachs 伴著誘人、尖銳、突出的小蒼蘭、薄荷香氣，口感柔滑，帶著白桃味和碎石頭的異常生動的味感。此酒比較刺激，只有桃仁和烤谷物的味道能使豐厚多汁的余味變得更有活力?？紤]到該酒只含有 13.5% 的酒精，它卻能表現(xiàn)出驚人的活躍。此酒在未來 6 年內(nèi)將散發(fā)出無窮的魅力。

Battenfeld-Spanier's 2009 Hohen-Sulzer Kirchenstuck Riesling Grosses Gewachs is - I daresay 'predictably' - more prominently, even brusquely piquant than its 'village-level' counterpart. Peach kernel, apple pip, toasty nuttiness, and citrus rind are encased in a glossy-textured yet otherwise rather unyielding palate, with ashen and chalky mineral notes adding to an overall sense of austerity. Thankfully and less predictably, this doesn't give a heavier impression than its already relatively full-bodied village counterpart, but despite impressive sheer persistence, I find no fruit juiciness or charm in such a wine. I would have to wait for more of a track record to accumulate before being convinced that this will be worth following for more than half a dozen years. Oliver Spanier opines that he would prefer in future to be able to release his Grosse Gewachse only in the spring following their late summer bottling, believing they would then show more expressively and generously. Oliver Spanier - for information about whose distinctive sites and methods consult especially my report in issue 185 - harvested until November 3, 2009, allowing almost an entire month for optimizing ripeness. Just as at their Kuhling-Gillot estate, the team of Spanier and his wife Carolin Gillot seek to avoid bottling non-trocken wines, instead blending away any lots that finish with more than 9 grams of residual sugar. Spanier is among the many German Riesling growers who - in his words - are "working in the direction of clarity, freshness, finesse and elegance of expression rather than extract or power" (for which he used the English word). But it's one thing to talk the talk and another to walk the walk - assuming that one is attracted by these stated goals - and in that respect, Spanier is not the only ambitious German grower I have encountered whose ostensibly lesser bottlings (from 2009, anyway) strike me as living up to his stated ideals better than do his Grosse Gewachse.Imported by Domaine Select Wine Estates, New York, NY; tel. (212) 279-0799

Iris, fresh lime, cherry, and raw almond in the nose of the Battenfeld-Spanier 2008 Hohen-Sulzer Kirchenstuck Riesling Grosses Gewachs leads to palate that nicely conjoins richness and fullness with tingling acidity and juiciness of peach, lime and cherry. Pistachio and almond cream add depth and appeal to a finish as soothing as it is refreshing. Today, the sheer exuberance of the corresponding village bottling makes it the better alternative, but this Grosses Gewachs should be worth following for at least 6-8 years and develop into the more complex and ultimately more imposing wine. Oliver Spanier – for a bit about whose distinctive sites and methods see issue 185 – harvested his 2008 vintage Rieslings from mid-October through the first week of November, and reports having performed no de-acidification.Importer: Domaine Select Wine Estates, New York, NY; tel. (212) 279-0799

The Battenfeld-Spanier 2007 Hohen-Sulzer Kirchenstuck Riesling Grosses Gewachs – grown in especially soft, drought-resistant chalk – smells rather opulently of citrus and tropical fruits garnished with honeysuckle and almond, but its expansive, oily, bright, dramatically intense palate impression is accompanied by considerable bitterness that follows into the wine’s terrifically tenacious, seemingly chalk- and salt-crusted finish. This powerhouse won’t be everyone’s big cup of Gewachs, and there’s no doubt its formidable rather than loveable, but it ought to be fascinating to follow for at least the next 7-9 years. Oliver Spanier farms organically and, increasingly, biodynamically in the southwestern corner of Rheinhessen, which benefits from the cool breezes of the so-called Eisbach Valley, and hence from potentially above-average hang-time. As part of the married Gillot-Spanier team (see elsewhere in this report under Kuhling-Gillot) he is a prime example of the excitement (and increasingly high prices) that young growers in former “hinterlands” are generating. (If one goes back hundreds of years, though, the chalky vineyards of Rheinhessen’s Wonnegau sub-region enjoyed prestige.) I tasted only a portion of this estate’s 2007s and shall render a fuller report on Spanier’s yet-better 2008s.Imported by Domaine Select Wine Estates, New York, NY; tel. (212) 279-0799