Weingut Dautel Estate Riesling Trocken 2019
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Robert
Parker
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Intense nose with lots of yellow fruit from vineyard peaches and citrus fruits, but also from fresh pineapple and ripe Elstar apple. Very dense and minerally characterized, still slightly exotic notes, very delicate white flowers and a hint of anise at the end. A spicy and piquant start with lots of juicy peach fruit, pineapple and fresh herbs; Acidity and sweetness complement each other perfectly, wonderfully refreshing Riesling with an extremely present on the palate with finely interwoven mineral notes and a long finish.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Riesling trocken opens with a clear, intense and smoky nose of crushed limestone, iodine and perfectly ripe Riesling aromas. Full-bodied, intense and concentrated on the palate, this is a stunningly expressive and structured wine for this price level! It is almost rich yet crystalline, elegant and refined, and the finish is seriously long and structured. This is by far the best estate wine I have ever tasted from Chris Dautel! It is stimulatingly salty and a spectacular wine at this price point!
Other Vintages
2021-
Robert
Parker
Ernst Dautel, Christian’s father, was the first generation in his family to attend winemaking school in Geisenheim in the 1970s. When he returned home he decided to stop working with the coop, though his father was one of the founding members of the coop in Meimsheim. Ernst didn’t want to “throw his fruit in with all the rest and get some bad quality wine out of it.” Ernst is an iconoclast and one of the first producers in the Württemberg to estate bottle wines. His wife Hannalore was from Bönnigheim, where the winery is located now and; they were married in the late 1970s. Their eldest son, Christian, was exposed to wine at a very young age, recounting picnics in the vineyards and family vacations that always included visits to great estates.
Ernst became well known, in part for challenging the status quo in the region but also for making excellent wines, though they were not always regionally accepted. He joined the VDP in 1999 and the estate remains one of the very best in Württemberg, now under the guidance of Christian, who returned home in 2010.
Christian is a thoughtful winemaker repeating the refrain we always hear from quality minded growers – “the wines are made in the vineyards”. Like other top winemakers from his generationm taking over successful wineries from their parents, he has a huge amount of respect for what his father accomplished and sees no need to tear down the work that has been done by making abrupt changes.
Christian’s goal is to continue to bring out the specific character of each terroirs without losing the inherent flavor of the grape variety planted to each vineyard. Wines are not made by formula, but by taking in to account the feeling for each site and variety. These are singular wines, unlike anything we’ve come across in Germany.
Recognized as a top quality grape here since the Middle Ages, Germany retains its high reputation as a premier source of the finest Riesling. Heavily planted throughout the Rheingau and Mosel, Riesling responds splendidly to these regions’ extreme climatic and topographic challenges. Cold-hardy enough to survive freezing winters, and sturdy enough to withstand the warm sun, Riesling has enough natural acidity to maintain balance, even in wines with the highest levels of residual sugar. While high quality is possible in all points of the sweet to dry spectrum, Riesling typically produces wine with relatively low alcohol, high acidity, steely minerality, stone fruit, citrus, spice and floral notes. With age, Riesling can become truly revelatory, developing unique, complex aromatics, often with a hint of petrol.