Weingut Gunther Steinmetz Piesporter Treppchen Riesling 2016
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Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Heavily weathered silver-gray slate floor. A 90-year old terrace plot of ungrafted vines. Delicate and multifaceted. Yellow fruits, very ripe yellow pears, violets, lilacs, acacia honey and steel construction. So inaccessible steep, machinery is impossible.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Piesporter Treppchen Riesling "von den Terrassen" was picked at 96° Oechsle ("strangely, like every year," says Stefan Steinmetz) and fermented in stainless steel down to 11.5% alcohol and 20 grams of residual sugar. It is deep, ripe and complex on the nose, with very fine slate aromas and remarkable precision. From up to 90-year-old vines on very well weathered gray slate in high altitudes just below the forest, this is a very elegant and linear but mouth-filling and structured Riesling that tastes very intense and complex, thanks to the old vines and the concentrated fruit. The sweetness of 20 grams per liter is almost completely swallowed by the immense mineral freshness and the well-structured body. "A wine that always needs a lot of time to show its potential," says Stefan Steinmetz. Indeed, this is a very promising, powerful, compact Riesling with remarkable grip and tension. The finish is mouthwateringly salty and highly complex.
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James Suckling
Great peachy nose leading into a stunning balance of fruit, minerals and racy acidity. This has a real kick at the finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
Pronounced aromas of struck match and flint belie the intensity of fresh grapefruit and lemon at the core of this delicately off-dry wine. It's more earth and herbs than forward or fruity but there's a savory intensity here that's beguiling. It's a wine that should improve with some cellaring, try after 2020.
Cellar Selection
Stefan Steinmetz was born in 1978 in Bernkastel-Kues, Germany to Hans Guenther and Edith Steinmetz. He began his first 3-years of education in Viticulture at the Weinbau Schule in Bernkastel-Kues, followed by a 2-year work-study program at Nationally Certified Staatlich Geprüfter Wirtschafter Weinbau and Hochschule in Trier. Weingut Günther Steinmetz was founded in the 1900s and overseen until 1938 by Stefan’s great-grandfather, August Steinmetz. Augus’s son, Wilhelm Steinmetz ran the winery from 1938 until his death in 1958 when the winery was passed on to his son, (and father of Stefan) Herr Hans Guenther Steinmetz. Stefan would take the reins of Cellar Master and cultivation manager in 2000 along with his mother, Edith, when his father became ill. His first vintage would follow the very next year. Stefan’s dedication to traditional winemaking practices and “working as close to nature” is well known.