Kuhling-Gillot Nackenheimer Rothenberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs, Rheinhessen, Germany

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Kuhling-Gillot’s 2007 Nackenheimer Rothenberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs comes from a tiny parcel of ungrafted vines (a rarity in this sector, and prominently mentioned on the label) that the Gillots truly re-discovered – amid some Silvaner – in 1997; have restored to health; and are working in collaboration with the Viticultural Institute in Geisenheim to re-propagate. Autumnal foliage, wisps of smoke, and dried orange rind rise from the nose; smoked meat and citrus oils mingle on a broad, substantial palate; and this finishes with impressive smoky and zest intensity, albeit with a faintly dusty note, and without a lot of focused fruit or refreshment. The style here seems to fit Oelberg better than it does Rothenberg, and I can’t help thinking – as in so many instances of Grosses Gewachs – that this intriguing wine might have been better for a bit more residual sugar and concomitantly less alcohol. Still, I would love to see how it evolves over the next 6-8 years or more. Since taking the reins from her father several years ago, Carolin Gillot has proven to be a dynamo. A showcase modern addition has been made to the beautiful Jugendstil home and cellars in Bodenheim, while vinification – along with a veritable fleet of ancient yet impeccably maintained casks that she and her new husband Oliver Spannier luckily happened-upon in 2007 – has been largely transferred to the cellars of Battenfeld-Spanier in southern Rheinhessen, where the couple are raising their son (soon to be joined by a little brother). All this would of course matter little to readers had not the wines become very good indeed, and following the promising 2006s I tasted, the 2007s and 2008s each mark improvement. This estate’s holdings are in the classic Permian red sandstone of Nierstein’s “Rotem Hang” and the immediately-adjacent and once-famous vineyards of Oppenheim, the Gillot family’s original home base. (Bodenheim’s calcareous sites, too, were once justifiably renowned, but the Gillots have no major holdings there. For an account of the 2007 vintage wines of Battenfeld-Spanier, see elsewhere in this report. The two wineries, incidentally, now have a new legal name in common, which appears in small print on the labels, but can be ignored in descriptive practice.)Imported by Domaine Select Wine Estates, New York, NY; tel. (212) 279-0799