Putting my nose over the glass filled with the 2018 Riesling Trocken Goldlack leaves me with a lot of questions. Did I really adore the inaugural 2017 last year? Isn't this a completely different style? A style that comes closer to the new Fass No. 6 even though this is a 2020? The 2018 Goldlack is super clear and elegant on the nose but delivers very precise, rather tropical stone-fruit aromas that are very attractive for cocktail lovers but not for fans like me of the 2017 forerunner. On the palate, the wine keeps its all-too-obvious fruit but remains a clear and elegant, intense and finessed Johannisberger with fine tannins and a long and intense finish, about which there is nothing to argue. The wine is well balanced, complex, salty and stimulating, and the dominant fruit aromas will disappear with time. This is in fact closer to the regular style of Stefan Doctor's Schloss Johannisberg, but stylistically, it's not really a successor of the inaugural 2017. I'd rather recommend the new Fass No. 306 for fans of the 2017, even though this is a 2020 and has not been aged in the historic chateau cellar for two years. 12.5% alcohol. Tasted at Schloss Gobelsburg in July 2021.

The 2017 Schloss Johannisberger Riesling Trocken Goldlack is a new entry into the multi-colored portfolio of Schloss Johannisberg. Stylistically completely different from the standard range of the domain, the Goldlack comes entirely from the late-ripening, southwest-facing Langenberg whose grapes were picked under perfect conditions on September 27 at 92.5° Oechsle and macerated for 24 hours prior the pressing. The naturally settled must then fermented in a five-year-old 1,200-liter stück for 6 months, before the wine was racked into another stück to be aged for another 24 months in the famous bibliotheca subterranea of Schloss Johannisberg before it was bottled in April this year. The 2017 displays a straw-yellow to golden color and opens with a highly refined, aromatic and slightly flinty bouquet with ripe and elegant peach and mirabelle aromas intertwined with delicate notes of crushed stones and quartzite, indicating remarkable finesse and complexity. Full-bodied, finessed and fresh on the palate, this is a pure, tight and complex Schloss Johannisberger with a firm but refined structure and a powerful, intense, greatly tensioned and sustainable finish. This is a terrific dry Riesling from Schloss Johannisberg, most likely the finest I have ever tasted here in 20 years. It is worth wearing the long-missed golden cap. In fact, the Goldlack addresses even more taste buds than the silver capped GG. The wine enters the market in autumn this year, while larger formats should be auctioned. The price is 99 euros ex-cellar. Tasted in July 2020.