”It’s only thanks to greatly increased acreage” – a near doubling, as explained in my Issue 192 report – “that I am now able to achieve a wine like this,” explains Helmut Donnhoff of his 2011 Niederhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese, the second of its ilk back-to-back. It was selected-out in the same week as its Auslese and Beerenauslese counterparts, but as part of a separate picking, which was further winnowed at the press house and eventually resulted in 85- liters of concentrate that finished fermenting and were bottled not long before I tasted it near summers’ end. Extremely high-toned and penetrating scents of pear distillate, Chartreuse, maraschino, and almond extract roar from the glass, bringing to attention not just the hairs in my nostrils, but those on the back of my neck! Viscous and creamy yet persistently vibrant thanks to not only its (largely hidden) springs of acidity but also its persistently volatile elements this coats the palate with an impression of honey and marzipan, caramel and maraschino syrup, finishing with phenomenal, if as yet somewhat undifferentiated and extremely sweet persistence. Blessed is he who one day has a chance to compare this back-to-back with its stunning 2010 counterpart (about which I raved in Issue 198). If possible, give either of them 15-20 years before you even think about tucking into a bottle. The Donnhoff crew participated in a massive “pre-harvest” in late September to cull those few but pervasive bunches that had picked up vinegar from marauding yellow jackets or contracted early and unpromising-looking botrytis. “Immediately after that,” relates Helmut Donnhoff, “we picked the Pinots, and then started in on Riesling, but there was no stress thanks to the stable weather. We picked each vineyard twice more, once chiefly for botrytis and once for the rest. I’ve never seen more beautiful grapes – everywhere you looked, regardless of vineyard. Any mistakes I made could only be in their cellar upbringing. It got so warm during the day that some pickers went shirtless. There was no difficulty with fruit harvested in the morning, but in the afternoon – since we don’t have a cooling chamber – we had to rush each lot of fruit straight to the cellar to be pressed, so that we could then cool-down the juice.” As a group, this year’s dry wines are a surprisingly austere group especially for their vintage. They also display relatively full body, hovering close to 13.5% alcohol – half a percent over what Helmut Donnhoff says is his target. He offered a revealing comment this year in opining that “l(fā)ots of young growers today are too eager and extreme in the pursuit of perfection in their fruit. Dividing of clusters and trimming-off any perceived imperfection at the pre-harvest stage is impractical, and in fact you need those ... call them little scars (Narben), otherwise the wine becomes too polished and glib (glatt), even boring. Each cluster can have a bit of under-ripeness and all manner of things (alles Mogliche). That diversity (Buntheit) is incredibly important.” Another insight-rich Donnhoff observation: “To interpret each of these sites as it is, requires that one operate with and produce wine of a certain restraint” – that remark apropos of his trio of Grosse Gewachse, but no doubt intended to apply across the board. “That is my responsibility,” he adds, “but of course also my great pleasure. (My son) Cornelius didn’t pay any special attention in managing the vineyards as to whether it was Hermannshohle or Kirschheck – they all got the same degree of attention and the same treatment. We do high-class work, and that’s that. So the differences you taste don’t reflect any favoritism.” I debated whether to publish my initial note on a highly promising Pinot Noir that is entirely Cornelius Donnhoff’s project, but since it is an inaugural effort and won’t be bottled before mid-2013 I’ll wait until next year and report from bottle. Importer:Terry Theise Estate S

From berries selected out of the corresponding Auslese, Donnhoff's 2010 Niederhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese was intended to be Beerenauslese, given 180 Oechsle and 14 grams of acidity it was evident that he had a T.B.A. on his hands ? and what a one! High-toned, penetrating aromas of maraschino, marzipan, and pungent lemon rind usher in a creamily rich yet buoyant and enervating palate loaded with quince preserves and pear nectar; honey and caramel; maraschino and white raisin. Brightness of fresh lemon and depth of nut oils emerge in the finish, the sheer abundance of material present here serving to somehow guarantee a seamless yet fruitfully tense cohabitation of this elixir's acidic with its ennobled richness, its spine and vivacity with its creamy opulence. This ought to be worth following for a half century or more. Helmut Donnhoff is quick to point out that the challenges of 2010 would seem normal by 1980s standards, and he likes the sharp differentiation of site character that he thinks is enhanced in a cooler, well-watered vintage. He harvested through the first days of November, but voiced skepticism that one could have accomplished much - at least in his vineyards - thereafter. "We harvested like the world champions in the last days, practically around the clock, because the weather reports had forecast rain and that's what we got," he noted, handing me a slip of paper on which his vineyard manager had written a day-to-day report intended to explain to yours truly "who had a free day November 10 and had hoped to be present for some late picking" why the harvest here ended November 5. "It would have been nice to have been able to wait until the second half of October to have begun," he adds, "but practically speaking, I need four weeks to harvest all of my vineyards, so in my mind I plan from back to front. You can't just wait, wait, wait, or it might be too late, you'd end up rushing, and as a result lose out on precisely what would have been your best (wines). We de-acidified the early pickings - simply with calcium carbonate,"he explains. "Acid levels were dropping, but very slowly, and in the end we arrived at levels of 9.5 or 10 grams in the must, which is still high, but by that time the levels of tartaric and malic were comparable (to one another), and with the strong must weights we had, it was enough to do the job." Bottling for most of the wines took place in late May or in June, around a month later than usual. There was some discussion, notes Donnhoff, about whether to leave higher than usual residual sugar behind in the dry wines. "But I decided against that as I didn't want to mask the wines' character. To be sure, there's a sort of hardness here - though it's not a green, under-ripe hardness but rather (an expression of) sheer density. At first I had some misgivings about the (dry) wines, but later on, I didn't merely reconcile myself to them. On the contrary, I really started to take pleasure in them, admiring their straight lines, their clarity, and their potential. I'm a fan of Clos St. Hune and a devotee of this puristic style." Donnhoff has repeatedly expressed his satisfaction in being able to ostensibly -complete- his vinous tour of the middle Nahe - first by acquiring property in Norheim; then in Bad Kreuznach - but the expansion has taken yet another turn with the acquisition of two and a half acres in the red Permian sandstone Roxheimer Berg, for whose maintenance his son Cornelius - a critical if publicly little-known member of Team Donnhoff for some years now - will be responsible. It was another case of a site about whose many steep, once-prestigious and increasingly-neglected vineyards Helmut Donnhoff felt frustrated and apprehensive. "One by one," he relates, "I gazed out at parcels about which I thought, 'Man, if things go on the same way for another year or two, this vineyard will be finished,' and I thought about the distance - seven or eight kilometers - f

Picked out in the course of harvesting the corresponding Spatlese and gold capsule Auslese, the Donnhoff 2009 Niederhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese is nearly gelatinous as well as nearly weightless, its creamy essence of desiccated berries suggesting honey, salted caramel, singed cookie dough, candied citrus rinds, pit fruit distillates, and white truffle. "I could never have accomplished this from my own holdings," explains Donnhoff, but he was able to range over nearly one half of the entire Hermannshohle Einzellage thanks to his rental agreement with the new Gut Hermannsberg (formerly the Nahe Staatsdomaine, and profiled elsewhere in this report). "Even then," he continues, "-there are a mere 25 liters. Above 200 Oechsle, you're really just chasing records. But you have to know when enough is enough, and then have a sense for how to exercise the necessary restraint in the cellar, too." It's hard to imagine that any missteps were made here; indeed, it's hard to imagine much greater sheer palate persistence or utter vinous self-sufficiency. And yet, this will almost certainly acquire an extra measure of complexity as it evolves over the next 40 or more years. When and how it will be released, Donnhoff is in no hurry to fret about. The 2007 has finally become wine and gone to bottle. Meanwhile, the 1989 has never officially been released, and a few bottles may soon finally be offered for sale stateside. These are truly the stuff of dreams. "In a great vintage with good weather this prolonged," remarks Helmut Donnhoff of 2009, only half in humor, "the only time limit to harvest is that set by the wild boar." And most of the excitement here this year - including the remarkable range of Spatlesen and the botrytis selections - was generated from a single week's picking in early November. "It's a year of the naked wine," adds Donnhoff, pointing to what he perceives as the stark portrayal of vineyard typicity that runs through his entire 2009 collection. His recent arrangement with the new Gut Hermannsberg (whose origins and inaugural vintage are canvassed elsewhere in this report) has taken Schlossbockelheimer Kupfergrube out of Helmut Donnhoff's line-up, while he has roughly doubled the surface area in the Hermannshohle under his control (to nearly 10 acres, or roughly half the Einzellage). The suggested retail prices I received from Donnhoff's importer represented significant price reductions vis-a-vis the last two years - and prices on the estate's private customer list have remained virtually unchanged for several years - adding yet another reason to seek them out. "I want to offer my customers good value," remarks Donnhoff with, in my view, considerable understatement, "and I'm proud of the fact that nobody in the trade who has bought from me has lost money reselling my wine." Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300