Wine Advisor
Emrich Schonleber, Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Groses Gewachs 2020
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Stephan Reinhardt
The 2020 Halenberg GG is pure, precise and fresh on the nose that offers flinty notes of crushed stones, herbs and lemons. Crystalline, refined and juicy on the palate, this is a dense and intense, tightly structured and persistently salty Halenberg with fine tannins and great purity. Tasted from a bottle that was opened three days before, the bouquet is deep and intense but pure and salty with ripe lemon and crushed stone aromas. The palate is full, dense and tight, with serious tannin structure and lingering salinity. The combination of both wines is amazing and combines purity and freshness with complexity and elegance. The salty finish is the leitmotiv of all three versions. 12.5% alcohol. Tasted at the domain in July 2021.
About the Producer
1815"This time people were boasting of one of their local wines, called 'Monzinger'," noted Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1815. "They say it runs down the throat with such ease and pleasure, that you only realise its bewildering effect too late. 1960sUntil the 1960s, our estate was a mixed operation comprising agriculture, livestock and winegrowing. This form of diversification was common practice at a time when the risk of bad grape harvests (due to spring frosts, poor flowering, fungal diseases, etc.) was still very high. Only the most affluent families (often from industrialist backgrounds) could afford to grow wine and nothing else. 1965-1985From 1965 to 1985, Wilhelm Schönleber (a native Swabian from southern Germany), followed by son Werner Schönleber, turned the property into a purely winegrowing estate, expanding the vineyard area from approximately 2 to 10 hectares. With an increasing share of vineyard space devoted to Riesling and a continually improving portfolio of vineyard sites, the estate first made it onto the list of "Germany's top 100 wineries. Today the farm 20 hectares of vineyard. Riesling currently accounts for 85% of our vines, supplemented by Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris) and Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc)
