Wine Advisor
Wittmann, Westhofener Kirchspiel Riesling Grosses Gewachs 2019
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Stephan Reinhardt
The 2019 Kirchspiel Riesling GG is pure, fresh and spicy as well as coolish on the still yeasty but substantial and complex nose. Lush yet precise and refined on the elegant palate, this is a highly tensioned, grippy and chalky dry Riesling with great finesse, sustainable grip, intensity and stimulating salinity. A great Kirchspiel! Tasted as a sample in April 2020.
About the Producer
Since 1663 the Wittmanns and its ancestors have been wine farmers in the town of Westhofen, in the southern part of the Rheinhessen appellation. Today Philipp Wittmann, his wife Eva and Philipp’s parents divide the tasks running the estate. Riesling is the dominant grape of choice but also the Pinot varietals (Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris) and Silvaner have a long tradition in Westhofen. For more than twenty years, the vineyards have been origanically cultivated. The vines root deep in the living system of the soil which strengthens the expression of vineyard character, or terroir. Intensive hand craftsmanship in the tending of the vineyards serves the goal of achieving the highest possible grape quality. Only the very best wines bear the names of the top sites of Westhofen. The soils in these sites are mainly marl interspersed with limestone. The carefully pressed must fermented by the natural yeasts in wooden casks in our large vaulted cellars. The slow fermentation and maturation in the constantly cool cellar conserves the natural aromas. Thus the Wittmann wines come to have their own expression which is at once unmistakable and new every year.
