Wine Advisor
Wittmann, Westhofener Kirchspiel Riesling Grosses Gewachs 2021
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Stephan Reinhardt
The 2021 Kirchspiel Riesling GG offers a nose to fall in love with: pure, intense, highly elegant and refined, like a Chablis based on perfectly ripe and pure Riesling fruits. It is incredibly chalky yet also lush and tropical in its fruit and intertwined with yeasty notes. Full-bodied, round and elegant on the palate, this is a lush and salty-savory, very stimulating yet quietly textured Kirchspiel whose acidity is really delicate and elegant and just holding the texture instead of cutting through it. If I had to bring a German Riesling to Alsace producers (who usually don't favor German Rieslings due to their malic acidity and reduction), Wittmann's Kirchspiel would be the one to choose. It is a very elegant and balanced wine that is based on five plots, of which one vat underwent malolactic during the alcoholic fermentation. 12.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine in August 2022.
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.
