KIRCHSPIEL Riesling Grande Réserve VDP.Grosse Lage®
Around 1900, German Riesling wines had achieved world fame and were among the most popular white wines in the world. No ruling house, no luxury hotel, no ocean liner that did not carry these wines on its wine list. No one can say today how these wines tasted in their youth. What we know is based exclusively on tasting experiences of the now hundred-year-old and older Pretiosen, as well as on a few analysis values.
If we consider the way in which the wines were aged at that time and the cellar technology used, we quickly come to the conclusion that the wines that were served with food, which were considered particularly valuable, could not have been fully fermented wines, i.e. "dry" in today's sense of the word.
In 2004, this was very clearly demonstrated to us when we were able to taste a forgotten bottle of 1924 Riesling feine Spätlese from our treasure cellar. Despite a low fill level and still original cork closure, this wine still had such a lively freshness that we could hardly believe it.
This experience and the preoccupation with the history of German Riesling led to the idea of reviving this type of wine. Although in a somewhat modern form, but with similar attributes as the historical models. Since 2008 we have been producing our WESTHOFENER Riesling Alte Reben. The designation Alte Reben stands on the one hand for really old vines, of course, but on the other hand also for the special style of this wine.
After 4 vintages, we had slowly gained some experience and could be sure about the aging potential of these wines. So it was in 2012 that we vinified a fine off-dry Riesling from the KIRCHSPIEL, with the firm intention of initially storing this wine in the winery until it reached drinking maturity. It is a wine completely in the style of the classical, high-quality Riesling, as we imagine it probably was, when Riesling reached world fame. We have produced this wine every year since then, and then put it on the market after 6 years of aging. -Friedrich Groebe-
