2021 Künstler Hochheimer Domdechaney Riesling Trocken | 95 James Suckling

🔥 BETTER THAN MANY 2021 GGs. THIS IS RIESLING PUNCHING WELL ABOVE ITS CLASSIFICATION.

A powerful and completely dry expression of Riesling from one of the Rheingau's great vineyard sites

Rheingau, Germany

95 Points – JamesSuckling.com

Hochheimer Domdechaney | RRP $98

If your idea of German Riesling is light, delicate and slightly sweet, this wine is going to completely change the conversation.

The 2021 Künstler Hochheimer Domdechaney Riesling Trocken is a powerful, completely dry expression of Riesling from one of the Rheingau's great vineyard sites.

And it comes from a producer sitting firmly among the elite of modern German wine.

Weingut Künstler.

JamesSuckling.com's Stuart Pigott awarded the wine:

95 POINTS

and went even further, saying it was:

“Better than a lot of 2021 GGs!”

That's significant.

Because Domdechaney is classified VDP.ERSTE LAGE, one level beneath Germany's prestigious Grosses Gewächs dry wines — yet Pigott believed this wine was outperforming plenty of GGs from the same vintage.

At an RRP of $99, this is serious German Riesling.

Künstler – One of the Great Names of the Rheingau

Gunter Künstler has taken his family estate to the very top level of the Rheingau.

JamesSuckling.com describes Künstler's concentrated and charismatic dry Rieslings as having taken the estate to “the very top of the German winemaking scene.”

And the 2021 vintage was particularly significant.

Künstler's 2021 Hölle GG was named JamesSuckling.com's No.1 Wine of Germany and ultimately finished No.2 in its Top 100 Wines of the World.

So you're dealing with a producer absolutely at the top of its game.

The Domdechaney Vineyard

This is where the wine gets particularly interesting.

Hochheimer Domdechaney is a tiny, historically important vineyard in Hochheim.

The entire site covers only 10.1 hectares.

Künstler owns just:

0.3 HECTARES.

The name refers to the former owner of the vineyard, the Dean of Mainz Cathedral.

But it's the terroir that really matters.

The site contains calcareous clay marl, with warmth and an abundant mineral reserve encouraging excellent ripeness.

Künstler describes Domdechaney Rieslings as having unusual substance, fullness and body, with intense ripe-fruit aromatics and a pronounced mineral character balanced by distinctive but gentle acidity.

This isn't shy Riesling.

It's Riesling with presence.

95 Points – JamesSuckling.com

Stuart Pigott's review gets straight to why this wine is special.

He found an aromatic spectrum of:

White & yellow tree fruits

Yellow grapefruit

Pomelo

Star fruit

The wine is ripe and silky, yet retains the freshness and brightness that great dry Riesling needs.

Most importantly, Pigott found:

A huge amount of underplayed power.

The wine was vinified:

100% IN LARGE NEUTRAL OAK

rather than stainless steel, adding another dimension of texture without burying the purity of the Riesling fruit.

The grapes were also organically grown with Fair'n Green certification.

2021 – A Classic German Riesling Vintage

2021 was a fascinating year in Germany.

It was cooler and more challenging than many recent vintages, but for growers who managed their vineyards carefully and waited for clean, fully ripe fruit, the results could be spectacular.

JamesSuckling.com described it as a “Cinderella vintage”, noting that many German winemakers compared the year to classic vintages from before climate change.

The combination of naturally high acidity and a long growing season produced dry Rieslings with tremendous energy, precision and ageing potential.

And Künstler produced one of the standout collections of the vintage.

What Does It Taste Like?

This is not simple citrus-and-acid Riesling.

There's considerably more going on.

Expect:

Ripe pear & orchard fruits

White peach

Grapefruit & pomelo

Honeydew

Subtle exotic fruit

Floral complexity

Deep mineral character

Brilliant natural acidity

There's ripeness and texture through the middle of the palate, but the acidity keeps everything beautifully focused.

The large neutral oak adds breadth rather than obvious oak flavour.

Ripe and silky. Powerful but precise. Mineral and beautifully dry.

It's the sort of Riesling that reminds you why the greatest dry German examples can comfortably sit alongside the world's great white wines.

Why We Love It

There are several reasons this wine stands out.

One of the Rheingau's great producers

Hochheimer Domdechaney single-vineyard fruit

VDP.ERSTE LAGE

Organically grown grapes

100% large neutral oak fermentation

95 Points – JamesSuckling.com

And then there's that remarkable assessment:

“BETTER THAN A LOT OF 2021 GGs!”

That tells you everything.

This is officially an Erste Lage wine punching well above its classification.

And It Is Just Starting to Hit Its Stride

Künstler says wines from Domdechaney need at least two years of bottle maturity to fully reveal their quality and aromatic complexity.

The 2021 now has several years behind it.

That means you're beginning to move beyond the fiercely youthful stage of great dry Riesling and into the period where the wine starts developing additional complexity.

Drink it now and enjoy its fruit, minerality and energy.

Or cellar it.

The combination of the 2021 vintage's natural acidity, the quality of the vineyard and Künstler's winemaking gives this serious potential for further development.

2021 KÜNSTLER DOMDECHANEY RIESLING TROCKEN

Rheingau, Germany

95 Points – JamesSuckling.com

Tiny 0.3ha Künstler holding

100% large neutral oak

RRP $98

This is not everyday Riesling.

This is serious dry German Riesling from one of the Rheingau's great producers and one of Hochheim's historic vineyard sites.

And when Stuart Pigott says it's better than plenty of 2021 Grosses Gewächs wines, Riesling lovers should pay attention.

👉 If you love great dry Riesling, white Burgundy or mineral-driven Chardonnay, put this on your radar. Powerful, precise and beautifully mature, the 2021 Künstler Domdechaney is a cracking introduction to top-level Rheingau Riesling.