Goldlack Riesling VDP.Grosses Gewächs sec 2020

Compelling nose of dried peach, apricot and flint. A very concentrated and elegant dry riesling with a dense core of super-fine stone fruit. Really silky fine tannins that precisely underline everything through the very long and graceful finish. And this is just beginning what will surely be a very long life. Matured in two 1,200 liter casks for two and a half years. Drink or hold.

The 2020 Riesling Schloss Johannisberg Goldlack is the estate's top dry wine, even above the GG, made in severely limited quantity. It was harvested in the Langenberg parcel, called Mäuerchen quer, what Doktor calls the "absolute fillet" of this superior plot. It was fermented in Stück and matured on lees for 30 months, of these, 24 months in the 100-year-old cellar next to the bottle library of old vintages. It is the current release, scheduled for September 2023. The nose is shy, on the cusp of losing primary fruit and entering tertiary development, expressed as gentle creaminess and freshly rained-on earth. The palate is lithe and bright with translucent, golden, fresh fruit. A slight zest brings a vividly fresh textural element that only adds to the notion of luminous freshness and slenderness. There is a fine-boned elegance yet gentle understatement. This is poised, quiet, serene and timeless. The wine seems to carry and transport the stillness of the quiet, cool cellar with its balanced freshness and timeless elegance. The finish is long and lemon-scented, with some malolactic creaminess on the finish. A picture of balance. Only when the wine has been in the glass for about ten minutes and warmed to room temperature does it show its yarrow-inflected, herbal finesse.

From macerated grapes from top parcels around the château and vinified in traditional oak for 10 months prior to the aging on the fine lees for 24 months, the 2020 Schloss Johannisberg Goldlack Riesling Trocken opens with an intense and generous but fine, elegant and flinty bouquet indicating a substantial Riesling of great class. The aging in oak is palatable in texture and structure and a little disruption to the Bronze and Silberlack in terms of style. This full-bodied Johannisberger is a supple yet pure, refined and saline, finely grippy and expressive Riesling with great aging capacity. This is a promising Johannisberg that will refine with bottle age. Drink from a large Bordeaux glass! 13% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine in September and again at home in late October 2023. The wine sells for respectable 210 euros ex-cellar.