Weingut Gunderloch

Johannes has been running the family estate for 10 years, which has grown from 8 to 30 hectares and converted to organic viticulture since his arrival. Nierstein fruit comes from young vines from the famous and highly regarded Pettenthal vineyard that overlooks the Rhine river. The 2022 vintage is a warm vintage and the profile is more juicy and hints of exotic fruits combined with blossom and herbal notes as well as refreshing acidity and fruit purity.

At 5.5 hectares, the site retains the warmth and the orange and fleshy peach aroma is a nod to this heat retaining site. The wine has a breadth and a concentration, yet there is a herbal note as well as a saltiness and energy that is characteristic of the vintage.

At 6.5 hectares, this is Gunderloch's largest site and is probably its most prestigious. The gravelly red slate and cooler site provides a delicate finesse and lively acidity. Steely in its approach with jasmine and white grapefruit pithiness. This is a classy wine.

The Nierstein is a selection from young vines of the famed Pettenthal vineyard of Rheinhessen's Roter Hang– the red slate slopes that overlook the river Rhine. 2021 was a spectacular year for Riesling across Europe and this is a fabulous representation of the vintage. Tasting it blind, you’d be forgiven for placing it as a Grosses Gewächs, or Grand Cru: smoky, textured and with wonderful purity of fruit, it has a finish that lasts for minutes. Excellent value from one of Germany's most exciting winemakers, this is not to be missed.

The Rothenberg in 2020 is a drop-dead gorgeous Riesling. It ripples with tension and drive, but has a little more creaminess than in some vintages, making a really delicious, approachable wine. Don't underestimate this wine's ability to age, though. This will go on and on and on.

The 2020 Pettenthal is crystalline in character, with lots of citrus fruit, floral notes, and a wonderful, silky texture. There's so much going on here, but it remains beautifully approachable and drinkable. A salty tang on the finish completes the picture. Bravo.

The Nierstein is a selection from young vines from the famed Pettenthal vineyard of Rheinhessen's Roter Hang, overlooking the River Rhine. It's a spectacular 2020, with yellow fruit, spice, and a charming mineral spine. This is a brilliant wine for the price, and is not to be missed.

Slightly closed but fresh and silky, with lovely energy to the fruit. Very nice energy, here, good weight and power, but with a fine thread of acidity, very silky and pure, really good dry extract, and fine balance. So driven and saline and focussed. Love the phenolics here, incredibly complex and long.

Nicely floral and citrus on the nose, with plenty of elegance and finesse, and a good sense of balance to the nose. Nice orange blossom fruit, and plenty of mineral tang, with spice and sea spray on the palate. Really lovely dry extract, and excellent length and minerality on the finish. Really like the length and finesse, here. 100% Pettenthal fruit, from the GG site.

Mineral and intense. Lovely drive and fine acidity. Primary, slightly tropical fruit on the nose, with nice energy. There’s a nice dichotomy between fruit and freshness here.

The Rothenberg vineyard, so named due to its red slate soil, is 80% owned by the Gunderloch estate and is their most iconic site. This is a complex and powerful wine. The nose is open and expressive, with appealing peach and white flower notes and a hint of spice. Wild-flower honey characters are to the fore on the palate, melding with notes of raisined fruit, warm hay and an almost-clove-like spice. Zesty, grapefruit acidity runs throughout, giving this a lovely sense of balance and preventing the sweetness from becoming cloying. Finishing fresh and pure, this is a tour-de-force of Rhine Riesling.