Galloni über:
Sammlerbox: Keller-Kiste »Von Den Grossen Lagen«
-- Galloni: Abtserde GG:A high-toned, penetrating aromatic display features mint, thyme, iris, honeysuckle, zesty lime and prominently pit-inflected white peach. Shades of this year’s Hubacker: The palate impression here is almost shocking for its sheer lusciousness of fruit, with drippingly ripe honeydew melon joining the peach and lime. Not that this beauty is wanting for Abtserde-typical inner-mouth floral perfume, or for a mineral dimension; a mouthwatering savor akin to raw scallop incorporates salt, chalk and iodine nuances. It’s just that it boasts a generosity of forward fruit and a torrent of primary juiciness as well. A silken feel adds to the wine’s seductive appeal. Musky floral, salty mineral and lusciously fruity elements play against one another on a vibrant, sensationally sustained finish that tugs at the salivary glands and leaves the taster both invigorated and refreshed. This should for many years stand as a high point of its vintage as well as of the Grosses Gewächs genre. 97/100G-Max:On the nose, a smoky, peaty, and far more overtly mineral impression is conveyed than from the corresponding Abtserde, without the latter’s anticipations of floral perfume. By way of fruit aromas, zesty lime and lemon, piquant huckleberry and prickly, pungent white currant dominate. But on the glossy palate, a succulent influx of ripe peach joins bright citrus and white currant, suffused by peat and crushed stone. Mustard and currant seeds seem to crunch, citrus zests to piquantly glow, and chalky, sooty mineral matter to almost indelibly coat the gums on an electrically invigorating, wake-the-dead finish. 96/100Kirchspiel GG:Lime, lavender, chalk dust and sea breeze on the nose anticipate the pungency, zest, stoniness and mouthwatering salinity that prevail on a polished but firm palate. On top of that, there is an ingratiating as well as refreshing abundance of primary juiciness, as well as added complexity by way of pungent green tea. The finish is startlingly bright, focused and penetrating, adding a savory dimension to the aforementioned herbal, saline and chalky elements for a mouthwatering evocation of raw oyster. 95/100Hipping GG:Once again, this bottling represents the mid-slope vines in Keller’s Hipping, fruit from those above and below having been directed to the corresponding Kabinett and (70% Hipping) Niersteiner cuvée. Musky, bittersweet, iris-like perfume haunts the nose, accompanied by scents of white peach, lemon and orange, as well as smoky and crushed stone notes. The firm, full but by no means heavy palate delivers tang and piquancy of peach close to the core, a pronounced sense of mineral suffusion, zesty citricity and inner-mouth persistence of floral perfume. Bite of mustard seed and pungency of green tea add further invigoration and complexity to a vibrantly sustained finish strikingly strong on stony, smoky and alkaline notes, but unfailing in its duty to refresh. From his prime parcels in Hipping and Pettenthal, Keller is turning out the most memorable Nierstein Rieslings since the many glorious pre-1980 decades of Franz Karl Schmitt’s eponymous estate, from which Keller acquired them. 95/100Morstein GG:There is downright severity to the penetration that this delivers on the nose – of crushed citrus seeds, oregano, sea breeze and chalk dust – as well as to the gripping tactile impingement of those elements on the palate. The feel is firm, but even taken together with the aforementioned sense of severity, the wine doesn’t come off as austere, thanks to its mouthwatering salinity and abundant bright juiciness of lime and grapefruit. The vibratory finish is tongue-lashing in intensity, but you don’t have to be some kind of masochist to enjoy drinking this, because it’s refreshing as well as rivetingly fascinating. I’m left with a paradoxical set of impressions: On the one hand of a palate-scouring, on the other hand, of chalk, salt and citrus oil layers having been deposited that it would be hard to scrape from my teeth. What I wrote about this wine’s vintage 2017 predecessor holds true here as well: “[F]or all that [it] approaches hyper-concentration, it nonetheless exhibits an exhilarating sense of animation and lift while compelling the next sip.” To which observation Keller responded, “That’s exactly how it should be.” 95/100
