DÖNNHOFF

Nahe (Germany)

• Helmut Dönnhoff, the first to be honoured the “Seigneur du vin” (The Lord of Wines)
• 4 times 100 point from Robert Parker.
• 5/5 grapes and “Vintner of the Year 1999” from Gault Millau
• 5/5 stars, “Best White Wine Collection of the Year 2012” and “Winery of the Year 2012” from Eichelmann

At the beginning of his career, Helmut Dönnhoff would make every style of wine from everywhere but he soon realised that each site, with its own soil and micro-climate, is only best suitable for certain styles of wine. It then took him some twenty years to learn the secrets of his different vineyard sites and now only best wines for each parcel are made. His ice wines made from the Oberhäuser Brücker site, for example, have received 4 times 100 points from Parker and achieved a cult status. Nowadays, Mr. Dönnhoff is a living legend and widely regarded as one of the best vintner in Germany. His wines were praised nationally and internationally as one of the best wines of the world.

DÖNNHOFF

RIESLING DRY 2018

TASTING NOTE

Nose of apple, lemon, peach, white flower and honey. On the palate, fresh and fruity with great balance between ripe acid and residual sugar. Very precise and elegant. Middle body with middle long fruity finish.

กลิ่นหอมของแอปเปิ้ล มะนาว พีช ดอกไม้ขาว และน้ำผึ้งในปาก สดชื่นและฟรุ๊ตตี้ สมดุลเยี่ยมระหว่างแอซิดและความหวานสะอาดและสะโอดสะอง บอดี้ปานกลาง จบยาวปานกลาง และเต็มไปด้วยผลไม้

DÖNNHOFF

TONSCHIEFER RIESLING TROCKEN 2016

TASTING NOTE

Robert Parker, “Mainly from the Leistenberg, the 2016 Nahe Riesling Trocken “Tonschiefer” is Dönnhoff’s “designer jeans” wine. It opens with a pure bouquet with lovely cool, piquant aromas of wet slate and ripe white fruits. On the palate, this is a juicy-piquant, clear and fresh Riesling with exquisite purity and lingering salinity on the finish. It is fresh and very stimulating in its bright and elegant fruit. The finish is quite powerful.”

DÖNNHOFF

KRÖTENPFUHL RIESLING KABINETT 2015

TASTING NOTE

Nose of apple, lemon, peach, white flower and honey. On the palate, fresh and fruity with great balance between ripe acid and residual sugar. Very precise and elegant. Middle body with middle long fruity finish.

กลิ่นหอมของแอปเปิ้ล มะนาว พีช ดอกไม้ขาว และน้ำผึ้งในปาก สดชื่นและฟรุ๊ตตี้ สมดุลเยี่ยม ระหว่างแอซิดและความหวานสะอาด และสะโอดสะอง บอดี้ปานกลาง จบยาวปานกลางและเต็มไปด้วยผลไม้

DÖNNHOFF

FELSENBERG GG RIESLING 2018

TASTING NOTE

Robert Parker, “Bottled in July, just two days before I tasted the 2018 Schloss- böckelheimer Felsenberg Riesling trocken –GG– for the first time, the nose was ripe and generous but fine and flinty-mineral. Lush and salty-piquant, this is a full-bodied, rich and powerful yet vital Riesling with lots of body but also tension, purity and grip. Tasted again in August 2019.”

Jancis Robinson, “Imagine a cool mountain stream running through a citrus-fruit grove and you might be in the mountains of Mallorca, on the other hand you may just be inhaling the ethereal fragrance of Dönnhoff’s Felsenberg. On the palate the delightfully zesty citrus fruit gets a fine sprinkling of mineral dust, tingling acidity and some indefinable savoury piquancy that leads to elation.”

DÖNNHOFF

FELSENBERG GG RIESLING 2017

TASTING NOTE

Jancis Robinson, “Spirit of Melissa, eau de vie de mirabelle, gentle and pure fragrance. The palate takes you from mellow to vibrant, sporting highlights of ripe yellow fruit, stony minerality and invigorating acidity. A rich texture invites the taste buds to relax before they find themselves in the grip of a long chewy tactile finish. A Grosses Gewächs that puts the palate through its paces.”

DÖNNHOFF

FELSENBERG GG RIESLING 2016

TASTING NOTE

Robert Parker, “From Schlossböckelheim’s stony, volcanic soils, the 2016 Nahe Riesling Felsenberg “GG” ‘Felsentürmchen’ offers a very pure and delicate bouquet of crushed stones and ripe seed fruits. Lush and intense on the palate with generous but finessed fruit, this is a very elegant and well-structured Riesling with great balance and a long, salty-piquant finish. Very long and powerful yet pure and very charming.”

Jancis Robinson, “Nose, with a hint of hazelnuts, promises a particularly dense wine. Broad and confident with some real richness as well as massive acidity. This one should run and run.”

DÖNNHOFF

FELSENBERG RIESLING GG 2014

TASTING NOTE

Robert Parker, “Deep, very clear and stony/smoky on the coolish and aristocratic nose opens the 2014 Riesling Felsenberg GG ‘Felsentürmchen’. Medium to full-bodied, very mineral and highly elegant on the palate, with ripe and well balanced fruit, and a long and salty finish, this is a great and quite flowing Felsenberg from the volcanic Felsentürmchen plot straight under the restored tower.”

DÖNNHOFF

FELSENBERG GG RIESLING 2013

TASTING NOTE

Robert Parker, “The 2013 Schlossbockelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs is very clear and subtle on the nose but rich and powerful on the palate, so quite sweet at the moment and less transparent and finesse-full than the Höllenpfad but dense, concentrated, piquant, powerful and persistent. It is expressive but still very young.”

Jancis Robinson, “The Felsenberg exhibits one of the most intricate fragrances of any of the 2013 Grosse Gewächse with aromas of hay, meadow flowers, yellow fruit and the merest of herbal notions. Add to this a mouth-watering acidity and creamy texture, and you have a charming, complex and elegant cru deserving of the attribute great. ”

DÖNNHOFF

Dellchen GG Riesling 2018

TASTING NOTE

Robert Parker, “The 2018 Norheimer Dellchen Riesling trocken –GG– is brilliant, pure and fresh on the nose, with super ripe and dried white-fruit aromas on the nose. Round, lush and elegant on the palate, this is a rich yet elegant, pure and crystalline Riesling that tastes somewhat sweetish on the finish right now. Tasted three days after bottling in July 2019.”

Jancis Robinson, “As pure as the driven snow is just an old cliché, but one might be tempted to leave the description there in view of the inadequacy of words to describe the sophistication of the Dellchen. The fruit is filigree, the minerality cool and invigorating, the acidity exhilarating. Proof that opulence and power are not the be all and end all of great Riesling.”

DÖNNHOFF

Dellchen GG Riesling 2017

TASTING NOTE

Robert Parker, “From slate and volcanic soils, the 2017 Norheimer Dellchen Riesling trocken –GG– is very delicate and fragrant on the deep, crystalline and flinty, slightly buttery, nutty and nearly peppery nose. Milled or weathered stones. Pure, dry and fine on the medium-bodied palate, this is a very long, complex and juicy, highly finessed and singing Dellchen with great finesse and many layers. Tasted at the domain in July 2019.”

Jancis Robinson, “Purity of fragrance with plenty of local orchard fruit, supported by a fine floral hint. Although the texture is mouth-coating and viscous, subtle peel notes and a vibrant acidity keep the taste buds alert. Finally a stony minerality gets a real grip on the long finish.”

DÖNNHOFF

Dellchen GG Riesling 2016

TASTING NOTE

Robert Parker, “From slate and porphyry soils, the 2016 Nahe Riesling Norheimer Dellchen “GG” is very pure, precise and mineral on the elegant, subtle nose, where ripe seed fruit aromas are displayed. Very sensual! Full-bodied, rich and round, this is a highly elegant, intense and dense Riesling with a persistent finish. Very aromatic and sensual, but it needs some time to gain even more finesse.”

DÖNNHOFF

Dellchen GG Riesling 2013

TASTING NOTE

Robert Parker, “The 2013 Norheimer Dellchen Riesling Grosses Gewachs is a fascinating Riesling with a transparent and flinty/minerally and slightly citric nose, very clear, bright and complex. The palate is rich and juicy, quite round and mellow but also piquant, spicy, tension-full and intense. This is a great, powerful wine full of potential. To be served in 5 years from now.”

Jancis Robinson, “Never the biggest puncher among the Grosse Gewächse, the Dellchen tends to state its case through elegance and finesse, and in this way 2013 does not differ from preceding vintages. It would be true to say that the acidity is more pronounced in this vintage, giving the wine a very lively character and very subtly chiseled purity. It is probably a little less fruity than in previous years, but does have a fine herbal finish to produce the customary complexity.”

DÖNNHOFF

HERMANNSHÖHLE RIESLING GG 2018

TASTING NOTE

Robert Parker, “The 2018 Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling trocken –GG– is fascinatingly pure and fragrant on the nose. Crystalline, lush and intense, this is a full-bodied, crystalline, precise, salty and persistent wine with linear tension, great grip and intensity. Tasted in July 2019.”

Jancis Robinson, “Crystal-clear fruit of mirabelle with the purity of the finest Alsace eau de vie. Add the most delicate fragrant touches of white peach and Williams pear and you are in fruit paradise, though it’s titillation not exuberance this fragrance excels in. The palate works in a similar way, putting exhilarating freshness before juicy abundance. Take a fine sprinkling of mineral rock dust, add the merest hint of exotic spice, and you have a contender for greatest Grosses Gewächs of 2018.”

DÖNNHOFF

HERMANNS. RIESLING AUSLESE 2018

TASTING NOTE

Robert Parker, “The 2018 Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Auslese is deep and noble in its finesse and purity that is paired with notes of crushed stones but also perfectly ripe and healthy fruits. Lush and piquant on the palate, with lingering salinity and finesse, this is the more graceful Auslese, which is less challenging than the Brücke but very delicate and finessed. The acidity is finer and the sweetness smoother and more charming yet less dramatic right now. Tasted in July 2019.”

Jancis Robinson, “Herbal grapefruit aroma, even a touch of dried grasses. Tight, sweet, pure lemon and apricot fruit. Silky texture and great balance for a very sweet wine. Almost thick in the mouth but finishes fresh.”

DÖNNHOFF

HERMANNS. RIESLING AUSLESE 2015

TASTING NOTE

Robert Parker, “The 2015 Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Auslese is lovely, clear and flinty on the nose and, like the Spätlese, is characterized by its noble aristocracy, but also lemony freshness and great purity. There seems to be more crushed stones than grapes in this wine, which reflects a lot of the fastidious selection and the healthy condition of the processed grapes. On the palate, this is a generous and concentrated, but pure, piquant and buoyant Auslese of great expression and finesse. This vibrating wine is dancing over the palate, leaving loads of minerals and salts, which makes this a dangerous drug. The finish is piquant and salty–you simply can’t stop drinking and adoring it. There is so much grip, tension and finesse here.”

DÖNNHOFF

HERMANNS. RIESLING AUSLESE 2011

TASTING NOTE

Robert Parker, “One of three products of botrytis selection in this site that extended into January, the Donnhoff 2011 Niederhauser Hermannshohle RieslingAuslese gold capsule strikingly combines custardy richness of texture and honeyed ennoblement with bright acidity; a wellspring of primary juiciness; and salinity that will milk you salivary glands for all that they are worth. Fresh orange with its candied rind; white peach jelly with piquancy of pit fruits; buddleia and lilac; passion fruit, nut pastes and vanilla cream add to the luscious allure of this remarkable libation. A faint aura of truffle and musk emerges with airing – no doubt pointing toward the extremely late picking of by then relatively mature yet still fine botrytis. Dynamically multidimensional, yet sharing with its Brucke counterpart a soothing sense of harmony, this almost endlessly fascinating as well as endlessly lingering wine deserves to be followed for three decades.”

DÖNNHOFF

Brücke RIESLING Auslese 2007

TASTING NOTE

Robert Parker, “The 2007 Oberhaueser Brucke Riesling Auslese A.P. #38 – which was auctioned – represents the traditional feinste Auslese. Over-ripe pear, quince, and intriguing – perhaps in part orchid-like – floral perfume fill the nose, accompanied by a nose-tweaking pungency of botrytis spice, and the palate is saturated with liqueur-like essences of orchard fruits and liquid gardenia and lily. This rich amalgam displays incredible finishing penetration, with coiled springs of bright citrus releasing to produce a shower of minerals and cinders; a scintillating interplay with the wine’s fruits and flowers; and an uncanny sense of sheer lift. Expect at least three decades of drama.”

DÖNNHOFF

Brücke RIESLING Auslese 2004

TASTING NOTE

Robert Parker, ““Here is where ambition sets in,” remarks Donnhoff of his decision to harvest the 2004 Oberhaueser Brucke Riesling Auslese A.P. #21. Stringently selected for more botrytis than the #16, this Auslese is positively ethereal in aroma, featuring pure botrytis, honey, jellied red currant, distilled red raspberry, peppermint and brown spices. The palate is as bright, honeyed, and oily in texture as the nose leads one to imagine, and as buoyant and elegant as the best wines here today would lead one to hope. One has the impression of spiced and tangerine zest-studded red fruits glazed with honey and folded into vanilla cream. Botrytis might get more obvious or advanced, but it can scarcely be nobler than in this instance. Yet for all that, the wine is so refreshingly, succulently, fresh- fruitedly juicy that it seems capable of quenching the deepest thirst. “Fruit cubed” I ventured? and, no, I wasn’t thinking of Jell-o! The purity, penetration, reach and concentration of the finish are truly extraordinary, and I was beginning to fear at this point that adjectival as well as sensory overload – or possibly an Alice experience – were but one more sip away.”

DÖNNHOFF

Brücke RIESLING Eiswein 2008

TASTING NOTE

Robert Parker, “Scents of radish, lemon zest, and apricot preserves along with an ominously smoky prickle in the nose usher in a palate of Eszencia-like viscosity, apricot nectar concentration, delicacy (at only 7% alcohol) and complete absence of superficial sweetness. This finishes with piercing intensity and dazzling complexity, adding black tea; sea salt; ginger; seedy, tart red raspberry; and honey to the apricot jam and lemon. it’s like a razor-sharp saber slathered in oily, ambrosial jelly and suspended in mid air. Few if any Eiswein of the vintage approach this for intricacy, refinement, or classic Eiswein character. I expect whatever portion of its 300 liters that is not drunk sooner to astound for at least two and perhaps three decades.”