Product Description
Germany
Varieties
Riesling
The Vineyard
SOIL : deep, with grey weathered Devonian slate and high fine-earth content; relatively heavy by Mosel standards
CLASSIFICATION : VDP.GROSSE LAGE®
PRÄDIKAT : Auslese
VINEYARD SITE : Josephshöfer Monopol
The Harvest
A year of challenges
The year began with a very warm spring that resulted in an early bud burst. Late frost posed a big threat – and three cold nights in April confirmed REICHSGRAF VON KESSELSTATT fears, damaging shoots that were already well developed. A spell of fine weather thereafter helped the secondary shoots to grow quickly, partially mitigating the frost-related shortfall. Conditions were near perfect during flowering.
The spring heatwave also had a sting in its tail, however, with REICHSGRAF VON KESSELSTATT’s young vines in particular suffering from considerable drought stress. On the other hand, REICHSGRAF VON KESSELSTATT’s old vines benefited from the longer growing cycle thanks to their deep roots providing sufficient water nutrition. Time seemed to fly, and before REICHSGRAF VON KESSELSTATT knew it their grapes had more or less ripened two weeks ahead of the long-term average – although a wet July and August had unfortunately caused some premature botrytis.
REICHSGRAF VON KESSELSTATT mustered a 52-strong team to begin the preliminary harvest on 21 September – thus making the 2017 picking season the earliest in the estate’s history. Above all, they focused on meticulously selecting grapes for our Trockenbeerenauslesen and Beerenauslesen, as well as separating healthy from botrytis-affected fruit.
This hard work gave us stunning results. Piesporter Goldtröpfchen posted 192 degrees – their highest Oechsle reading on the Mosel. During what was a relatively short harvest, acidity levels fell from an initial high of 13 g/l to 9-10 g/l. REICHSGRAF VON KESSELSTATT grapes’ aromatics also changed day by day, developing ripeness and concentration.
The Cellar
ALCOHOL 7,5 % Vol
RESIDUAL SUGAR 102,7 g/l
ACIDITY 11,1 g/l
