Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel Half Bottle 2023

Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel, Nahe, Germany, Half Bottle, 2023

Grape: 100% Riesling, clay/slate and loess/loam soil, 20hl/ha yield, 15% botrytis affected fruit and 85% late harvest, hand picked, basket pressed, 90g/L residual sugar, unoaked

Producer Tasting Note:

This Riesling, which shines so intensely yellow-green from the glass and comes from vines up to 55 years old, has an intense scent of slate, saffron pears, candied citrus and orange peels and ripe apricots along with grilled pineapple. A potpourri of ripe fruit that also shows up on the palate and intensifies there. This is a crystal-clear Auslese, whose intense experience is created by the vibrant acid structure and high extract. The sweetness lifts fruit aromas here and there, while mineral tones gently retreat.

The grapes are picked, from the same vineyard site, on the same day as those used for making the late harvest (Spatlese) and Grosses Gewachs (Grand Cru) wines. With the potential to develop for many decades in bottle, this is definitely a wine for keeping to appreciate its full character.

Critics' Tasting Notes:

"The 2023 Riesling Oberhäuser Brücke Auslese is made from mostly highly ripe grapes with around 10-15% of botrytized fruit, all pressed in a basket press, slowly, over hours, drip by drip is extracted, without rupturing the grape skins. The tender nose is not obvious; it shows distant notions of iced Reine Claude compote with an overtone of passion fruit foliage; all is lemony and tender. The palate is sweet, bright and concentrated, but it has a slender, taut footprint. Extreme elegance is the name of the game, and the tenor is still of fresh lemon juice and zest. Restraint and elegance are exemplified here. (Sweet) Drinking Window, 2034 - 2070"

96/100 points, Anne Krebiehl, VINOUS, October 2024

"Auslese might sound cuddly to some, but this is a very radical wine with gigantic concentration of cool tropical fruit and mineral acidity. Electric glide on the medium- to full-bodied palate. The finish is all blue and green in spite of the extraordinary yellow fruit on the nose and front palate. And with that, only the most basic characteristics of this extraordinary wine are adequately described. Drink or hold."

99/100 points, James Suckling, 2024

Thanks to its location on the valley floor and its proximity to the river, the Oberhäuser Brücke vineyard offers a perfect microclimate for the development of great residually sweet wines. During the night, cool air flows into the valley, and during the day it does not stay as warm as on the steep slopes. As a result, the grapes develop more slowly here and retain their natural, piquant acidity. The proximity to the river also promotes the formation of the finest botrytis, which brings highly complex aromas into the wine. The interplay between piquant acidity, the finest botrytis and natural residual sweetness leads to the best Auslese of the vintage here

The Auslese wines from Dönnhoff, filled in handy half bottles and decorated with gold capsules, enjoy cult status. Even though 50 years ago significantly more sweet wine was produced, especially Riesling Auslese, the two premium wines from the Brücke and Hermannshöhle still enjoy unbroken popularity. No wonder, as these masterpieces, made with the greatest attention to detail and picked by hand, are now true testaments to Cornelius and Helmut's love of Auslese wines. Despite all the effort involved, they are hardly economical, as they have been among the most inexpensive Auslese wines for a winery of this reputation for years.