Koehler Ruprecht Saumagen Spätlese Trocken 2020

This dry Riesling comes from Koehler-Ruprecht, a traditional estate in the village of Kallstadt in the Pfalz in southwest Germany and a long-standing pioneer of dry Riesling. The fruit is from the Saumagen vineyard, a limestone-rich site in a former quarry that gives the wine its firm mineral spine. The Pfalz is one of Germany's warmer and drier regions, and the wine is a Spatlese Trocken, meaning it is made from riper, later-picked grapes but fermented fully dry so the ripeness shows as concentration and weight rather than sugar. Farming is organic and the winemaking is deliberately old-fashioned, favouring slow, natural fermentation to let the site speak. Riesling's naturally high acidity, preserved by cool nights, gives the wine its tension and long ageing potential. It is pale to medium gold, with lemon, green apple and white peach over a stony, faintly waxy note. The palate is dry, taut and precise, the ripe fruit framed by bright acidity and a long, mineral finish. Serve at 9 to 11 degrees.