Description
Familie Allendorf, “Jesuitengarten” Grosses Gewächs Riesling
Two of the hottest words in our industry right now are “Grosses Gewächs,” so when one of our German wine contacts said he had an inside line on an impeccable “GG” Riesling from a wondrous, record-shattering vintage, my curiosity was piqued. When I was told it was from an 18th-century estate and a 400+-year-old vineyard, my attention was undivided. And when he finally revealed that it could be specially arranged as a $49 SommSelect exclusive, I was completely spellbound.
The historic estate is Allendorf, the legendary “Grand Cru” vineyard is Jesuitengarten, and the sensational year is 2019—or as one iconic critic put it, “the best vintage for German Riesling in [his] four-decade career.” As for the wine itself, I’ve now tasted it three times: once at the start of the year, again in May (in Germany with Allendorf), and just last week. This is an exceptionally generous and fiercely mineral dry Riesling, and, given that its complexities deepened and the finish lengthened with each bottle, I’m confident the gustatory fireworks will explode bigger and brighter for many years to come. I’ll leave you with this: the opportunity to acquire a bonafide, age-worthy GG under $50 is a rare one, plain and simple. We can part with up to six bottles per person.
Although Allendorf’s family roots can be traced back to the 13th century, wine wasn’t their métier until Philipp Anton Allendorf founded the estate in 1773! With nearly a quarter-millennium under its belt, this wine estate has now accumulated over 140 acres, and, thanks to Fritz Allendorf’s leadership in the second half of the 20th century, most of these vines lie in prestigious Grosse Lage sites like Jesuitengarten. Currently, the estate is led by Fritz’s son, Ulrich, who tirelessly works to continue the traditional practices of his father and the many generations before him.
An integral part of Allendorf’s continued success is their involvement as a prominent member in the VDP, Germany’s leading wine organization for quality. It’s essentially a private stamp of approval stating that your handcrafted wine is a perfect representation of its respective terroir. This bottling is from the highest tier, Grosse Lage, exclusively reserved for the most treasured “Grand Cru” vineyards in Germany. However, to emboss the red-hot “GG” (Grosses Gewächs) category on a bottle, a producer’s ripe, low-yielding crop must (1) come from a Grosse Lage site and (2) be fermented dry, with no more than nine grams of residual sugar remaining.
Today’s bottling comes from the “Jesuitengarten” Grosse Lage in the town of Winkel, which is part of the larger Rheingau (note: there is another Grand Cru of the same name in Pfalz but this has no relation to the wine on offer). The surprisingly flat “Winkeler Jesuitengarten” vineyard stretches directly alongside the Rhine River and is one of Rheingau’s most sought-after terroirs due to its extreme warmth, soil diversity, and wealth of history—it was in the possession of the Jesuit College in Mainz from 1606 to 1773, hence the name.
Grapes for today’s bottling were hand-picked at extremely ripe levels after several passes through the vineyard. In the family’s centuries-old cellar, the Riesling fermented naturally and aged six months in a single 2500-liter neutral cask, locally known as a doppelstück. The wine was then transferred into stainless steel tanks for additional maturation. After it was bottled in 2021, it was sent to the VDP tasting panel for ‘GG’ approval. This specific parcel didn’t leave Allendorf’s cellar until Spring of this year.
When it comes to dry, high-quality Riesling in the VDP arena, ‘GG’ is the ultimate gladiator and Allendorf’s 2019 “Jesuitengarten” is like a chiseled Russell Crowe—not the biggest and flashiest in all the land, but rather a compact, enduring, powerful tour de force. Given a 15-minute decant to allow some reduction to dissipate, it fills an all-purpose stem with a brilliant straw yellow and some deeper silver-green hues. It erupts with scintillating aromas of green mango peel, dried apricot, spiced yellow/green apple, and Kiwi juice alongside finely crushed white rock, smoke, and petrol. The dry, live-wire palate is bristling with energy and nervy tropical-citrus fruits explode on the finish thanks to mouthwatering acidity and pronounced minerality. This can be enjoyed now and through the 2020s, but I think the absolute sweet spot will come around its fifth birthday. Cheers!
