Kallstadt Riesling – 2022

Kallstadt Riesling from Weingut Rings proves fuller here

The 2022 Kallstadt Riesling from Weingut Rings is a dry white wine from the Palatinate region, for which several vineyards in the Kallstadt district are combined. The warm vintage gave it more body than its successor, and a trace of unfermented sweetness lies like a cushion beneath the chalky fruit.

Kallstadt Riesling 2022 is a dry VDP.Ortswein (classified village wine) from Weingut Rings, pressed from pure Riesling grown on the limestone and calcareous marl soils around Kallstadt. These soils retain very little water, which is why the vines root deeply and their grapes do not become overripe even in a hot summer. At 12.5 percent alcohol, the wine is a small step more robust than the following vintage.

A cushion beneath the ripe fruit

Kallstadt is cooler than the Freinsheim vineyards, yet this vintage comes across as broader-shouldered than one would expect from the limestone.

On the nose, ripe pome fruit sits alongside quince and a hint of citrus zest, while on the palate, the wine becomes juicy, round, and tactile. The small amount of sweetness that remained in the wine after fermentation acts not as sweetness, but as a buffer. It absorbs the acidity and makes the wine more approachable at an earlier stage than its sterner successor.

The finish remains chalky and salty, and it is through this chalky vein that you can recognize the wine village even in a warm year.

With duck, ginger, and spicy heat

Wines with a little sweetness at their core cope well where bone-dry wines fail against heat and turn harsh.

It is a classic pairing for roasted duck breast with orange sauce, for a wok full of ginger and spring onions, or for spicy marinated chicken drumsticks from the oven. A mild blue cheese is also a fitting match, because its saltiness and the residual sweetness of the wine work hand in hand.

At about 10 degrees, the wine displays its fullness best; when colder, it appears narrower than it is. Those looking for the stricter side of the same wine village will find it in the Kallstadter Steinacker Riesling from the Erste Lage.

What a village wine from Kallstadt brings together

The VDP.Ortswein stands between the estate wine and the site-specific wines, carrying the name of a district rather than that of an individual vineyard.

For this wine, several plots around Kallstadt are therefore brought together, each with its own orientation, soil depth, and ripening speed. What one lacks in fruit, the other provides, and the chalky subsoil is the common foundation for all plots. Only this blend creates the image that the wine village draws of itself.

Between the vine rows grow buckwheat, clover, and radish, which hold the soil together and bring beneficial organisms into the vineyard. Harvesting is done by hand and selectively, after which the must ferments spontaneously with the yeasts that arrive from the vineyards.

90 percent of the wine matures in large wooden barrels and 10 percent in steel tanks; it is bottled without fining or additives. At 5,000 liters per hectare, the yield remains low even at this level. All the estate's site-specific and village wines can be found in the Weingut Rings hub.

Kallstadt Riesling 2022 – a white wine and its figures

• Origin Germany
• Region Palatinate
• Winery Rings
• VDP.Ortswein
• Grape Variety Riesling
• 12.5% ABV alcohol
• 2.2 g/l residual sugar
• 6.6 g/l acidity

Organic control number – DE-ÖKO-022 German Agriculture