Weingut Knipser – Riesling Kalkmergel – [VDP]
The Weingut Knipser Riesling Kalkmergel 2023 beautifully showcases the minerality of its soil, limestone layers in the Palatinate. This cuvée of the finest Riesling wines, mostly of Spätlese quality, displays its fine aroma of ripe stone fruit, such as peaches and mirabelles, complemented by pink grapefruit. On the palate, the fruit continues, underlaid with a fine melt. Added to this is a fine mineral scent component of flint and subtle notes of fully ripe yellow apples. Long and persistent on the finish.
Grown in the vineyards around Laumersheim, it shows what Riesling from the Palatinate can do. Weingut Knipser first released this wine with the 2011 vintage, and it quickly secured a firm place in the front ranks of Knipser wines. The vines stand on limestone soils and are therefore somewhat more vigorous. The wine is usually not released for sale until years after the harvest, to show even impatient wine lovers what ripeness can mean for Riesling.
Winemaking – Weingut Knipser
The vines for this Riesling grow in the best vineyards around Laumersheim, characterized by calcareous marl rock. This limestone originated from deposits of calcareous algae that formed reefs in a tropical sea during the Miocene, and it is found in the subsoil of Großkarlbacher Burgweg, Laumersheimer Kirschgarten, Laumersheimer Steinbuckel, and Dirmsteiner Mandelpfad. These sites are ideal for all grape varieties that thrive on body and benefit from well-buffered acidity.
The selective hand harvest of the Riesling grapes in autumn usually takes place in several passes to harvest optimally ripe grapes. In the winery, all grapes are destemmed, i.e., freed from their stems. The resulting mash is gently pressed in a tank press. Fermentation takes place partly, temperature-controlled at below 20° C in stainless steel tanks, which preserves the fruitiness and also the varietal typicality, and partly in large wooden barrels. Aging on the fine lees until bottling in autumn 2020 takes place half in stainless steel tanks and half in traditional wooden barrels such as Halbstück and Anderthalbstück.
Riesling Kalkmergel – A Wine and Its Values
- Origin Germany
- Region Palatinate
- Grape variety Riesling
- 12.0% vol. Alcohol
- 7.7 g/l Acidity
- 0.8 g/l Residual sugar