Weingut Knipser – Riesling Kalkmergel – [VDP]
The Weingut Knipser Riesling Kalkmergel 2024 beautifully showcases the minerality of its soil, limestone sites in the Palatinate. This cuvée of the finest Riesling wines, mostly of Spätlese quality, reveals a delicate aroma of ripe stone fruit, such as peach and mirabelle plum, accompanied by pink grapefruit. On the palate, the fruit continues, underlined by a fine melt. This is joined by a subtle mineral scent of flint and delicate 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 is capable of. Weingut Knipser first produced this wine with the 2011 vintage, and it quickly earned a firm place in the top tier of Knipser wines. The vines grow on limestone soils, making them somewhat more robust. The wine is usually only released for sale years after the harvest, to show even impatient wine lovers what aging can mean for a Riesling.
Winemaking – Weingut Knipser
The vines for this Riesling grow in the best vineyards characterized by calcareous marl around Laumersheim. This limestone was formed from deposits of calcareous algae that created reefs in a tropical sea during the Miocene; it is found in the subsoil of the Großkarlbacher Burgweg, Laumersheimer Kirschgarten, Laumersheimer Steinbuckel, and Dirmsteiner Mandelpfad sites. These locations are ideal for all grape varieties that thrive on body and benefit from well-buffered acidity.
The selective hand-harvesting of the Riesling grapes in autumn usually takes place in several passes to ensure optimally ripe fruit is harvested. At the winery, all grapes are destemmed, meaning they are separated from the stems. The resulting mash is gently pressed in a tank press. Fermentation takes place partly under temperature control at below 20° C in stainless steel tanks, which preserves fruitiness while maintaining varietal character, and partly in large wooden barrels. Aging on the fine lees until bottling in autumn 2024 takes place half in steel tanks and half in traditional wooden barrels such as the "Halbstück" and "Anderthalbstück" sizes.
Riesling Kalkmergel – a wine and its values
- Origin Germany
- Growing region Palatinate
- Grape variety Riesling
- 11.5% vol. alcohol
- 7.6 g/l acidity
- 1.1 g/l residual sugar