Schätzel | Rheinhessen | Riesling Pettenthal GG | 2018 | 750ml

Description

Product description for Schätzel Riesling Pettenthal GG 2018 Kai Schätzel sees his approach as a response to the challenges posed by global warming for modern viticulture. As early as 2008, he began cultivating the vineyards on the Roter Hang using organic, biodynamic, and sustainable methods to cultivate healthy, self-sufficient vines that are self-sufficient and not dependent on human assistance. This includes slowing the ripening process and restoring the mountains to a new balance through dry farming. The grapes for the wines are harvested according to the ‘golden cut’ principle he developed himself. Around 90-100 days after flowering, the grapes are harvested in several rounds, precisely when their colour changes from green to golden yellow. In the winery, they are trodden underfoot before being left to rest on the skins for around a week before pressing. In a good 80% of all cases, no pre-clarification takes place before the must is gravity-fed into single-barrel and half-barrel barrels, where it begins to ferment spontaneously and remains on the full lees until bottling. The wines presented in Wiesbaden and described here were specially bottled three days before the premiere; another batch is still on the full lees at the winery. Pettenthal is Schätzel’s stoniest and most closed site, and experience has shown that it requires the longest aging time.

Colour

Bright straw yellow with green reflections, radiant and clear.

Nose

Herbally spicy nose with a conglomerate of fennel, anise, lemon thyme, then lemon zest, green mandarin, quince, and vetiver. With a distinctive spontaneous note and a light bocksker on the nose, the Pettenthal is underpinned by extract-rich fruit that doesn’t dwell on primary aromatics but rather knows how to handle essences in a substantial way. It is always light-footed, fragrant, and almost ethereally floating on a solid mineral foundation.

Palate

The 2018 Pettenthal from Kai Schätzel is cool and lean on the palate, yet focused and taut, with a subtle saltiness. Contrary to its delicate appearance on the nose, it builds uncompromising pressure on the palate. With high inner tension, its ripe acidity is vertical, shaping it into a sinewy, robust experience, the youthful tannins as fine as sandpaper with a tart aromatic component. The citrus-driven fruit nestles almost leptosomely into this structure, lending it aromatic depth. Everything is reduced to the essentials, without ornamentation or frills, yet always substantial without drifting into the boisterous. A wine with great inner peace and excellent ageing potential.

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Keywords: Schätzel Riesling Pettenthal GG 2018 Rheinhessen Germany

Producer website: https://www.schaetzel.de/home