Lukas HammelmannRiesling Klostergarten Trocken 2023 (750ml)

The Grand Cu dry Rieslings always see an extra year in barrel; thus they are normally released two years after the harvest. The wines nearly always go through complete malolactic transformation and are bottled unfiltered.

The Klostergarten is the one “Grand Cru” of Hammelmann’s hometown of Zeiskam. This is a colder, windswept landscape, dense with clay – here we are very far from the famous haunts of the Pfalz. If clay soils are associated with more textural, even fleshy and fruit-forward wines, this is most decidedly not the case here.

Yet still, they are wines of superb delineation, focus and power. The Klostergarten is soaring and aromatic – it has something of the character of Schönleber’s Grand Cru Frühlingsplätzchen, which makes some sense given the similar soils.