Schloss Johannisberg Riesling Trocken Bronze Seal 2023
£32.25
The wine
The estate identifies its wines by the colour of the seal on the capsule rather than by words, a system in use since 1820, and Bronze denotes the dry estate Riesling. Expect citrus and orchard fruit over a firm mineral spine, made in the taut, precise register the Rheingau does best.
Schloss Johannisberg was planted entirely to Riesling in 1720, making it the first Riesling estate in the world, and Spätlese was discovered on this hillside in 1775. The Rheingau occupies the one stretch where the Rhine flows east to west, so the whole slope faces south.
The producer
Schloss Johannisberg
View all Schloss Johannisberg winesSchloss Johannisberg stands above the Rhine in the Rheingau and has a claim no other estate can match: in 1720 it was planted entirely to Riesling, making it the first Riesling estate in the world. Vines have grown on the hill since the ninth century, reputedly on the orders of Charlemagne.
It is also where late harvesting was discovered. In 1775 the courier carrying permission to begin picking arrived late, and the grapes had been left until they were affected by noble rot. The wine was extraordinary, and Spätlese entered the language. Within twelve years the estate had added Auslese, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese, and the entire German quality system followed from what happened on this hillside.
The wines are identified by the colour of the seal on the capsule rather than by words, a system in use since 1820: Yellow for feinherb, Green for Spätlese, Pink for Auslese, Silver for Großes Gewächs. Rheingau Riesling is fuller and more powerful than the Mosel's, grown on the one stretch where the Rhine flows east to west and every vineyard faces south.
