2023 Immich Batterieberg Zeppwingert Reserve Riesling, Mosel

This is one of those wines where you have to hold on tightly, because you don’t know if you’re being pulled up into heaven or down into the Mariana Trench. Dark and light are so perfectly integrated. There’s a wealth of caramelized pear character and wild herb intensity that leave you totally bamboozled. Then comes the extraordinarily graceful and silky finish that makes it impossible to concentrate on anything else. Fermented and matured in one very well used barrique cask, so very limited production. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.

100 points James Suckling

From 100+-year-old vines, the 2023 Zeppwingert Reserve is deep, pure and slightly toasty on the nose that is reminiscent of stewed apricots. Crystalline and saline on the palate, this is a rich and powerful yet vivacious Riesling with a promising finish. 13% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted in December 2024.

97 points Stephan Reinhardt, The Wine Advocate

Immich Batterieberg has one of the more colourful histories in the Mosel. The estate traces its roots to 1425 in Enkirch, while the Batterieberg name came much later, when Carl August Immich blasted a steep section of hillside with explosives in the nineteenth century to create new vineyard terraces. Today the estate is closely associated with winemaker Gernot Kollmann, whose dry Rieslings have helped return these remarkable old Enkirch vineyards to international attention.

Zeppwingert is one of those special parcels, a steep, old vine site where Riesling works through the Mosel’s slate soils and produces wines with striking mineral character. The Reserve is a step beyond the regular bottlings, with additional depth and time to settle into itself. The excellent 2023 season has given it ripe fruit without sacrificing the acidity and tension that make these wines so compelling.

Bright straw gold, with lime, yellow apple and white peach opening into grapefruit, quince and a little apricot. Lemon verbena, chamomile and fresh ginger appear behind the fruit, followed by crushed slate and a faint smoky reduction. There is real substance through the palate, with citrus and stone fruit wrapped around a firm mineral core. Acidity is bright rather than severe, while preserved lemon, ginger and smoky slate stretch into a long, dry and distinctly savoury finish.

Steamed coral trout with ginger and spring onion would be superb, as would king prawns with chilli and lime, pork and prawn dumplings, Vietnamese turmeric fish with dill or roast cauliflower with tahini and preserved lemon. Our pick is the coral trout, letting the ginger, delicate fish and salty soy play against all that slate and citrus.

Cellaring: Drink from 2027 to 2042.