2019 Burklin-Wolf Ruppertsberger Riesling, Pfalz

The 2019 Ruppertsberger Riesling opens with a somewhat wild yet pure and thrilling bouquet of crushed stones and rather floral Riesling aromas. Lush and round on the palate, this is a charmingly fruity, refined and elegant dry Riesling with a salty-crystalline and stimulatingly piquant finish. This is already very expressive terroir Riesling and, after 2018, the second top wine for a rather moderate price. Tasted as a sample in April 2020.

I already reported enthusiastically about the 2017 grand crus and the 2018 premier crus from Bürklin-Wolf earlier this year, yet the samples of Nicola Libelli's 2019 G.C. and P.C. Rieslings blew me away. I can hardly imagine better wines were produced in the Pfalz than here last year. Most likely, the 2019 Kirchenstück G.C. and the Pechstein G.C., both from Forst, and even the Langenmorgen G.C. from Deidesheim, are among the finest dry Rieslings I have ever tasted from Germany. The wines are deep, rich, powerful and dramatic yet so fine and elegant and reveal vibrating energy that guarantees a long run. I tasted the wines from the same bottle over a period of nearly three weeks, and they didn't stop impressing me. The 2019s will be released together with the 2018 G.C. bottlings in September this year. If you ever have the chance, you should definitely subscribe to the 2019s (I haven’t yet tasted the 2018 G.C. bottlings). With Molitor's dry Doctor Auslese from 2016 and 2017 and the unforgettable 1990 Kallstadter Saumagen Auslese trocken R from Koehler-Ruprecht, Bürklin's 2019 Kirchenstück and Pechstein—and eventually also the 2019 Langenmorgen—are pinnacles in the history of dry German Riesling. I have also placed my order for several premier crus (Böhlig and Gerümpel, for example) that deliver world-class qualities for a very moderate price. Also, the Gaisböhl G.C. costs a fraction of the very rare Pechstein and Kirchenstück icon wines and is worth an investment. Last but not least, the Forst Riesling Village is an exceptional Riesling for a very moderate price. Nicola Libelli finds 2019 to be the best vintage he has ever produced. "The berries were perfectly ripe and concentrated, with fantastic acidity that was enormously high but also ripe, with no greenish features," he said. Everything was picked in September, earlier than any other producer in Forst. "We finished in the Kirchenstück when our colleagues started their pre-selections," he said. "Normally, we preselect 20% to 30% of the crop and leave the rest for our grand crus, which we always pick with a final yield of roughly 25 hectoliters per hectare. Last year, however, the grapes looked just beautiful 10 days before the harvest. So, we only did some cosmetic work, took the green grapes and reduced the yields by 5% to 10% before we picked the grapes for the grand crus about 10 days later," reported Nicola. "A vintage like 2019 is something you get perhaps only once in 10 years. I am very happy with the results." The 2019 premier and grand cru wines were bottled in July 2020. I will taste them from the bottle again after the 2020 harvest along with the 2018s G.C. bottlings.

92-93 points Stephan Reinhardt robertparker.com