Weingut Wittmann, Westhofen Brunnenhäuschen Riesling GG 2019

Philipp Wittmann himself is torn as to which of his GGs he likes best in 2019. In my tasting, in May the choice was easy. The Brunnenhäuschen GG shows all the merits of the vintage at its best: highly elegant, refined and complex yet weightless, with immense finesse and energy. However, Morstein and La Borne are hardly behind, they just weren't as developed. Without a doubt, Wittmann's 2019s, especially these three Riesling GGs, are great wines, even greater than the 2018s, possibly even the finest of the last 20 years, even though he himself sees 2001 and 2002 at the same high level. And that, according to Philipp, borders on "a miracle" because the 2019 vintage was "quite turbulent." Only at the time of harvesting the "perfectly ripe and healthy grapes" did it become clear that 2019 could bear great wines. "The berries were not overripe at all and were really crunchy when we picked them," says Philipp.

The year started late in the vineyards, and the flowering around June 10th was also rather late compared to the two previous years. A "turbo summer" followed with nothing but sunshine, under which the vines caught up. The fruit set was low after the above-average yield in 2018 and should be at 45 hectoliters per hectare at the end of the harvest. This benefited the vintage just as much as the cool nights from mid-August until the end of the harvest on October 5, during which the characteristic acidity of 2019 was not only preserved but also remained lively and refreshing. The fruit is clear and ripe but also rather cool, elegant and extremely precise. The wines are fresh and vital, enormously stringent and reflect their respective terroirs in an exemplary manner.

In the absence of pressure during the harvest, Wittmann was able to sort the fruits wonderfully, so that he was able to collect many pieces for the final blend. "For the first time, we even harvested according to the age of the vines, and processed and vinified all grapes from vines younger than 15 years separately. Only the grapes from older vines went into the crus from Erste and Grosse Lagen." That was a good idea considering the dry summer, even though the soils in Westhofen are deep anyway and especially the Brunnenhäuschen and Morstein have underground springs.

The harvest began on September 16th with the Pinots, and the Rieslings were harvested from the 25th. Despite the hot summer, this is 20 days later than 2018, which was already finished on October 2nd, but of course had a longer harvest season. Of the warm vintages of this century, 2018 is the best according to Philipp, but 2019 is the greater vintage because of the cool precision. The alcohol values are all in a moderate range of 12.4% to 12.7%. Of the older vintages, 2007 is now drinking very well; this too was a year with a long, sunny autumn, with almost four months between flowering and harvesting of the GGs. 2012 also shows his class in a very puristic, fresh way, while 2015 is still much too young to drink.

I am looking forward to tasting Wittmann's 2019 GGs again soon from the bottle. The report will follow in autumn. However, readers should not hesitate to buy now before the wines are gone. Wittmann is a reliable and great producer who hasn't disappointed me in 20 years. Try the impressive estate Riesling or the exceptional Westhofener, and you'll know the road you have to travel: up into the sky."

Stephan Reinhardt 96-97 Punkte (Aug. 2020)