Unbottled – Peter Jakob Kuehn Hendelberg Riesling

The Rheingau region accounts for just 3 % of Germany’s total vineyard area. However, it has the highest percentage of Riesling, at around 78%. For this tasting, I have selected a Riesling from Peter Jakob Kühn, a pioneer of biodynamic farming.

First some facts on the wine: The up to 50-year-old vines for the Hallgardener Hendelberg grow on phyllite slate. After a selective manual harvest, the grapes are pressed as whole clusters. The spontaneous fermentation takes place in large used oak casks. Afterwards, the wine spends 16 months on the full yeasts and is bottled without filtration or fining. I tried the 2021 vintage.

To be honest, I avoided dry Riesling for a while. However, the Hallgarten Haendleberg is a prime example of how great German riesling can be. Yes, this wine has a long way to go before it reaches its prime, but it already displays beautiful Riesling fruit notes without being overly fruity. These are balanced by a lively acidity, hints of flowers, red apples, fruit skins as well as some green pear. Towards the end a certain minerality becomes noticeable, too. I am definitely looking forward to trying more from this vineyard.

For a food-pairing I chose to serve the Riesling in combination with a Racelette we served my parents. The acidity of the Riesling cut through the fat of the cheese nicely. Yes, the more subtle flavours were somewhat lost, but it worked particularly well when focusing on vegetarian ingredients.

Apart from that, I did a little glass comparison between the Zalto White Wine and the X Wineglass Original. The former showed a more focused flavour profile of the wine, enhancing the acidity. The latter allowed the Riesling to breathe more and emphazised the apple and pear notes.

*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. I received the glass for free from X Wineglass.