Chalk and Cheese

The most effective way of learning and understanding regionality in wines is to look for common characteristics that share.  My broad perceptions of German regionality are of zesty acidity in those from the Mosel, a balanced richness for the Rheingau, and an in-between nature for the wines of the Nahe, as geographically it is in between!  Soft aromatics and gentleness mark the wines of the Rheinhessen, and warmth, earthiness, body and depth for those of the Pfalz.  The latter region’s proximity to Alsace also gives clues to the expectation of style.  These style descriptions have served me well for decades.  But as we become more aware of detail, these perceptions and models can be altered.

One wine that did just that was the 2015 Okonomierat Rebholz Frankwweiler Biengarten Riesling Trocken, an Erste Lage wine.  The soils of the vineyard explain why it didn’t fit into my pigeon-hole for the Pfalz, from where it originates.  The Rebholz family are very much soil-focussed and this Biengarten vineyard is on ‘muschelkalk’, shellfish limestone chalk.  Once this is realised, then we could understand the tight citrus fruit character, the sleek body, the nervosity and near-searing acid cut.  SWMBO, Shaunie and I were thinking Mosel, maybe Nahe, but not Pfalz.  The wine is certainly chalk to the normal cheese.  The other factor in the wine’s expression is the youthfulness, this being a 2015.  It has ages to go.