Hölle GG 2021 Weingut Kunstler

Tasting Note Hölle GG 2021

Initially, aromas of yellow peach and citrus peel emerge, with a stony, almost chalky note underlying the fruit. As this is a completely dry wine, there is nothing to soften the acidity that cuts across the mid-palate. The texture is firm rather than full-bodied, and the finish continues to reveal salty and skin-like flavors from the fruit. It is still tightly structured. When exposed to air, this dry Riesling with such a structure reveals more pronounced apricot aromas.

Grape Varieties

This wine is made from a single grape variety:

Riesling, a grape variety that accounts for nearly 80% of the Rheingau vineyard area

Riesling conveys the characteristics of its terroir more faithfully than almost any white grape variety, and this is the very essence of the bottled Großes Gewächs wine. In Hochheim it tends toward body and citrus rather than featherweight delicacy.

Cellaring Potential

Acidity acts as a preservative in the dry Riesling, and the 2021 vintage of Hölle GG has rich acidity based on the concentration resulting from a reduced harvest. There's no need to open it right away. Serve at 12-14°C. If served any colder, the aroma will fade. Let it breathe in a decanter for about 30 minutes to allow the aromas to fully unfold.

About Weingut Kunstler

Two rivers meet near Hochheim am Main, and that gives Weingut Künstler's vineyards a slightly more humid microclimate than most of the Rheingau. Around 80% of production is white, Riesling first among them, with smaller plantings of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Grüner Veltliner and Alvarinho. Künstler family winemaking reaches back to the 12th century, though the original estate stood in Untertannowitz, now in the Czech Republic. Franz Künstler re-established it in Hochheim in 1965, and his son Günter, trained at Geisenheim, took over in 1992. VDP membership came in 1994, the former Aschrott estate in 1996. Hochheim soils run through loess, clay, sand, loam, marl and limestone. Dry Rieslings from Domdechaney, Kirchenstück, Hölle and Berg Rottland lead the range. And from Assmannshausen, a red wine enclave in the Rheingau, comes Spätburgunder.

Terroir & Climate

Hölle is located in Hochheim am Main, situated at the eastern end of Rheingau, where the Main runs into the Rhine. The soil is a mixture of loess, clay, sand, loam, marl, and limestone; the limestone content, in particular, helps maintain the firm acidity characteristic of such full-bodied wines. With two rivers nearby, the microclimate tends to be somewhat humid. Behind all of this, the Taunus hills act as a barrier against cold winds.

Winemaking

Künstler combines modern winemaking facilities with environmentally sustainable viticulture, and its product lineup follows the VDP grading system, ranging from estate wines to Grosses Gewächs. Hölle GG is the top tier, a dry single-vineyard wine made from Hochheim grapes. Bottled with a screw cap, which keeps the citrus and stone fruit sharp.

Food Pairing

White fish, particularly pike-perch, trout and sole. Scallops and prawns. Asparagus in season, a real craze amongst the people of the Rheingau in May, served with hollandaise sauce or brown butter.

It also goes perfectly with hard cheeses and anything containing apples or mustard.

And it pairs well with smoked eel.