Description
This is my favorite in the range of Rieslings, every year, and this year’s is no exception, as it is an absolute knockout….this is world class. For historical context, this is one of the most historically revered sites in all of the Pfalz, a flagship bottling of sorts for the Rings, taking its name from the vineyard’s shape that (arguably) resembles a pig’s stomach. The entire vineyard, for every single grower who owns land here, was replanted in 1984 due to the wacky Flurbereinigung practices/laws. Its soil type is limestone and marl, in goldilocks middle slope fashion, par excellence, some of which is terraced. For their Riesling wine, they blend a few different spots within the vineyard, both younger and older vines facing south/southeast, the slight east exposure giving the wines a bit more coolness relative to the fully south facing, warmer patch made famous by Köhler-Ruprecht. In typical limestone fashion, it has a more linear sense of mineral attack than the Weilberg. This year’s example (once again) has an incredibly gorgeous sense of weightless paradoxically implosive/explosive mineral salts and stone fruits that dances on the palate, ringing the “power without weight” axiom of Grand cru sites the world over; this just oozes class and complexity in its intensity, sustain, and airy elegant power. Another little * awarded here. Man oh man, this is as good as it gets to me……!! Get what you can justify, and thank me later………
For what it is worth, here is a note from a very sharp and eloquent customer, Matt King, on the 2015 Saumagen Riesling GG. For every single person I ever served this wine to, they were blown away…..:
“I usually take importer Robert Panzer’s effusive notes with a grain of salt, but boy did he nail this one: “This stuff is rock star good to my taste.” This dry Riesling really grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and forced me to pay attention. I’m not an expert about German Riesling and the intricacies of the various vineyards and sugar levels. All I can say is this wine is flat-out delicious and an amazing value for an under $50 Grand Cru white from Germany. I’ve been in a slight wine rut lately, and this set me free. It’s the most compelling wine I’ve tasted this year. (I know it’s only January but ….)
It’s a testament to the proportion and the push-pull of great wines. It’s built on a bedrock of limestone/marl but quickly unfurls succulent fruits (white nectarine) and rich minerals. It’s a yin-yang wine: It’s broad but really deep. It’s full but weightless. It’s charming but intense. It’s complex but simple. It hints at sweetness (in a dry trocken style) but is salty as well. The finish is outstanding, with a cleansing chalky wash and very subtle notes of honeysuckle and just a hint of sugar – like the smallest dab of perfume on a woman’s wrist. The color is like that of a yellow diamond.
I know I’m gushing and don’t want to oversell, but try a Rings wine if you can. The texture, the balance! These two young brothers have a promising future based on this exciting wine. ” – Matt King
“From grapes picked at 93° to 96° Oechsle before the rain on September 26th (everything picked after the rain was declined), the 2019 Riesling GG Kallstadter Saumagen offers a fine, perfectly ripe, elegant and chalky/flinty bouquet with noble lemon juice aromas. Silky, lush and very elegant on the well-balanced palate, this is an intense and fleshy, tightly knit and mineral yet beautifully balanced Riesling with fine tannins, lots of salt and a very elegant texture. It has fine and fresh acidity and a grippy, lemon-flavored finish. I am curious to see where the 2019 will go from here until the release in September this year. To be bottled in summer. Tasted in March and April 2020.” 94-96 Stephan Reinhardt for the 2019, NOT THE 2021 OFFERED HERE.