【James Suckling 100 pts】
【Wine Advocate 96+ pts】
【Vinous 97 pts】
【Vivino 4.2】
ZTG003A - Schloss Johannisberg Goldlack 2021 Rheingau Blanc
$1080/btl
Region : Rheingau
Grapes : 100% Riesling
Alcohol : 13% vol
Weinbau-Domane Schloss Johannisberg is an estate in the Rheingau region of Germany. It has exclusively grown Riesling grapes since 1720, and is thought to be the first estate in the world to have done so.
The Johannisberg estate has a history of viticulture that spans approximately 1200 years. The vineyards were first documented by Louis the Pious in 817AD, and a Benedictine monastery was established in 1100. Prince Abbot Konstantin von Buttlar acquired the estate in 1716, and built the grand palace on the site of the original monastery. In 1775, Schloss Johannisberg became the first to deliberately cultivate Spätlese grapes.
Schloss Johannisberg sits on one of three quartzite hills southeast of the Taunus mountain range. The soils here are quartzite rich, which is well-suited to the Riesling that occupies the vineyards. Wines are fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks, as well as large oak casks made from oak sourced from the nearby Schloss Johannisberger forest. During the aging process, the wines spend a significant time on their lees, in order to increase complexity.
The Weinbau-Domane Schloss Johannisberg cellar is referred to as the "Bibliotheca subterranea", or underground library, as it contains centuries-old wines including the oldest bottle of Schloss Johannisberger Riesling.
James Suckling 100 pts
Prepare yourself to meet the spirit of great mineral dry riesling. Gigantic dried peach and dried pear notes, but even more flinty character. A wealth of dried herbs, too. Immense concentration of stony minerality that washes over you like a great wave. Matured for two and a half years in 1,200-liter used oak cases, the last year in the deepest and oldest section of the cellar. Drink or hold.
Robert Parker 96+ pts
Sourced in the south/southwest-exposed lieux-dits Urban-Wingert, Langenberg and Mäuerchen Quer and sold exclusively via the Place de Bordeaux, the intensely yellow-colored 2021 Schloss Johannisberg Goldlack Riesling Trocken (not the GG Silberlack) represents the qualitative top of the dry Rieslings of the winery. After the manual harvest of the berries during the first nine days of October and after 48 hours of maceration, the must was gently pressed and fermented in 1,200-liter oak stücks made from the family's own forest and a few smaller barrels. The wine matured for 24 months on the fine lees in the nine-meter-deep Bibliotheca Subterranea cellar at 10.5 degrees Celsius before being bottled in February 2024. Coming from a cooler and rainier year, the 2021 offers a deep, pure, intense and elegant nose of ripe yellow fruits but also black and blue berries intertwined with yeasty and flinty notes and nuances of heath and mint. Full-bodied, intense and saline on the palate, this is a distinctively ripe and juicy as well as mineral, very elegant and savory, intense and seriously structured dry Riesling with a very long, complex and aromatic as well as finely tannic and lemon-bitter finish. It has remarkable acidity (of 8.2 grams per liter). 13% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted in early July and again at the domaine at the end of August 2024. The wine will be available from 21 October of this year, and it is best served in a wide Burgundy or Bordeaux glass, where its intensity is even more intensified and its texture significantly smoother.
Vinous 97 pts
The 2021 Riesling Schloss johannisberg Goldlack is johannsiberg's winepositioned above the GG. Made in limited quantity, it spent 30 months inwood. The merest touch of beeswax appears initially, almost with a hint ofspeculoos biscuit spice on the nose. The palate is a marvel, absolutely fluidin texture and slender but with absolute concentration. this has density butno weight. Texturally, this is different from other Rieslings, calmer andquieter, but with no less intent or direction. On the contrary, it conquersquietly but completely. The malolactic fermentation delivers a mellowfinish that is deceptive, since the final acidity in this dry wine still reachedan exciting 8.2 g/L.(Bone-dry)
