So far as I can tell Hans Josef Becker anticipated the dry wine movement in the Rheingau (and in much of Germany in a way) a few decades before anyone else.
Working in the cellars of the famous Schloss Eltz in the late 1960s, a young Hans Josef (call him “HaJo”) tasted the dry Rieslings still in barrel (after a full natural fermentation and before the addition of the “süssreserve”) and decided that that, dear friends, was what he wanted to make. His journey with the dry wines began with the 1971 vintage.
Now, nearly a half-century later we present Becker’s take on the celebrated 2019 vintage. These wines are in a way the final word on the 2019 vintage; the estate moves at its own pace and releases far later than most.
I have full notes on all the wines below: Please delay doing any useful work to review them. We all know at this point that the 2019 vintage is great but also very low in yields. Thus everything is pretty limited. While Becker did make a few cases of Auslese Trocken, we’re not even putting the wine on the list below. Place a balanced order, and we can try and get you a bit. But maybe not even.
Across the board, the 2019 collection is singing and as fresh and crisp as an early spring morning at the beach. This is a warm vintage, and while the Auslese Trocken does show some of the exoticism of the vintage, layers of mango and fresh kiwi, the rest of the collection is bracing and vivid with more than enough grip and tension to satisfy.
It feels like a cool vintage, with the green/blue, mineral-laden citrus that implies, yet it has the density and grip of a riper vintage. It doesn’t make sense, but there you go. This vintage really is something of a wonder, made even more wonderful by the soulful iconoclast HaJo Becker.
It is a superb, superb collection.
For more information or to order, please email – orders@vomboden.com. As we mentioned, quantities are limited so give us your max order and we’ll allocate as necessary.
The order deadline is next Thursday April 1st for industry, retail and restaurant buyers – no fooling around! All wines will arrive in June or thereabouts…
2019 Riesling Wallufer (Village-Level) Trocken ~$28 per bottle
Oh lord I like this a lot – tart green apple skin, resiney and floral with a salty, oceanic minerality. On the palate it’s medium light, but really poised and present with a direct apple and tart pear, citrus salt and an almost bitter, phenolic grip that defines the finish and lingers all gravelly cool. Damn this has character – it’s refreshing and invigorating and leaves a beautiful glaze of bitter herbal elements that I really dig, almost like a very good quinine. This is like a Kabinett Trocken, ultra-delicate dry Germanic gin with more citrus and very little alcohol – in dry Riesling form. That might make no sense, but there we are.
* 2015 Riesling Walkenberg Kabinett Trocken ~$31 per bottle
Alright people – so there is no Kabinett Trocken in 2019… so how about we unearth, direct from the cellar, a Kabinett Trocken from the legendary 2015 vintage? Coming to us this spring with six years of perfect cellar slumber, this wine is dense and biting and, honestly, still young… on day one it was fierce and a lovely Riesling slap-in-the-face… and on day two it was only beginning to show its density and depth. I genuinely can’t say much more – whether this wine will tell a great story or not it’s too early to tell… the wine itself is still in chapter one. As I’ve been known to say: age your Kabinett Trockens! Please note we will most definitely give preference to those also ordering 2019ers.
2019 Riesling Walkenberg Spätlese Trocken ~$34 per bottle
This is more complex on the nose compared to the village-level Wallufer; fading from the green apple / pear into a taut, citrus-driven nose edged by fresh stone fruit – shall we say apricot? On the palate, definitely more dense and saturating, really taut and inward looking… really pretty floral aromatics – not dried, but rather sweet flower pollen and other sweet, green-garden scents. Though the palate is more glycerin-rich as compared to the village-level Wallufer, there is still a great reverberating acidity and great grip. Super well done. This is a Saar Spätlese Trocken from the Rheingau.
2019 Riesling Walkenberg Spätlese Trocken “Alte Reben” ~$40 per bottle
The nose here is just a shade riper, with tart citrus flirting with barely ripe apricot, heading toward the peach register though highlighted by lemon curd and lemon zest, pretty citrus elements to brighten it up, even the riper twang of a lime. This has more density, for sure, more richness, though it has plenty of definition. Thinking of these wines in the context of the Rheingau is just crazy; my teeth are aching. The whole collection has acids – I should get the numbers here, if Eva hasn’t already sent them [note to reader: I never got any numbers on the acids b/c I’m just too buried in work right now]. There is a limey quality to this, sticky but fresh, gripping, that I really like. These are very damn good. Both Spätlese Trockens clock in at 13% alcohol yet they hold it really well. Holy acids for real. This is crazy good and while the Auslese Trocken is the grander wine, for me this is the top dog in the dry collection for 2019, period.
2019 Riesling Oberberg Kabinett Halbtrocken ~$31 per bottle
I *love* this genre – so many Kabinetts are too damn sweet yet when you get into HaJo’s realm, his “Kabinett Halbtrockens” usually have around 20 grams RS and flirt with dry-tasting… This has a nice freshness, a creamy green apple pear thing that’s a touch phenolic and grippy. There is a nice gravelly minerality, a good core of freshness, a great base. This is a good Kabinett for people who like acid and definition, and I for one am of those persons.
2019 Riesling Berg Bildstock Kabinett ~$32 per bottle
While HaJo is more of a dry wine specialist, he will make some Prädikat wines – never too much – and they are icons of an age gone by… while they are not nervy like Mosel wines are nervy, they definitely have more energy and zing to them than nearly any other Rheingau Prädikat wines I’ve had. The nose is ripe apple and bosc pear, layers of gravely minearlity and a perfectly poised grip. Just beautiful juice.
2019 Riesling Sonnenberg Spätlese ~$37 per bottle
This is very curious, high-toned and super-floral, like licking pollen and other high-toned beautiful things that come from a garden. This in a way feels really ripe (perhaps this is just compared to the more green-apple dominated Kabinetts), with an almost candied lime thing. The flavors are so clear and crystalline: like a bowl of really tart, fresh wonderful things, ripe lime and underripe peach and apricot and pear all right in front of your face. The flavors are all immediate and saturating, this part is very impressive and as much as I’m loathe to worship sites with storied pasts (as things are changing and we have to be honest here), it could be that this – the most famous site HaJo farms, the Eltviller Sonnenberg – really is just a site destined for this type of wine. Are some sites just kind of magical? For all this crystalline exoticism, the wine has definition and lots of curves and finesse. This is the sorta wine that makes me want to drink more Spätlese.