Country: | Germany |
Region: | Mosel |
Winery: | Weingut Albert Gessinger |
Grape Type: | Riesling |
Vintage: | 2016 |
Bottle Size: | 750 ml |
Gessinger Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Alte Reben Caldo Infernale made from 100 percent Riesling.
The Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Caldo Infernale was produced from over 100-year-old ungrafted vines in the Gewann “im Kalk,” the original part of the vineyard. This is a typical Devonian slate Riesling with fruity elegance and great durability.
Although riper elements of yellow peach, coconut, Victoria pineapple, and almond cream directly capture the attention, the nose maintains a fresh character with minty and zesty notes. The wine shows ripe and sweet elements on the palate, and has quite some creamy and juicy elements such as canned yellow peach and pineapple. The finish brings the right amount of zest to lift up the aromatics and adds focus and tension, while there is an almost Eiswein-type of acidity in the aftertaste. This is a gorgeous Auslese.
Gessinger Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Beerenauslese is made from 100 percent Riesling.
This deep yellow-colored wine offers a quite aromatic nose made of mirabelle, ripe apple, almond cream, date, ether oil, and earthy spices. It proves nicely complex and delicately oily on the otherwise focused and delicately racy palate, and leaves a subtly unctuous and still quite sweet feel of honeyed dried fruits, starfruit, kumquat, and almond cream in the precise and persistent finish. Some fresher elements of citrusy fruits and grapefruit already lighten up the aftertaste and hint at the greatness to come. This beautiful dessert wine is still really in its infancy but will develop into quite a beauty at maturity, once the candy floss driven sweetness will have receded into the background.
The Riesling Beerenauslese remains on the lees for several months to add a creamy texture to the mineral notes and to enhance the mouth-feel and drinkability.Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Beerenauslese Alte Reben was made from botrytized fruit hand-picked at a whopping 150° Oechsle from old ungrafted vines, spontaneously fermented and vegan. Fermentation with preferably wild yeasts gives this wine a unique and authentic taste, reflecting the extreme vineyard sites of the Mosel Valley. A cool temperature allows a slow fermentation which can continue for as long as the wine and the vintage requires.
Perfect match to sweet-and-sour dishes as well as spicy food.
Gessinger Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese Josefsberg is made from 100 percent Riesling.
The Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese Josefsberg -Alte Reben- was made from fruit harvested from 120-year-old vines in a prime Rothlay part of the vineyard known locally as Josefsberg. Here grow old, ungrafted Riesling vines whose particular small and loose grapes develop a lot of aroma.
It was made from fruit picked at the end of the harvest and was fermented down to sweet levels of residual sugar. It offers a backward nose made of white peach, melon, smoke, herbs, and minerals. On the pleasant racy palate and the wine leaves a beautiful feel of ripe fruits packed into zesty minerals in the finish. The featherlight side of this Spätlese paired with its flavor intensity are simply a thing of beauty. However, during the years this wine will reveal all its facets.
Acidity 9.5 g/l
Residual sugar 72 g/l
Perfect match to Asian cuisine as well as spicy food.
Gessinger Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese St. Josef is made from 100 percent Riesling.
The Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese St. Josef - formerly know as Josefsberg- was produced from fruit harvested from 120-year-old vines in a prime Rothlay part of the vineyard known locally as Josefsberg, next to the cross of St. Josef - the patron of vineyard growers. Here grow old, ungrafted Riesling vines whose particular small and loose grapes develop a lot of aroma.
It was made from fruit picked at the end of the harvest and was fermented down to sweet levels of residual sugar. It offers a backward nose made of white peach, melon, smoke, herbs, and minerals. On the pleasant racy palate and the wine leaves a beautiful feel of ripe fruits packed into zesty minerals in the finish. The featherlight side of this Spätlese paired with its flavor intensity are simply a thing of beauty. However, during the years this wine will reveal all its facets.
Perfect match to Asian cuisine as well as spicy food.
Dr. Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Alte Reben Riesling Grosses Gewachs is made from 100 percent Riesling.
This is one of the greatest vineyards in the Middle Mosel. This precipitously steep, rocky vineyard consistently yields some of the most elegant and sophisticated white wines in the world. Citrus and white peach flavors predominate when the wines are young, turning to a pure expression of the mineral soil as they age.
Gessinger Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese is a big and rich wine with ripe peach and pear on the nose, honeyed, citrus and mineral aromas. Clean and pure, distinctive character. Very long finish
Review:
"Sun-kissed yellow cherry and mango notes are juxtaposed by struck flint, salt and slate in this spry yet powerfully fruity Riesling. The midpalate is sweet and spicy yet intensely mineral, reverberating through a long, stony finish. Drinks well already but likely to improve from 2021."
- Wine Enthusiast (April 2018), 91 pts - CELLAR SELECTION
The Weingut Albert Gessinger Estate
The Gessinger family migrated from Northern Italy in the late 1500’s and settled in the middle Mosel region of Zelting, where they worked as artistic masons on churches being constructed in the area. Quickly, they found themselves drawn to viticulture, the prime occupation of the region since Roman times and before. Weingut Albert Gessinger was founded in 1680. In 1820, Peter Gessinger, through marriage, acquired additional vineyards in Zeltingen and Gessinger became one of the first family owned companies in the middle Mosel dedicated exclusively to viticulture. In the 1890s, Weingut Gessinger joined the first organization dedicated to supporting quality wine production in Germany, the Union of Winery Owners of Koblenz. In 1899, Weingut Gessinger joined the Bernkastel Ring, an exclusive group to which they have belonged for over 100 years. The members of the Ring, the finest producers in Germany, sell select wines to connoisseurs from around the world. Today, Alfred Gessinger owns the property and continues the family tradition of wine making going back centuries.
The Weingut Albert Gessinger Vineyard
The Estate consists of 8 acres or 3.2 hectares. The plantings are broken down as follows: 80% Riesling, 15% Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir), 5% Dornfelder (new red wine clone developed in 1956). All vineyards are located in the middle Mosel town of Zelting. Weingut Gessinger joined the Bernkastel Ring in 1899 and for years their wines only appeared at their September auction. Gessinger is quite small, less than 2,000 cases and all his whites are 100% Riesling planted on Devon Slate (best soil type of the area).
Morlet Family Vineyards Coeur De Vallee Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 75% Cabernet Sauvignon & 25% Cabernet Franc.
Propietary Name Cœur de Vallée
Name Meaning Heart of the Valley
Type of wine Vineyard designated
Appellation Oakville, Napa Valley
Vineyard singularity Morlet Family ‘Cœur de Vallée’ Vineyard Bale soils, loamy topsoil on loamy & clay-loamy subsoils
Typical harvest date October Picking Manual, small lugs, refer truck
Sorting Cluster by cluster, berry per berry Fermentation Through native yeast. Punch downs Tank and Puncheons
Upbringing 16 months French oak from artisan coopers Bottling Unfiltered
Cellaring time 10+ years Serving Room temperature Decanting recommended
Winemaker notes:
Located in the world-renowned Oakville appellation, in the heart of the Napa Valley, our Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc vines benefit from the gravelly and loamy Bale soil derived from an alluvial fan in this warm yet temperate climate. Handcrafted using classical winemaking techniques, this wine is dedicated to Dr. Richard Johnson and Dr. Nancy Hampel who have always demonstrated their kindness of heart. It is ‘Heart of the Valley’ or ‘Cœur de Vallée.’
Deep garnet-purple in color, the ‘Cœur de Vallée’ is characterized by a striking bouquet of lavender and violets over a core of sweet red berries, crème de cassis, Chambord liqueur, blackcurrants and licorice, and compelling notes of mocha, espresso, chocolate and forest floor. Medium to full-bodied with an impressive fine-grained texture, this powerful yet refined Cabernet Sauvignon is expressive from start to finish, boasting a background freshness that supports the intense black fruit layers. The wine displays an extraordinary concentration, richness, finesse and purity while possessing silky and polished tannins leading to an elegant lift on the long, lush finish. Featuring the interaction of the clayish yet well-draining gravelly volcanic soil, the site’s microclimates and the low-interventionistic Morlet winemaking approach, the stunning ‘Cœur de Vallée’ ages gracefully for decades.
Review:
The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Coeur de Vallée comes all from Beckstoffer’s portion of the To Kalon Vineyard and it’s a thrill a minute, offering awesome notes of blue fruits, chocolate, incense, candied violets, and high-class cigar tobacco. As seamless and elegant as they come, yet also opulent and sexy, this remarkable Cabernet Sauvignon could come from nowhere else in the world. Drink it over the coming 2-3 decades.
-Jeb Dunnuck 97 Points
This is the last vintage when this wine will come exclusively from Beckstoffer’s To Kalon vineyard. In the future it will come (more and more) from Morlet’s own new vineyard in Oakville—just across from To Kalon. A blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon and 13% Cabernet Franc, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Coeur de Vallee has a very deep purple-black color and reveals compelling notes of minted blackcurrants, black cherries and wild blueberries with touches of sage, cigar box, tilled black soil and Indian spices with a suggestion of cardamom. Full-bodied and laden with densely packed, muscular fruit, it has a rock-solid frame of ripe, grainy tannins and seamless freshness, finishing very long with those To Kalon spices lingering with fantastic persistence. 250 cases produced, to be released in the fall of 2019.
-Wine Advocate 97 Points
This beautiful wine opens with aromas of cassis, blackberry, and earthy plum on the nose, with a touch of cedar that elegantly underlies the rich dark fruits on the nose. The wine is rich and full bodied on the palate, the acidity is supple, supporting the layers of plum, dark cherry and dusty minerality. Alongside these you have a touch of espresso bean and slight vanilla. The smooth tannins follow through to drive the finish, giving longevity to the palate.
Review: Aromas of black cherries, cassis, spice box, walnut and graphite. Firm and lengthy with a full body and compact tannin structure. Dense and wide with a chocolaty finish. - James Suckling 93 Points |
A classic balance between generous red and black fruits and firm tannins shows in this full-bodied wine as it unfolds black cherries, blackberries, oak char and black pepper. It's grippy in texture—perfect for a steak or lamb chop.
- Wine Enthusiast 93 Points