Enkircher Batterieberg Riesling 2018

The 2018 Enkircher Batterieberg Riesling is very clear, ripe and intense on the concentrated nose but also elegant and provided with spicy slate aromas. The 80-year-old, ungrafted vines on gray slate soils with quartzite elements in the upper terraces of the cru give a crystalline, finessed and elegant but also powerful and intense Riesling of great complexity and length. The finish is very long and fruity and highly promising. However, with 11 grams per liter of residual sugar, this is not the normal Immich style, since the wine, like the 2017, did not ferment to fully dry. Tasted from AP 186 20 in April 2020.

2018 was an also uncomplicated vintage for Gernot Kollmann in Enkirch. Lots of sunshine, no problems with rot, much less plant protection than usual... Only the fermentations did not go through that easily due to a lack of nutrients in such a dry year. There are several wines that didn't ferment to legally dry even though the taste is round rather than sweet. From the Zolltum, only a Spätlese was made yet no dry or dry-styled Riesling. In the Batterieberg, Kollman selected an exceptional Auslese and a dry grand cru. Like 2003 and similar to 2009, the 2018 vintage also brings rich, full-bodied, very generous wines that need about 10 to 15 years to reach their peak, says Kollmann, who promised to prepare a few 2009s for me during my next visit later this summer. I will also come back here to taste some wines again that didn't convince me in spring this year since all the 2018s from Immich-Batterieberg—except for Escheburg and Ellergrub, which were filled in September 2019—were bottled in April 2020. This might explain why I had some unexpected difficulties with a few wines when I tasted them only two weeks later.

Although this has perfect golden fruit on the nose, it’s also quite funky (reduction) on the palate. As it aerates, it slowly grows in textural complexity, until it has an almost erotic mouthfeel. The super silky and succulent finish is the best thing about this concentrated, almost dry wine. Drinkable now, but better in 2022.