Enkircher Batterieberg Riesling Auslese 2018

The 2018 Enkircher Batterieberg Riesling Auslese is clear and subtle on the elegant, delicately slatey and herbal nose. Fresh and piquant on the palate, this is a vivacious, finessed and digestible Auslese with moderate residual sugar (about 60 grams per liter) and 11% alcohol. The finish is stimulatingly salty. This is old class style and hard to resist already at this early stage. Tasted 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.

After tasting a few other Auslese, this one almost tastes dry! I love the undertones of flint, gunpowder and iron shavings that morph into bright citrus and flowers. There’s a wicked blast of acidity that might be too extreme for some, but we find that it gives this remarkable energy and focus, right through the long finish. Drink now or hold.