2005 Rauenthaler Nonnenberg Riesling, Georg Breuer – a Rheingau monopoly

As the Mas Daumas Gassac  from my previous post is a legend for the Languedoc, Georg Breuer estate equally is an icon for its own wine region, the Rheingau. The late Bernhard Breuer was a pioneer for the renaissance of dry Riesling in Germany and his wines often are cathedrals of minerality that can age for years without losing freshness while gaining in complexity.

One of his significant vineyards is the Raunthaler Nonnenberg, of which the estate is the unique owner: a so called monopoly vineyard. The flagship vineyard however remains the Rüdesheimer Berg Schlossberg (see my note for the 2007 here), a legendary Riesling, especially out of this estate, which is equipped each year with another artist label, just like at Château Mouton-Rothschild. It should thus be interesting to see if this 2005 Nonnenberg can live up to the high expectations which are automatically present when drinking a Breuer wine.

In the nose the wine shows just a little petrol and then some fruit. On the palate it appears lean and slim and at the same time it gives the impression of voluminous fruit. There’s something steel-like with citrus and grapefruit acidity and a certain inner roughness with nearly youthful grip. Then there’s typical Riesling fruit flavour but not in a very defined way: Let’s say a mix of yellow fruit; a little mellow and not so focused maybe.

As a whole, the wine shows great presence and length. It is not as impressive as a 2007 Berg Schlossberg I once had which was a mineral monster (here minerality is a little more retained). This one appears a little less focused, less chiseled and a little more blurry. Undeniably it is a good wine which also displays the typical Breuer style but for me it cannot take the leap towards greatness as the Schlossberg so often does. But maybe this is just the difference between the 2 vineyards, the taste of “Terroir”. +

Breuer Nonnenberg 2005

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Categories: Germany,Rheingau

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