Riesling Hipping GG 2020

Wine Description for Riesling Hipping GG 2020 by Schätzel

Colour & Appearance

Pale, bright golden yellow – crystal clear and luminous in the glass.

Nose

Kai Schätzel has achieved a remarkable evolution with this Hipping: The wine opens invitingly with notes of apples, quinces and pears, including their skins. These are joined by lanolin, a hint of apple must, liquorice and hops. Crisp stone fruit and a trace of lichen lend the bouquet an almost natural wine character, reminiscent of Loire wines from Anjou.

Palate

A light CO₂ greets the palate first, then a tamed wildness unfolds: herbal notes and mineral stone meet a pleasantly firm phenolic structure with a gripping bite. Pome fruit with skins, grapefruit, tea and warm apple juice alternate. The wine unites apparent opposites: piquant and herbal, yet threaded through with slate-like juiciness and salinity. The silky acidity (7.5 g/l) lends it impressive smoothness at only 11.5% alcohol and 1 gramme of residual sugar. This Hipping has never been so open, embracing and sensitive before.

Finish

Long, mineral and refreshing with lingering herbal and stone fruit notes. The saline minerality remains present and invites the next sip.

Grape Variety & Vinification

Hand-harvested Riesling at “golden cut”, destemmed by foot, three days of maceration, 36 hours pressing without pre-clarification. Spontaneous, warm fermentation in a 1,200-litre wooden barrel, including malolactic fermentation. The extraordinary ageing took place over 35 months under clean, reductive flor yeast – a rarity among German Rieslings. Unsulphited and bottled clear, processed entirely reductively.

Food Pairing Suggestions

Warm mackerel with leek and pear beurre blanc, pan-fried veal sweetbread schnitzel with morel beurre blanc or vol-au-vent. The phenolic structure and minerality harmonise beautifully with seafood and creamy sauces.

Special Characteristics

A unique creation in the world of Großes Gewächs – beneficial on many levels and a bold step towards natural winemaking without the typical reductive notes of earlier vintages. A tribute to patience and craftsmanship.