The Keller 2009 Westhofener Kirchspiel Riesling Grosses Gewachs features pungent, piquant lime zest, peach kernel, and cherry pit allied to tart citrus and yellow plum, salt and chalk, all of which make for an almost fiercely penetrating and invigoratingly persistent if spare and lightly astringent performance. This certainly isn’t about flattery or ingratiation. German growers and critics love applying the word “puristic” to such a Riesling, which I suppose is better than “puritanical” – but my, is this wine strict! As it took on air, a slightly more enticing, saliva-inducing sense of salinity and shellfish reduction emerged. I don’t envision it ever achieving the delicacy and poise that its 2008 rendition displayed even at this young age, but it should certainly be fascinating as well as palate-stimulating to follow in the course of the coming decade. While Keller has now begun to implement the plan I discussed in issue 187 of releasing some Grosse Gewachse only in the year after bottling, that delayed release will not apply to either the Hubacker or Kirchspiel, although based on my perception of the latter’s personality, it above all should be considered as a candidate.

DRINK DATE
2012 - 2018
Immediately riper on the nose than the 2010 though still mostly citrus and the merest whiff of smoky minerality. Tangy and intensely alive at the core of the ripe fruit. Mouthwatering and long and elegant all at once. More sustained power than I usually associate with Keller's Kirchspiel.