Wittmann La Borne Riesling Alte Reben 2018 750ml

A selection of old vines in Morstein. Super refined, steely notes of flint and oyster shell with fragrant spices and delicate, white wild flowers. Sweet, freshly rolled pastry, fine lemons and grapefruit, too. This is so complex and quite cryptic for now. Impenetrable. The palate also delivers a very complex impression. Very layered and finely detailed with acidity that guides a stream-like fusion of stone-fruit and yellow-citrus flavors. Very compressed, very dense and very complete. A muscular expression of Morstein terroir. Best from 2026.

From the upper Morstein, the 2018 Riesling Alte Reben La Borne opens with a pure, deep and intense, very complex yet highly refined bouquet of ripe and concentrated Riesling berries intermixed with notes of crushed stones. On the palate, this is a rich and intense, concentrated and complex, firmly structured and textured Riesling with fine tannins and intense and dense, ripe fruit. 800 bottles produced. Tasted at the domaine in March 2020.

After the penury of 2017’s mere 250 bottles, and despite the June 1 hail in this part of Westhofen, in 2018 there was enough La Borne fruit to fill a barrel. And although the 2017 certainly didn’t seem to suffer from tank upbringing, this 2018 probably did benefit from having been raised in cask. (As usual, the wine was auctioned and fetched a jaw-dropping price.) Thyme, white pepper and lemon peel inform a penetratingly pungent nose. These are joined on an almost severely concentrated palate by zesty grapefruit and tart-edged, piquantly pit-tinged greengage plum. The feel is firm but not adamant, and an impression of extract-richness reinforces that of chalk suffusion. The finish is mouth-shakingly intense and grippingly persistent, with bright citric juiciness and saliva-liberating salinity assuaging any sense of austerity that the wine’s pronounced piquancy and chalkiness might otherwise have engendered. Alongside this almost frighteningly energetic Riesling, the (likewise superb) Brunnenhäuschen comes off as positively gentle.