The Rothenberg vineyard encompasses about 20 hectares directly on the Rhine River on the north end of the “Roter Hang” between Nackenheim and Nierstein. Around five hectares of this comprise the heart of the Rothenberg. The vineyard has a slope of 30 to 80% and comprises 290-million-year-old red shale plates. The Hasselbach family of Gunderloch Estate own around 4.5 hectares of this prime vineyard made up predominantly of very steep parcels. The Nackenheimer Rothenberg is without question their most prominent vineyard mountain. It yields wines of striking mineral character paired with a broad spectrum of expressive spice and fruit aromas.
Vintage 2017 saw a cold early spring followed by a hot, dry summer before conditions turned more moderate in late summer to lead into a mild harvesting period with cold nights. Just one small parcel of no more than 20 rows producing the highest quality of grapes are devoted to this wine.
‘Honeycomb, ginger biscuit, green apple, green melon, green pear scents. Like it. Light spritz to acidity, more of the green fruit flavours coupled to lemon and lemon barley water characters, great length, brightness, vivacity. This has a lot to say as a riesling, plenty of detail, heaping in drinkability.’ – 94 points. Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
