2021 Schwedhelm "Wotan-Kalkfels" Riesling Erste Lage, Pfalz, Germany

2021 Schwedhelm "Wotan-Kalkfels" Riesling Erste Lage, Pfalz, Germany

Wild fruit and exotic aromas, complemented by prominent earthy and salty undertones, bright lime, and firm, slightly herbal nuances. Features a very long, mineral-driven finish.

$52.99
$52.99

There are 11 units left in stock.

ABOUT THIS WINE

“Wotan-Kalkfels” comes from a particularly rocky section of the Zeller Torben/Kreuzberg vineyard surrounding the Wotanfels, an approximately eight-meter-high limestone formation. The site is high, cool, extremely calcareous, and relatively austere, with some clay helping retain moisture. Schwedhelm describes this as its most purist Riesling site: cool, angular, stony, and deliberately restrained in fruit.

The name Wotan references the Germanic god; according to the estate, the prominent limestone outcrop was historically associated with a Celtic sacrificial site

The grapes are selected twice and harvested by hand, followed by about eight hours of skin contact. Fermentation occurs spontaneously with native yeasts in stainless steel, and the wine remains on its fine lees until roughly June before being bottled in early July. There is no oak élevage.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

Weingut Schwedhelm is a family estate in Zellertal, at the far northern edge of Germany’s Pfalz. The modern estate traces its commercial wine production to the 1950s. Bernhard and Gisela Schwedhelm, moved the operation out of the village center and began estate-bottling their wines. 

The major transformation came with the next generation. Stephan Schwedhelm, after training as a winemaker and studying at Geisenheim, took responsibility for the cellar in 2006. His brother Georg, who studied business in Mannheim, joined him in 2012. Together they dramatically refocused the estate around terroir, lower yields, fewer grape varieties and a much more precise, dry style of wine. Stephan describes his approach as minimal intervention—not avoiding technology altogether, but using it to protect the wine rather than manipulate its character. The goal is to let the vineyard dictate the wine.

Details:

Grape(s) Riesling
Farming Organic