Although she grew up around viticulture, Katharina Wechsler didn’t originally intend to go into wine, but the lure of home proved too strong for her to resist. As it turns out, the vineyards her family farmed for generations were exceptionally well-placed—in one of the few pockets of limestone in all Southwest Germany. Based in the village of Westhofen, in the ascendant Rheinhessen region, Wechsler has fallen in with some of Germany’s greatest dry Riesling producers, including neighbors such as Klaus-Peter Keller and Philipp Wittman, and even even shares some of the area’s most famous Grosses Gewächs (Grand Cru) vineyards with these icons.

Wechsler’s first order of business upon “returning” home (after studying abroad) was to begin the conversion of her 16 hectares of vines to organic/biodynamic viticulture. She apprenticed at the iconic Keller estate and draws inspiration from those Riesling for her own production, while also crafting an array of other wines from Burgundian varieties such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir (not uncommon in the Rheinhessen).

Wechsler’s entry-level Trocken is a prismatic, electric, bone-dry beauty. It radiates purity and limestone minerality through and through. Sourced from a wide assortment of vineyards in and around Westhofen (including Grosse Lage “Kirschpiel” and Wechsler’s neighboring monopole, “Benn”) it is a glistening, steel-aged refresher with impressive depth. Stone (white peach, apricot) and citrus (white grapefruit, lime blossom) fruits clamor for attention along with scents of white flowers, wet stones, exotic spices, and crushed chalk. Serve it at 45-50 degrees in all-purpose stems and, please, be sure to have ample stock on hand. Once you try it, you will crave it again, especially given its unparalleled versatility at the table.