Some wines simply taste good, and then some wines make you feel something—and Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch’s Bernkasteler Graben Riesling Grosses Gewächs belongs squarely in the latter camp. Every time we open a bottle, it’s like wandering through the Nürnberg Christmas Market in December: warm lights glowing against the cold, spices drifting through the air, slate underfoot, and that unmistakable Mosel magic wrapping around you. These are bone‑dry, crystalline Rieslings that radiate purity and terroir, and we’re thrilled to offer the 2020 and 2022 vintages—both U.S. exclusives—at prices that feel almost unreal for wines of this pedigree.
Stuart Pigott of James Suckling has been one of the estate’s most vocal admirers, consistently praising Thanisch for producing high‑precision, mineral‑intense, age‑worthy Rieslings that stand among the Mosel’s benchmarks. His reviews of both vintages underscore their brilliance: the 2020 is sleek, cool, tightly coiled, and radically slate‑driven, while the 2022 shows greater depth and immediate complexity, with perfect acidity and a bone‑dry finish he calls “magnificent” and “built for the ages.” Side by side, they offer a masterclass in how vintage character shapes a grand cru site—one taut and linear, the other expressive and textural—yet both unmistakably Graben.
And what a site it is. Bernkasteler Graben sits directly beside the far more famous Bernkasteler Doctor, sharing the same vertiginous, south‑facing Devonian slate slopes. But Graben is no understudy: it delivers comparable grand‑cru intensity and mineral precision at a far more reasonable price, making it one of the Mosel’s greatest insider values. Old vines—20 to 40 years, some ungrafted—dig deep into fractured rock, yielding Rieslings of piercing clarity. Spontaneous fermentation and aging in old 1,000‑liter casks preserve every nuance of the vineyard’s voice. The result is a bone‑dry GG (2.1 g/L RS, 12.5% alcohol) of astonishing purity and tension, with average annual production hovering around 200 cases.
These wines are not only thrilling today—they’re built for multiple decades of evolution. Few wines anywhere in the world under $50 can cellar this long and pair with such a wide range of foods: sushi, crudo, schnitzel, roast chicken, Thai curries, shellfish, alpine cheeses, mushroom dishes—you name it. With the 2023 vintage soon to land and our exclusive access to the 2020 and 2022 nearly gone, this is the moment to secure two of the Mosel’s most compelling dry Rieslings. These are wines that warm the soul, elevate the table, and reward patience like few others.
Prost!
94 Points, James Suckling:
“A radical, terroir-first expression of the Graben site; built to age.” - Stuart Pigott
