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Weingut Kirsten, Dry Riesling, “Wolkentanz”
There’s a reason sommeliers go crazy for Riesling: There’s simply no other grape in the world that can express itself in so many different ways while having such a profound effect on your tastebuds.
It’s not just the varying sugar levels, as traditional German labeling laws had us believing. It’s the stunning aromatic complexity of the grape, which often defies description. It’s the exceptionally high natural acidity of the variety, which lends energy and lift at any ripeness level. It’s the grape’s ability to transmit a sense of minerality (whether you believe minerality to be a myth or not, those sensations are there). This wine, a dry style of Riesling from the steep slate-rich slopes of Germany’s verdant Mosel river valley – perhaps the world’s ultimate Riesling terroir – is nothing short of a marvel. It’s a powerful wine that commands your attention, a white wine that makes a huge impact.
Again, for a lighter bodied wine, the sensations just keep rolling in: aromas of white peach, green apple, mango peel, white flowers, preserved lemon and honeysuckle lead to the classic slate minerality on the palate, before the tidal wave of acid crashes ashore on the finish. That kiss of sugar will obviously go far at the table, taming the effects of salt and fiery spice, and I can think of few better cuisines than Thai to bring out the best in this wine. While it will charm your socks off as an apéritif, I highly recommend checking it out with a traditional green curry. I sure plan to. Enjoy!
It’s not just the varying sugar levels, as traditional German labeling laws had us believing. It’s the stunning aromatic complexity of the grape, which often defies description. It’s the exceptionally high natural acidity of the variety, which lends energy and lift at any ripeness level. It’s the grape’s ability to transmit a sense of minerality (whether you believe minerality to be a myth or not, those sensations are there). This wine, a dry style of Riesling from the steep slate-rich slopes of Germany’s verdant Mosel river valley – perhaps the world’s ultimate Riesling terroir – is nothing short of a marvel. It’s a powerful wine that commands your attention, a white wine that makes a huge impact.
Weingut Kirsten’s “Wolkentanz” is not labeled with any of the traditional German nomenclature, but I’m told its residual sugar level would place it just above the legal definition for dry. This surprised me. When I first tasted this wine I thought it was a trocken (dry) wine, but such is the magic of Riesling: this wine may well have about 10-15 grams of residual sugar, and yet it is harmoniously dry thanks to its racy acidity. (Please note: In order for a wine to be labeled “trocken,” it can only have a maximum of 9 grams per liter of residual sugar.) Much of this is due to the 2015 vintage, a super-hyped year known for powerful, structured wines. This level of balance and intensity, at this price point, is not a guarantee every year. Far from it. This is pure, delicious, serious stuff!
I recently hosted a barbecue for a bunch of friends, many of them fellow sommeliers, and this wine was in the mix alongside a bunch of more “blue-chip” bottles. But this was the bottle that got drained first! It’s so lively and addicting; you just can’t stop drinking it (and at just 11% alcohol, it doesn’t knock your head off). Like many great German Rieslings, “Wolkentanz” is kind of a head fake: it isn’t ‘technically’ dry, but rather its electrifying acidity lends the perception of total dryness, swooping in on the finish to clean up the stone fruit that coats the palate.
Kirsten is run by Bernhard Kirsten, who in 1992 took over some family vineyards in the Mosel village of Klüsserath (a few clicks west of Piesport). Kirsten had done a number of winery stages in the U.S., including one at Robert Mondavi, and he now farms his 15 hectares of vines organically. “Wolkentanz” is a brilliant name for this wine: It translates roughly to “dancing on clouds,” which is Kirsten’s way of describing the sensation of the wine. (Wolkentanz, it has to be noted, was also the name of a famous dressage stallion in Germany, and damn if this wine doesn’t prance and dance like him!)
