Gernot Kollmann runs an estate with 1,100 years of history and he has brought it back to prominence by making wines like they did way back when: namely, with zero manipulation; clear terroir expression; and a focus on dry styles of Riesling.
Prior to his purchase of historic Immich-Batterieberg, Kollmann’s decades of experience with some of the Mosel’s finest wine estates gave him the tools to craft great Riesling, as will become clear with your first sip of his 2016 “Detonation” Riesling Trocken. It has power, elegance, and incredible mineral vibrancy, with a mixture of energy and depth that speaks to the generosity of the 2016 growing season. As German wine importer/impresario Terry Theise so colorfully put it: “2016 does not appear to have a dark side...it is almost never not delicious, almost never ungainly, unbalanced or unappealing. I can hardly remember a more adorable vintage.” And if you haven’t yet experienced the stunningly complex dry whites of Immich-Batterieberg—a forgivable oversight, given its generally limited supply in the US—this is the perfect wine with which to get acquainted. I can’t emphasize enough how stellar a value this wine is, and I don’t know when we’ll be able to get more—so don’t miss it!
This historic estate—one of Mosel’s oldest—was founded by a Carolingian monastery in the year 911 and its peculiar hyphenated name took shape over the course of centuries. The Immich family purchased the property in the late 1400s and centuries of traditional, family-run winemaking followed. During the mid-1800s, one of their descendants, Carl August Immich, was looking to expand their vineyards, so he set his sights on a barren hillside. In order to ready it for vine cultivation, he fired a gunpowder-filled battery into the steep slope. After five years of bombardment, the hillside was ready for plantation and the terraced “Batterieberg” (“Battered Mountain”) vineyard was born, along with the estate’s current name: Immich-Batterieberg. Sadly, in 1989, the property was sold off and nearly everything traditional about the estate was dropped in order to create a modern style. The consequence? Immich-Batterieberg filed for bankruptcy in 2007. Two year later, Gernot Kollmann arrived on the scene and purchased the defunct property with the help of two investors. With previously held positions at Dr. Loosen, Van Volxem, and Knebel, Gernot quickly restored Immich-Batterieberg’s original practices and is now making serious noise in the Mosel!
Thanks to a wildly successful growing season, the 2016 vintage is the first release of “Detonation”—an homage to trigger-happy demolitions expert Carl August Immich. Most of Kollmann’s vineyard plots house ancient, ungrafted vines, and while some estate-owned fruit is blended into this bottling, the majority is handpicked and purchased from steep, sustainably farmed growing sites around the idyllic towns of Drohn and Oberemmeler. In the winery, grapes ferment on their indigenous yeasts and age on their lees predominantly in large neutral casks, though some stainless steel is used. Wines are never chaptalized (i.e. augmented with the addition of sugar) and they are always bottled with minimal additions of sulfur—an uncommon trait for Mosel.
“Detonation” shines star-bright in the glass, with a straw-yellow core and neon green reflections leading out to a silver-tipped rim. Thanks to Immich-Batterieberg’s return to purity, perfumed aromatics pour out: white peach flesh, ripe and just-cut yellow apples, lime blossoms, Meyer lemon, grapefruit zest, crushed rock and oyster shells, green mango skin, honeysuckle, white flowers, sour salt, and a subtle presence of gunflint. It’s impressive display of aromatics blends right into the rip-roaringly vibrant palate. You can expect a incredibly precise mouthfeel with rounded fruits and an electric jolt of minerality that leads to a dry, lip-smacking finish. The level of freshness is astounding, which gives a nod to both the vineyard and skilled, inoffensive hand in the winery. Pop and pour if enjoying now and allow it to rest in your glass 15 minutes prior to drinking. This will be a wonderful experience over the next five years and with proper storage, I see it going even longer. Whip up the attached green mango thai salad and feel free to ditch the protein if you want a squeaky clean pairing. Enjoy!
