all the Diel

This is all the wines from Schlossgut Diel I could get my hands on out of local stocks.

• 2021 Schlossgut Diel Riesling Nahesteiner 92 Points

  Germany, Nahe

  (7/7/2024)

  12% abv. AP 04. 52° F. NOSE: sharply assertive with sliced lemon and stone quarry; dagger-shaped shards of rock; unfolding readily with sensations of ripe drupe and orchards in bloom. Serious presence; classical; mouthwatering. MOUTH: a picture of authority and proper manners. Such clarity of flavor is remarkable with this robust fullness and texture, kinetic as it may be. Amusing sweet sensations of apple filet, green grape, and fallen lemons lead to a finish quite grippy and dry. It's a durable, elegant bitterness and it vacates the richness quota entirely—pointing directly at food to pair with. Good acidity, deeply saturated in molar teeth, aloft throughout the minutes surrounding each drink. Very sheer layers of herb and salt complete the origin story. New cuvée for me, cautiously 92+.
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  Dispatched far more quickly than I expected. The last pour is a pool of inspiring flavor. If the room is 82° F, the drink is 70° F, so it tastes cool. Flooviating with mineral perfume. Quenching in a woolen, didactic way.

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• 2021 Schlossgut Diel Burg Layen Riesling trocken 93 Points

  Germany, Nahe

  (7/7/2024)

  12% abv. AP 16. Infantile. Sharply dry. Ambitious aromatic constraint. 93+
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  24 hours later, resealed, fridged—often I find this degree of completion and balance risks sanitary disinterest. This is the exception. Why should it be? There's lots of striking, impulsive lemon and scree. There's plenty of flattering texture. There's convincing ambient notes of peach orchard in front of lime/rose/blueberry/ginger. It's a refined, hissing brew. Punctual stone bitterness leaves a place for food to fill. Tuned, brittle marine salts animate the finish, alive with acidity.

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• 2018 Schlossgut Diel Rosé de Diel 88 Points

  Germany, Nahe

  (7/13/2024)

  Pinot Noir. 12.5% abv. AP 06. EYE: a shimmer of gas pearls inside the pour. Color is pale, showing orange with acidity and still a degree of green vigor. NOSE: pleasant cake frosting vibe leads to shaded quarry, sliced melon, and salted lemon/orange filet. MOUTH: broad, quenching, showing some interesting development in flavor from bottle age. Acidity is typical of German 2018s (of any variety) in that it seeps from the fabric and does not lead the event. This leaves room for Pinot Noir root bitterness to play a role. Sweetness plays a role too, on the margins, and constrained by sour stone structure.
  With spicy squid ink spaghetti it is a great pairing. (Güeyu Mar, Rustichella, Cobanero chili flakes, butter, garlic stems)

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• 2013 Schlossgut Diel Riesling Reserve Extra Brut 94 Points

  Germany, Nahe

  (7/16/2024)

  Extra Brut. Disgorged 12/2020. 12% abv. AP 36(20).
  NOSE: tells immediately of two sides, red apple and biscuit crust. Immediately these join and separate like colliding galaxies, strewing across the gravitational field a broad elaboration of impacted pome/piña, lemon, graham cracker, strawberry blossom, clover, and shaded mineral spring.
  MOUTH: precision in elegant, translucent sheets of texture lead to an immediate and utterly seamless campaign of dynamic, boot-rattling flavor. It's a paradox of movement and etching. A weeping cataract of sunset and flame red-orange acid plants deeply and durably, building until it punctures the terminal horizon. This dramatic flavor action traces perfectly 2013 lower-Nahe Riesling.
  SUM: pretty astonishing. I'll have to find at least a few more bottles.
  
  Think about the duality of origin and preservation. With less profound juice, long cycles of age—especially sur latte—can tend to bury original flavor; all toast and no jam. This is not the situation here!

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• 2013 Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Brut Nature 95 Points

  Germany, Nahe

  (7/17/2024)

  Brut Nature. Disgorged 12/2022. 12% abv. AP 70(22).
  NOSE: impacted whole lemon manifested in brittle brioche.
  MOUTH: chiseled restraint; intense, pinpoint acidity; mint/almond; partridge fat; corseted salt structures. The finish is almost ridiculous in terms of delicacy, durability, and tension.
  SUM: the unleashed pleasure of Diel's 2013 Riesling Réserve Extra Brut eclipses this on an emotional level, but this is a more accomplished wine, a fact that will be obvious as it ages. Drink again after 2025 and through 2033. 95+

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This series was a revelation.