Dönnhoff Riesling Brut Nature 2018
The acidity stayed at the back of the throat and would not leave. The brioche was good and the acidity very good, though the palate felt hollow.
Region: Nahe · Type: Sparkling · Vintage: 2018 · Producer: Weingut Dönnhoff · Grape: Riesling
Tasted 2025-11-25
In the glass
On the nose there was a slight touch of petrol. The brioche was good, and the acidity was very good. A faint mustiness lingered. The acidity stood out, and there was no getting around a sense of the palate feeling empty. That acidity held at the back of the throat and did not leave.
Producer
Weingut Dönnhoff is a family estate in Oberhausen on the Nahe, and the first official mention of the Dönnhoff name dates back to 1761. Helmut Dönnhoff took charge of both vineyard and cellar from 1971, and the fourth generation, Cornelius Dönnhoff, now holds the reins. The estate is part of Fair'n'Green, a sustainable farming programme.
Site
The grapes for this wine come from the oldest Riesling parcels around Oberhausen on the middle Nahe, picked fully ripe and by hand. The domaine works 28ha running from Niederhausen to Schloßböckelheim, on sandstone, weathered slate and weathered volcanic rock (porphyry and melaphyre). Helmut Dönnhoff's grandfather, Hermann Dönnhoff, focused from the start on planting Riesling in prized vineyards. By the 1920s he was already filling his wines into bottles and selling the finest of them under their individual vineyard names.
Vinification
The whole bunches are pressed gently, and the first fermentation takes place in an old Doppelstückfass made of local oak. In the following spring the second fermentation begins in bottle, by the Méthode Champenoise. After ageing on the lees, the bottles are turned by hand (Remuage) and then go through Dégorgement.