Property: Dönnhoff
The Nahe River flows north into the Rhine at Bingen at the western end of the Rheingau. The best wines from the Nahe have been described as having the elegance of the Rheingau, the body of a Rheinhessen and the acidity of a Mosel.
There are several outstanding producers in the area, with the most celebrated being Hermann Dönnhoff. He produces some of Germany's finest Rieslings from the world-famous Niedehausen and Schlossböckelheim vineyards, as well as from the less well known Norbeim and Oberhausen vineyards.
His Kabinett and Spätlese wines are exceptionally racy wines that are rich with complex and intense mineral overtones. They are delicious when young but have the potential to improve for up to 10 years, with the top wines lasting even longer.
Indeed Helmut Dönnhoff, the Nahe’s top winemaker, rates 2007 alongside 2005, 2001, 1998 and 1990 as one of the top five years of his long career. Erni Loosen agrees about the 2007; for him it combines the powerful ripeness of 2005 with the firm and racy acidity of 2004. Others underline a similarity with 1997 and some advance 1990 as the definitive rôle model. Be that as it may, it is a matter of record that there was less botrytis (noble and especially ignoble) than the humid 2006 and resultingly small but finely formed crop of late harvest wines. Marked by their purity, precision and intensity of flavour, 2007 German Rieslings are charming now but have the concentration and structure to be wonderful for years to come.
