The majestic copper mine - one of the best Riesling sites in the world.
Who visits Gut Hermannsberg and admires the spectacular view of the imposing terraces of the Kupfergrube vineyard site from our terrace without being deeply impressed? Nobody, and there’s a very good reason for that.
Gut Hermannsberg’s 30 hectares of vineyards are divided between 7 Terroirs classified Grosse Lage/”Grand Cru” by the VDP (the association to which most of Germany’s top wine producers belong). Our dry Rieslings from each of these vineyard sites taste remarkable and distinctive. Of course, it’s never easy to pick a favorite from amongst your own children, and this embarrassment of riches makes that particularly difficult. But if you ask us this question, then every member of the Gut Hermannsberg's team will answer, “Kupfergrube!” And the majority of our thousands of fans around Planet Wine see it the same way, because every year the Kupfergrube GG (Grosses Gewächs) has an intense spiciness, great tension and enormous finesse.
This situation wasn’t always as clear as it is today, but since we started maturing the Kupfergrube GG for more than a whole year on the lees (yeast deposit) in the barrel and we switched to to release at two years of age with the 2014 vintage there hasn’t been much doubt about which of Gut Hermannsberg’s stars shines the strongest. Since then, the special aromas from the volcanic melaphry soil (the correct geological name is andesite) that we like to describe as “wild herbs, smoke and grapefruit”, or just “mega mineral” became even subtler. And on the palate the flavors became calmer at heart and yet more filigree than before.
That wasn’t the last step along this path, either. From the 2017 vintage the Kupfergrube will only be released at 5 years of age as a GGR (Grosses Gewächs Reserve). To prepare for that moment, this year on the 1st September we will re-release the 2015 Kupfergrube GG at which moment it will becomes our first GGR. It will be followed by the re-release of the 2016 Kupfergrube GG as our second GGR on 1st September 2021.
WATCH THIS SPACE!
Von Stuart Pigott