Wine, Vibe and Gesang

The other night, I was drinking one of my current favorite wines. Guess what: A white. Guess what again: A Riesling!

Gernot Kollmann, known to the wine geek as former winemaker for Roman Niewodniczanski's Van Volxem (another one of my favorites), has revived a once-famous estate called Immich-Batterieberg in the Mosel Region. The estate's few hectares are planted with Riesling — and Riesling only. The name originates from the unusual way the main vineyard was brought to life: Batterieberg (German for "cannon hill") was man-built using canon fire in order to achieve optimal exposition.

Kollmann's wines are razor-sharp, although not analytically dry. Prominent but ripe acid builds the backbone of the 2010 "C.A.I."(a tribute to the original founder, Carl August Immich) in my glass, which is accompanied by lemon, lime and very clear slate minerality. A real pleasure to drink, especially at 10 % vol.!

By the way, you can get an idea of Gernot Kollmann's wines at a tasting event in Munich called WineVibes. Klick the link for more information and tickets.