Weingut Bianka & Daniel Schmitt
2018
Riesling
Riesling
Rheinhessen, Germany

As a 200-year old family winery in the southern part of Rheinhessen, called Wonnegau, they first switched to organic farming in 2010. After they converted everything to biodynamic, the son Daniel and his wife Bianka took over. At a workshop with French "vin nature" icon Julien Meyer they were infected with the natural wine virus and, in 2013, started making their own range of “Naturwein.” With 16 hectares of wine yards, they are one of the more significant natural wine producers and have made continuously very drinkable and stable wines. With them, a whole new group of winemakers is making Rheinhessen an exciting wine region once again, after being neglected for a long time.

From a multi-layered soil type with limestone, silt, and loam, this white wine has everything you want from an easy to drink wine with enough complexity. After the harvest, it was directly pressed and put into big 1200 liter oak barrels to ferment spontaneously and age for one year without any additives. It was filled straight into the bottle, and as you might have noticed, it's the first screwcap bottle we've featured. The result is one of my favorite natural Rieslings in Germany. With its slight creaminess, it still has quite a bit of exotic fruitiness. This wine works with many foods from lentils to the usual Asian cuisines, which Riesling is perfect for.

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