95-96 Points The Wine Advocate
The 2021 Kalkofen Riesling trocken VDP. Grosse Lage comes from the plateau above Deidesheim and owes its density and complexity to 65-year-old vines growing on sandstone and limestone. The must is fermented spontaneously in 500-liter oak barrels, and the wine is maturing on the lees. The brilliantly clear and radiant sample opens with a deep, intense and elegant, still oaky but complex and fruit-intense bouquet that gives rise to the highest hopes. Rich and intense but also fresh and elegant on the palate, this is a full-bodied, mineral and textured Kalkofen that obviously wants to be a Meursault or Montrachet yet with the weapons of Riesling and also Buntsandstein. Whatever it is, this is an excellent and promising Kalkofen whose development and capacity I'd love to follow for at least a decade. The wine is dense and tight but also fresh and juicy and provided with very fine tannins and sustainable mineral acidity. Highly promising indeed. Tasted as a barrel sample at the domaine in Deidesheim in November 2022.