2021 Weingut Julg Sonnenburg Riesling Grosses Gewachs

Region: Pfalz, Germany

Grape: Riesling

Culinary Suggestions: Salt & Pepper Calamari, Tamarind Prawn, Vietnamese Salads, Grilled Fish

Vineyard Practice: Organic

About

Oskar Jülg wanted to produce his own wines. Wines as he knew them from France, but could not find them in the region: dry instead of sweet and quality instead of mass. That is why he founded the Jülg winery in 1961 with his wife Erika and threw many valid doctrines overboard as a career changer.

Already in the 1960s, Oskar planted vines from Burgundy, which provide smaller, but more flavorful grapes. Today, these vines are just the right age, have deep roots and form the basis for great wines. - Julg Website

Fast forward to today.

Johannes is the third generation and enthusiastically took over the 20ha estate in 2010, after 7 years of experience working at Keller, Clemens Busch and Clos des Lambrays amongst others. Johannes is an energetic, deep-thinking and enthusiastic vigneron. He has no recipe for any wine, but he prefers to listen and watch, and follow what nature, the vines and the soils dictate. His soils vary from limestone to red sandstone, including blends of both. The sites on the French side of the border are part of Northern Alsace, and those on the German side are in the Pfalz. The wines are all estate grown by Jülg and labelled as such. His Rieslings are a masterclass in texture. A strong belief in phenolic ripeness and gentle extraction (by feet!), as well as the use of both stainless steel and old oak results in wines of purity and honesty that provide bright expressions of their terroir. These wines are more Germanic than Alsatian in style, laced with minerality and tense acid backbones. Similarities can more easily be drawn with the wines of the Rheinhessen than with the more geographically proximate Alsace. - Importer Note