With his brilliant (but painfully small) new releases, the legend of Peter Jakob Kühn continues to grow in the Rheingau. His only peers in German winemaking are now the likes of Egon Müller and Klaus Peter Keller.
 
The historic 2015 vintage is a showcase for Kühn’s gifts. With respective 96- and 95-point ratings from Stephan Reinhardt, his two 2015 Grosses Gewächs—Doosberg and Sankt Nikolaus—recall the great 1971 and 1975 Rheingaus.
 
Even more exciting are the just-released 2014 Schlehdorn and Landgeflecht, which receive an extra year in barrel to showcase their noble terroirs. With 98 and 97 points respectively from Reinhardt, they show why they are Kühn’s two greatest cuvées.
 
But with soaring demand and no more than 250 cases made of each wine (just 60 cases of Schlehdorn!), Kühn’s best trocken wines can be nearly impossible to find. 
 
And so we’re excited to offer a special 12-bottle assortment of these four elite wines, along with his compelling 2015 Hendelberg.

Back Story

Peter is the 11th-generation proprietor of his family's 1786 estate, having taken over in the 1970s. But it was not until the 1990s that he began to separate himself from everyone else.
 
At the time, while others in the Rheingau remained committed to sweet cuvées, Kühn moved towards making dry Rieslings from his best sites. But he didn’t stop there, removing the “safety net” of conventional farming and enological products to maximize the purity and expression of his noble lagen.
 
Through his willingness to take risks, Kühn is today making singularly profound Rieslings that explore their terroirs in a way previously unheard of in the Rheingau.

Extraordinary Expressions

Kühn tends his vineyards biodynamically, having become certified in 2005. In the cellar the wines are made as naturally as possible, with a short pre-fermentation maceration on the skins for aromatic complexity.
 
The fermentation with native yeasts and extended aging is in large oak fuder. The 20 months aging for the Doosberg and Sankt Nikolaus are unusually long for the Rheingau.
 
But Kühn is even more patient with Landgeflecht—a special selection from Doosberg’s tenderloin—and Schlehdorn, made from 80+ year old Riesling vines in the heart of Sankt Nikolaus that yield a miniscule 10 hectoliters per hectare. They both receive an unheard-of 32 months in fuder.
 
During their barrel aging, all the wines are allowed to undergo malolactic fermentation “if the wine wants it.” As Peter told David Schildknecht, this is “essential to nature completing her work and finding repose and equanimity.”
 
Peter’s minimalist touch captures with startling purity Doosberg’s power and striking minerality, as well as the full-bodied richness and finesse of Sankt Nikolaus. And Landgeflecht’s and Schledorn’s extra time on the lees in barrel results in an even more refined expression of these prime plots. In 2014 and 2015, these wines are nothing less than extraordinary.