The "Other" Kirchspiel
2010 Keller Riesling Kirchspiel "RR"
A Single Parcel Sourced from a .33-Hectare Site
"If you have access to the 2010 RR, do not miss it!" - John Gilman, View from the Cellar
Well, here is your access - at the lowest and only price in the nation we might add.
This is a wine we brought in last year and it's taken on a bit of a life of its own. As it should - this really is one of the more unique bottles in the Keller arsenal.
The "RR" is an outlier.
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Klaus Peter in his cellar |
Among a collection of bottles that to some extent define what Riesling grown in limestone soils can achieve, the "RR" is sourced from a unique, small, red-soil plot within the Kirchspiel Vineyard. This is a tiny island of color surrounded by the pure yellow limestone that makes up the rest of the site, and from which the famed Grosses Gewachs is sourced.
As you know, Riesling is incredibly sensitive to its surroundings and thus the "RR" has a much different voice than the regular Kirchspiel GG. The fruit is darker, more glazed and complex with notes of petrol and mint - in some vintages the nose can recall a sense of dark-sweet pungency, stones and moist earth, even tobacco and clay. If the nose is almost brooding and mysterious, on the palate this wine is full-bodied yet fierce, with Keller's signature glossy acids, sharp definition and simply superb length.
The "RR" is most often fermented spontaneously and allowed to find its own balance, thus it can have a bit more residual sugar then the GG and displays a profound push and pull between acidity and sweetness.
The rigorous acidity of 2010 seems to have played very well into the general style of the "RR" - first, the deep, richness of the wine offers an excellent buffer for the acidity, rounding it out and polishing and styling it. Second, the extra residual sugar provides for a more gentle balance...
...which is why Gilman's notes, below, speak as if this is the best Kirchspiel "RR" that Keller has ever produced. It may be - only time will tell.
Time, however, will not be kind to the quantities available. The Kirchspiel "RR" is sourced from a .33-hectare parcel (that's one-third of a hectare) and if my notes are correct, only about 1,500 bottles are made.
Please give us your maximum request and we'll do the best we can to allocate fairly. Please note all orders are subject to confirmation.
To order, email us at offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Stephen Bitterolf
Wine Director
Crush Wine & Spirits
2010 Keller Riesling Kirchspiel "RR"
View from the Cellar: "The 2010 Riesling “RR” is also outstanding this year. The wine offers up a simply brilliant bouquet of blood orange, wild yeasts, pink grapefruit, petrol, wonderfully complex soil tones and a floral topnote redolent of lemon blossoms. On the palate the wine is deep, fullbodied, very pure and brilliantly complex, with a superb core of fruit, ripe, perfectly integrated acids and simply stunning length and grip on the dancing finish. As I tasted this stunning RR, I imagined that this was a fine harbinger for the quality of the Hubacker this year, and indeed, it is probably the best vintage I have ever tasted for that particular Grosses Gewächs bottling! If you have access to the 2010 RR, do not miss it! 2011-2030+."