Leitz Dragonstone Riesling, Rheingau 10.5%

Description

Leitz Dragonstone Riesling is a German white wine from the Rheingau region. This wine is made in a medium-dry style.

The vineyards of the prestigious Josef Leitz wine estate, in the Rheingau, are scattered around the town of Rudesheim which sits on the river Rhine. Winemaker Johannes Leitz currently runs the estate. Their vineyards in Rudesheim include Berg Schlossberg, Berg Roseneck, Berg Rotland, Magdalenenkreuz and the Drachenstein vineyard. Leitz has grown the concern from 2 hectares to over forty since taking over from his father in 1985.

The vineyards located at the Rudesheimer bend of the Rhine are warmer than the Mosel valley and most of Leitz’s vineyards sit at the prized mid-slope level. Many of the vineyards are so steep and precipitous that any spraying has to be done by helicopter. Additionally there are dense forests that protect the vineyards from the cold winters. Jancis Robinson calls Johannes Leitz “one of the absolute superstars, not just of the Rheingau, but of German wine”.

The grapes for the Leitz Dragonstone Riesling come from the Drachenstein (= dragonstone) vineyard located in the middle of Rheingau with and average age of 20 years. A fossilised dinosaur’s footprint is said to have given the vineyard its name. Quartzite rock soils gives the wine a crisp minerality, poise and elegance. The vines are trellised with the Guyot sytem and the canopy management is Leitz’s own structure. Sustainable farming practice is employed including leaf removal. The grapes undergo whole cluster pressing, overnight settling on skins and then temperature controlled fermentation in stainless steel. The wines is left on lees for 4 months and filtered via cross flow.

The label was created, alongside “EINS-ZWEI-DRY” in 2002, to bring some modernity to the range of Leitz wine and labelling and won they both won the “IF Communication Design Award 2009”.