2017 Gunther Steinmetz Brauneberger Riesling Mosel Germany 750 ml

“Make no mistake,” Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate advised regarding today’s producer. “Here is one of the Mosel’s top emerging talents.” High praise, considering that when it comes to brisk, bone-dry white wines, Germany’s spectacular Mosel region has few equals for complexity and verve.

The Mosel boasts, hands down, the world’s most prized Riesling terroir for good reason. Yet the amount of history, authenticity, and craftsmanship Mosel Riesling delivers for the dollar is nearly unparalleled in the world of wine. This “gorgeous” 92-point, single-vineyard 2017 Brauneberger from Günther Steinmetz is the latest example, and it’s so delicious (and so deliciously priced), we had to put employee purchase limits on our small, 45-case allocation.

Opulent and complex while finishing dry, its gripping acidity jolts your palate to life with each sip. Heady aromas of ripe apricot and yellow peach open into a spice-laden palate, dusted with a seasoning of clove, sage, and mint. “Vital and vibrant,” according to the Wine Advocate, a core of yellow stone fruit lends a textural kiss of viscosity on the back end, which is then wiped clean with a wave of refreshing acidity. The finish takes you by surprise in its lingering complexity with its hints of flint, smoke, and citrus rind.

Günther Steinmetz is headquartered in Brauneberg, where proprietor Stefan Steinmetz has run the estate since he was 18 years-old. Stefan has become known by the critics as a genius with old vines, with the Wine Advocate going as far as to call him “a master of stylistically-distinctive and ridiculously under-priced gems, several of which the word ‘intro-level’ cannot be used without scare quotes.” Hear, hear.

His 2017 Brauneberger is one such gem, from a site that is one of the region's oldest. The vineyard is planted on the Mosel's famously precarious slopes and composed of grey, brown, blue, and purple slate stone with rocky influences of quartz and lava. It delivers wines that Stefan describes as salty, vibrant, and very minerally with great acidic structure.  

Stefan loves to point to the mansion that sits in the middle of the vineyard, which belonged to a mad scientist in the 1920s. Impressed by the mineral content in the soils, the eccentric tried to create artificial diamonds by digging deep into the rock around the vineyards using huge, hydraulic presses that still remain in caverns behind the manor. The technology, unfortunately, wasn’t as advanced as his imagination, and he went crazy trying to make jewels out of the dirt.

Luckily, the Steinmetz family had better luck, making lasting gems of their own. Stefan remains inspired by a 1958 bottle from this very site, which his father made—and enjoyed with relish just before he passed away in 1999.

Which is why it meant something when Stefan described 2017 as one of the finest vintages for his estate in 30 years. Yields were way down, which means he only produced his entry-level wines and top reserve bottlings. Reserving nothing for his middle range gave an additional quality boost to this Brauneberger Riesling.

For the money, we’re hard-pressed to think of another wine with the ability to awaken the senses with the gravitas of the 2017 Brauneberger—it’s the ultimate spring wine that you’ll want to keep on hand all summer to enjoy with seafood, spicy noodles, or just on its own while revisiting your favorite book.

The Wine Advocate describes Günther Steinmetz’s range as “highly distinctive, gastronomically versatile wines are well worth any Riesling lover’s attention.” Indeed, Riesling fans will adore this overachiever, yet it will also find a rapt audience with any lovers of bracing, mineral-driven whites.