PFALZ NOW: Welcome to Dry Riesling Heaven!

Text and tasting notes by Frank Ebbinghaus (FE) and Stuart Pigott (SP) - last revision 29.09.26

NOTE: This report only contains new tasting notes with the focus firmly on the 2025 Riesling GGs and 2024 Spätburgunder/Pinot Noir GGs. For additional entry level and village wines please consult the story Pfalz 2025 by Pawel Gruntowski that we published in May.

FRANK’S TAKE ON THE 2025 PFALZ GGs 

2025 is a great vintage for Rieslings from the Pfalz. The GGs (Große Gewächse) wines, which I had the opportunity to taste at the end of August at the so-called ‘preview’ organised by the VDP (Association of German Prädikat Wine Estates), in Wiesbaden. They shine with wonderfully ripe fruit aromas, superb mineral freshness, plenty of finesse and fabulous balance. Above all, most of them are already very enjoyable for this very early stage. 2025 was a warm year, but there's no reason to doubt that these dry Rieslings can age really well – one need only think of warm vintages such as 2005, 2007, 2015 or 2019. Of these, the 2025 vintage probably comes closest to 2019. In these vintages, long-living Riesling GG wines were produced in the Pfalz, many of which still give great pleasure today. So, anyone wishing to lay these wines down can do so without any worry. In a year or two they may go into a ‘closed-up’ phase, but the vast majority of them will shine anew, probably from about 5-7 years of age.

Who’s leading the way in the Pfalz? Not an easy question, given the wealth of superb wines on offer. I found the ranges from Dr. Bürklin-Wolf, A. Christmann and Ökonomierat Rebholz nothing short of sensational – wines which, whilst powerful, shine with a highly elegant style. Equally outstanding are the two GG wines from Dr. Wehrheim. The Riesling GG wines from Knipser take a completely different stylistic direction: their citrusy freshness lends the wines a lightness that belies their enormous concentration; these, too, are masterpieces. A number of estates that are often overlooked also made a strong impression: Theo Minges with his very refined Rieslings (reminiscent in style of Dr. Bürklin-Wolf), plus Acham-Magin with very sensual, expressive wines, and sophisticated traditional style of Georg Mosbacher.

It’s no accident that the Dr. Bürklin-Wolf Riesling Pechstein GG 2025 received the highest rating. On the one hand, this wine is one of the showpieces of an outstanding producer; on the other hand, the 2025 vintage produced some of the finest wines of the year in the Pfalz. This is another reason why it was a mystery to me why the von Winning winery matured its 2025 Riesling Pechstein GG in so much new oak. Of course, new oak in Riesling GGs is the winery’s trademark. And naturally, every wine lover can decide for themselves whether they like it. But other wines from von Winning at the Wiesbaden preview demonstated that they can cope much better than this with new oak. Foremost among them are the Riesling Kirchenstück Forst GG 2025, presented as a barrel sample, and the Riesling Kalkofen Deidesheim GG 2025, that was already bottled. (FE)

STUART'S VIEW OF THE BIG PICTURE

My perspective on these wines is somewhat different to Frank’s, firstly because the majority of my notes were written during tastings with the producers in the Pfalz several weeks before the VDP's GG 'Preview' in Wiesbaden. However, when I compare Frank and my notes for many of the wines we both tasted, then the similarity is almost always striking.

Frank wasn’t able to taste the Dr. Brüklin-Wolf Riesling Kirchenstück GG 2025, because this wine wasn’t presented in Wiesbaden (the production is very small). As a general rule we only publish one tasting note for each wine, however, I think it’s worth giving you Frank’s description of the Dr. Bürklin-Wolf Riesling Pechstein GG 2025: Here, the finesse of the Pfalz is taken to the extreme: a cool, delicate mineral aroma with a hint of herbs. Still closed, but you can sense this luxurious elegance with a hint of wood that tastes like milk chocolate and gives the wine a delicate creaminess. Perfect balance. The only excption to this symmetry between Frank's notes and ratings with mine was the two Dr. Wehrheim Riesling GGs, which were much more closed in Wiesbaden than when I tasted them at the winery only weeks before.

The other reason I see the wines differently to Frank is that I also tasted the young GGs of the previous decade of vintages - from 2024 back to 2015 - very intensively while working for JamesSuckling.com. This exactly coincides with the period of the current climatic situation. Prior to this lie three further decades of tasting experience, although this was of varying intensity (depending upon the projects in progress) and is therefore less somewhat systematic. This enables me to see many patterns and fashions very clearly.

In recent years there’s been a tendency for critics and somms to prefer the wines from the years with more rainfall and a cool harvest period, most notably 2021 and 2024. Part of this is that professionals have a higher tolerance for acidity and less patience with soft acidity than regular wine drinkers, many of whom prefer wines like Grauburgunderaka Pinot Grigio aka Pinto Gris because of their low acidity. The other side of this is that the majority of critics and somms are middle aged, and some of us are senior citizens. Just like regular folks many critics and somms have a tendency to nostalgia, and the wines of the 1990s - for many of us our formative period - had less body and more acidity than is the norm today. 2021 and 2024 remind us of these wines. I am intensely aware of these tendencies.

It’s worth comparing 2024 with 2025 in the Pfalz, because they were so different, and because 2024 was much less homogneous. Some great dry Rieslings made in the central Mittelhaardt section of the region where the grapes of this variety were able to reach full ripeness, resulting in enough fruit and body to give a harmony that was almost as impressive as in the 2025s from this area. See the tasting notes for Koehler-Ruprecht's 2024s below and those for Dr.Bürklin-Wolf in the story The Glass Never Lies by our colleague Tim Eichelberger forsome excellent examples. However, in the Südpfalz, the south of the region, in 2024 dry Riesling rarely reached 12% potential alcohol, and in many places about 11% was the limit. Acidities were correspondingly high and fruit aromas rather discreet. These wines rarely come close to the stunning quality of the 2025s. In contrast, Weissburgunder aka Pinot Bianco aka Pinot Blanc shone in the Südpfalz in 2024. However, 2025 was also excellent for as the GGs from Dr. Wehrheim, Ökonomierat Rebholz andBergdolt show.

Carolin Bergdolt also deserves special praise for her stunning sparkling wines. This was the most exciting row of German sprakling Sekt I can ever remember tasting, and they are all friendly in price for the quality. They deserve to be much better known and a place on many more restraurant wine lists!

PFALZ HEAVEN THAT WON'T BREAK THE BANK

Bergdolt  Pfalz  Chardonnay  Sekt Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature  2019 - 12.5% / What a compelling nose this great sparkling Chardonnay has! Perfect integration of smoky and toasty lees character with very deep candied citrus flavours. Great concentration, but the harmony is also extraordinary for a bone-dry sparkler! Dazzling finish with so much chalk and salt. Disgorged in March 2026 after six years on the lees in bottle. 97 (SP)

Dr. Bürklin Wolf  Pfalz  Riesling  Forst Village trocken  2025 – 12.5% /  You could easily mistake this village wine for a GG, thanks to its great depth and imposing stature. A cornucopia of Mirabelle plum, yellow peach and ripe apricot aromas, but not a jot loud. I love the way a cool thread lifts the wine right through the long creamy-dreamy finish. From young vines in the top sites of Forst. 96 (SP)

Dr. Wehrheim  Pfalz  Weissburgunder  Rosenberg 1G  2025 – 13.5% / The intensely smoky and flinty nose pulls you into this deep well of chalky minerality! Concentrated and compact, but this is anything other than broad, rather its coolness and focus are really exciting. Then, comes the chalky finish with its great tension between grapefruit freshness and restrained creaminess. 96 (SP)

NOTE: Only for paying subscribers the notes for all 149 wines tasted can be found below. The ratings include two wines with 100!