Domane Serrig Vogelsang Grosse Lage 2020 (750ML)

100 WA / 100 DB / 97 JS / 96 VM

#46 James Suckling's Top 100 German Wines of 2023

The 2020 Vogelsang Grosse Lage is pure, deep and intense on the spectacularly fine, mineral and absolutely unique nose that reveals concentrated but elegant and spicy-mineral fruit with a coolish and herbal terroir expression. A show-stopping nose! On the palate, this is a medium to full-bodied, dense, rich and intense but also refined and vibrantly fresh Saar Riesling with a tight structure and a spectacularly long, refined and saline finish that reveals a serious tannin structure. The wine reveals great astringency on the finish that indicates tremendous aging potential, the more so since the balance and classicism of this Serrig Riesling is based on about 12 grams of residual sugar. This is a wine made for decades and a new benchmark for dry-tasting Saar Rieslings. 12% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted in September 2023. - - Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate

(100% Riesling; from a grand cru vineyard in the Saar; from a legendary estate built by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1904 on the incredibly steep slate slopes of the Saar river valley; 10 g/l of residual sugar, acidity of 8 g/l; 12% alcohol). 1st release and exclusively via la place de Bordeaux. A little fuller in colour with a hint of gold alongside the Kabinett’s silver highlights. Wow. Richer, more profound, yet more complex and with spicier and waxier notes alongside the flintstone, slate and whetstone minerality. Yuzu, white grapefruit, white currant, mandarin and assorted confit and preserved citrus notes, saffron too. I love the wild herbal undertones – again, oregano but joined here by lemon thyme, marjoram and a hint of verbena too. The intensity on the attack is utterly amazing and it takes a moment to hone in on it – it comes as a shock that you can’t quite prepare yourself for, even as you return to the glass. So incredibly tense and intense, almost a little fore-square and with the parameters and extremities of the pure dense compact block of fruit that is at the centre of this outlined by the most gracious and tender of gentle tannins. Wondrously vibrant, explosively dynamic and alive, charged with energy and a brilliant crystallinity. 10 g/l of residual sugar that is entirely imperceptible (the citrus intensity is so great here that one might be forgiven for thinking the residual sugar were higher in the Kabinett). Quite simply brilliant and utterly unique. Eternal on the finish – the vanishing point is well over the next horizon! One of the most exciting wines I have tasted in recent years. I have goosepimples all over; a wine to heighten one’s senses. - Colin Hay, Drinks Business

Super-cool and youthful for the hot and dry 2020 vintage, with a wide spectrum of aromas from damp moss to pink grapefruit plus notes of fresh thyme and white flowers. Staggering vibrancy on the medium-bodied palate that’s very focused, the concentration of wet stone minerality and lime character climbing precipitously at the very long, tensile finish. Drink or hold. - James Suckling

The 2020 Riesling Serriger Vogelsang Grosse Lage opens with immediate green apple and Mirabelle perfume, laced with gentle citrus and a youthful, fresh overtone of hayflowers. The body is exquisitely light mad slender, still prickling with the slightest residual carbon dioxide, displaying overtones of pineapple from the warm 2020 summer on its taut, mouth-watering and elegant body. Slaty verve and tension point to depth on this vertical, full- flavored yet exquisitely light wine with its lasting finish that echoes with salt, lemon zest and slate. Absolutely strait-laced and elegant. (Bone-dry) -- Anne Krebiehl MW, Vinous Media

"The two 2020s—Kabinett and Grosse Lage (Grand Cru), which were handpicked, pressed on the basket press, fermented spontaneously and aged in large wooden barrels—are of terrific quality and style, suggesting that wines will continue to be made here that can rival those of Egon Müller in quality, the previous untouchable icon not only of the Saar but of all Germany. It is probably not exaggerated to assume that here in the cool Saar, a completely renewed German Riesling flagship is just setting course." - Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate 

We’re delighted to offer two of Markus Molitor's new wines from his iconic single-vineyard in the Saar valley, Domäne Serrig. The wines come from the vertiginous slopes of the Vogelsang monopole. This former Prussian state-owned property was established by Emperor Wilhelm II in 1904. It served as an example of best practice viticulture for the Saar region until it went into decline, along with many other German state domains, by the 1970s and was eventually privatized at the end of the 1980s. The potential of its singular and exceptional terroir remained largely unfulfilled.