Roter Hang’s Hidden Gems: The Rieslings of Weingut Gunderloch.

While in the larger Wonnegau sub-region of Rheinhessen the likes of Klaus Peter Keller and Wittmann continue to produce some of Germany’s most concentrated, austere, electric dry Rieslings from limestone soils, in the smaller, more northerly sub-region of the Roter Hang, Gunderloch (VDP member) is to be found. Here, Riesling is known for producing outstanding wines with exuberant, spicy fruit, concentration, roundness, and intensity. The soils here are red, but rather different so than from other famous red vineyard soils found in Germany – such as the red slate of some spots of the Mosel and the red sandstone of parts of Franken. 

The Northern Rheinhessen Region and Roter Hang

This is explained by the fact that this part of Germany used to sit around the equator over 290 million years ago, when the soil was a desert of red sandy clay. Over time the red sandy clay was buried deep down and compressed, thus forming the famous red clayey slate of the Roter Hang. Due to the Rhine River carving deep, south-east facing cliffs between Nackenheim and Nierstein, this layer of rock was coincidentally exposed on the surface, where in many other places it is still buried deep underground. 

Notable Grosse Lage vineyards situated on this soil include the Hipping, Brudersberg, Pettenthal, and Rothenberg vineyards, all situated just on a four-kilometer-long southerly facing slope. While other vineyards in Germany also contain red slate (such as the Mosel’s Erdener Prälat, Urziger Würzgarten and Pündericher Marienburg), this is often due to volcanic activity oxidizing the grey slate and turning it red, instead of red clayey sand being compressed deep down in the earth. 

Weingut Gunderloch

Weingut Gunderloch, led as of 2015 by Johannes Hasselbach and a founding winery of the VDP, is one of the wineries that farm the Roter Hang vineyards, with holdings in the Pettenthal, Hipping, and Rothenberg vineyards. The philosophy of Gunderloch is that great wine is made in the vineyard, a line of thought they shade with many other VDP estates. The emphasis at this estate has always been on quality over quantity, resulting in consistently low yields and high quality since the estate’s first vintage in 1890. The main focus is on Riesling (85% of plantings), which is often vinified using skin contact and old oak barrels to gain extra aromatic complexity, depth and texture.

Of the 24 hectares Gunderloch owns, over half are planted on the region’s characteristic red clayey slate of the Roter Hang – resulting in almost all wines produced having the signature spicy minerality that the Roter Hang is known for. The Pettenthal vineyard often yields the most electric, fresh wine, said to be due to its particularly deep slate soil and higher altitude. The Hipping vineyard on the other hand tends to produce more exotic, full-bodied wines with it having a loamier red slate soil, and being quite sheltered from the cooling winds.

The Rothenberg is Gunderloch’s prime vineyard and crown jewel (as evidenced by their motto ‘Wir leben Rothenberg’), and tends to yield extremely mineral, spicy Rieslings with citrus and stone fruit, capable aging for a very long time in bottle. The soil here is a more clayey red slate, often yielding wines that are a tad austere and held-back in their youth but that age very gracefully, never losing their signature spicy expression. Gunderloch also produces a Trockenbeerenauslese from the Rothenberg when the vintage conditions are right, which is one of the region’s cult wines as it got 100 points from Wine Spectator three times (in 1992, 1996, and 2001) – being the first German wine ever to do so. 

Furthermore, in select vintages a Fenchelberg GG wine is made from a relatively cooler parcel located exactly on the border between Rothenberg and Pettenthal. The grapes from this site are usually blended in the Rothenberg Auslese (and sometimes the TBA), but in dry years without botrytis, and if the quality is high enough, a dry GG wine is made and auctioned off – representing the pinnacle of the winery. As only a few hundred bottles are made from this small parcel (with low yields), it is a hard wine to track down, but when considering the quality of the other GG wines, definitely worth to do so.

Future Plans and Trends

The current focus of Gunderloch is to keep their moderate alcohol levels (often only around 12%) in check in the face of the warming climate as to maintain the elegance of the wines – something they clearly accomplished in the hot vintages of 2020 and 2022 as noted below. Furthermore, while they used to seal their GG’s with screwcaps to combat cork taint issues, from the 2022 vintage on they have reverted back to corks as they found that screwcaps over the longer term gave some issues with the wines becoming too reductive. Apart from running the winery, Johannes Hasselbach is also the president of the local Rheinhessen VDP charter, with both him and his wines being excellent ambassadors of the region.

Review of the Wines

Now it is time for our review of a selection of Gunderloch’s wines. Five of them to be precise. We are starting with one of their entry level wines, ending with the top (GG) wines.

2021 Riesling vom Roter Schiefer

Entry-level Riesling made to show the effect of the red clayey slate of the Roter Hang on the wines produced. Made from young vines on the Grosse Lagen vineyards Gunderloch owns. Expressive nose, with red apple, yellow fruit, apricot, and peach fruit. Spicy notes of nutmeg are also present, as are subtle floral notes of honeysuckle. Some residual sugar is noticeable, giving the wine a fruity lift. Light-bodied and fresh. 

We reward this wine with a 87-point DWA score. Drink 2024-26.

2022 Riesling Als wär’s ein Stück von Mir

Made from a parcel of young Rothenberg vines combined with a parcel of older vines in the famous Hipping Grosse Lage, the combination of which Johannes Hasselbach selected personally as he grew fond of both parcels during the early days of his work at the winery. The younger Rothenberg vines give the wine a fruit-forward, ripe style, whereas the older Hipping vines give the wine an element of depth and concentration. This wine balances both its components beautifully, giving a wine that is both accessible and sophisticated. Intense nose of honey, red apple, lemon, Jasmin, yellow pear, white peach, cinnamon and wet stone. Medium bodied, with high, ripe acidity giving the wine a lot of freshness. Long finish. ‘Als wär’s ein stück von mir’ translates into ‘as if it was a piece of me’, expressing how fond Johannes is of this bottling. We agree with this fondness, and love this unique expressing of the Roter Hang. Very attractively priced for the quality. 

We reward this wine with a 91-point DWA score. Drink 2024-32.

2021 Niersteiner Erste Lage Riesling

Made from Pettenthal and Hipping fruit, all from steep slopes. Bit closed on the nose, even after a few minutes in the glass, suggesting it needs some more time to unwind. Intense wet stone mineral note. Good intensity on the palate, showing apricot, Jasmin, nutmeg, clove, nectarine, honeysuckle, peach, bread dough, smoke, orange peel, and wet stone. Bit of a phenolic touch due to the skin contact, adding structure and weight. The intense fruit flavours and weight are balanced by round and ripe acidity giving freshness. Very typical of the Roter Hang and village of Nierstein. Electric freshness. Could easily pass as a Grosses Gewächs of other producers. 

We reward this wine with a 91-point DWA score. Drink 2024-36.

2020 Niersteiner Pettenthal Riesling

The Pettenthal vineyard is known for very deep, pure red slate. This wine is made from the parcels higher up the hill, where the soils tend to be the poorest and steepest. The wine is just starting to open up a bit after over two years in bottle, with intense honeydew melon, peach, smoke, apricot, ripe yellow fruit, bread dough, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon oil notes being present. Structured with high, ripe acidity, and a very long finish. Some skin contact was used for this wine, helping to create an even more intense aromatic expression and adding some subtle tannin and structure to the wine. Unique expression of Riesling. Made to last, will improve further over time. 

We reward this wine with a 93-point DWA score. Drink 2025-40.

2022 Nackenheimer Rothenberg Riesling

The Rothenberg is Gunderloch’s most prized possession, highlighted by their motto ‘Wir leben Rothenberg’, and due to this wine, we can see why. Intense smoky, mineral nose with herbal nuances such as liquorice and lemongrass. Ripe apricot, Jasmin, apple blossom, yellow apple and pear – with bread dough notes also being present on the palate, all with immense concentration. Almost like tasting a wet stone. Firm acid structure and round body, with some funky native yeast notes present on due to the wine being very young. Extremely long and complex finish. Has the potential to age for a very long time. 

We reward this wine with a 95-point DWA score. Drink 2028-52.

Celebrating the Distinctive Elegance and Depth of Roter Hang Rieslings

To conclude, we look back on tasting a unique and impressive selection of Roter Hang Rieslings. The wines were unlike other Rieslings we have tried before, and effortlessly express their unique place and soil type. The hallmarks of spicy, ripe yellow fruit combined with a floral lift and round acidity carried through to all the wines and seems to be the signature of this interesting spot in the Rheinhessen. Weingut Gunderloch in our opinion makes some of the best examples of this style, producing wines that are both elegant and fresh, but with great concentration and depth. Highly recommended!

This article is written by our own Martin Bronkhorst. The wines of Gunderloch are exported to a number of foreign markets and well distributed. In the Netherlands their wines can be bought through Anfors Imperial. Additionally, the wines can be bought directly at the estate. We would like to thank the team of Anfors Imperial for providing the wines tasted.

Picture credits: VDP (www.vdp.de), Weingut Gunderloch and Peter Bender.