1921 Schloss Johannisberg Riesling Auslese

The oldest wine reserves in the treasure chamber of Schloss Johannisberg go back to the year 1748.

‘Grapes have been growing here for more than 1200 years,’ says Stefan Doktor, pointing down the slope where only Riesling grapes have been planted since 1720. From here, at Schloss Johannisberg in the Rheingau, you can look down to the south at Geisenheim and an industrial area from the 20th century. Behind it flows the Rhine, behind it lies Ingelheim. It is from there that Charlemagne is said to have discovered today's Johannisberg – long before the famous ‘Riesling’ existed.

‘Even back then, our hillside had the striking advantage of melting snow earlier than the surrounding area,’ explains Doktor. It shows what the best, often “elegant” white wines need to mature: a cool climate that still provides sufficient warmth. Germany has it.

Doktor runs the oldest Riesling vineyard in the world, which Heinrich Heine once wrote about: ‘Mon Dieu. If only I had so much faith in myself that I could move mountains, the Johannisberg would be the one mountain I would have followed everywhere.’

‘Even back then, our slope had the distinct advantage of melting snow earlier than in the surrounding area,’ explains Doktor. It shows what the best, often “elegant” white wines need to mature: a cool climate that still provides sufficient warmth. Germany has it.

Doktor runs the oldest Riesling vineyard in the world, which Heinrich Heine once wrote about: ‘Mon Dieu. If only I had so much faith in myself that I could move mountains, the Johannisberg would be the very mountain that I would have followed me everywhere.’

‘I don't want to manage, I want to create,’ says the manager. Just as in 2017, when Doktor rearranged the Riesling range for the new vintages and invented the “Goldlack” for the most expensive dry wine. At the same time, he knows the value of old wine, ideally in old bottles and from his own stocks. Visitors to the Bibliotheca Subterranea at Schloss Johannisberg can see what this means: an estimated 25,000 bottles from four centuries are stored there.

‘With old wines, people can taste history,’ says Doktor with audible enthusiasm. No other product makes it possible in the same way to revive the weather in a particular year or past moments such as the harvest or pressing – by bringing them to the palate.

Every maturing process is unique, has a ‘magic’ and is a ‘mystery,’ says Doktor. The prerequisite for exclusive enjoyment is ‘homeopathic doses.’ Only a very few treasures should be brought to the public. Behind this is a typical strategy of the luxury goods industry: to make the best of what you have scarce in order to sell it at the highest possible prices on suitable occasions. The record for Schloss Johannisberg is held by a bottle of semi-dry wine from 1920. It was auctioned in February 2020 for 18,000 euros.

There are several possible reasons for the liquid legend: an unusually hot summer in 1921 destroyed a large part of the Riesling harvest, which meant a shortage. But the small harvest was particularly ripe, and therefore rich in sugar and aromatic. It was used primarily in Beerenauslese wines and – partly for the first time – in Trockenbeerenauslese wines. It was not uncommon at the time for wine to be aged in wooden barrels for several years. At the same time, it was due to inflation: bottling only took place when the monetary value appeared stable again.

Unique taste experience

The development led to the Maximin Grünhaus vineyard on the Moselle selling 1000 litres of its 1921 Herrenberger Trockenbeerenauslese to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York for an astronomical 100,000 (dollar-based) ‘Goldmark’. Even after the Second World War, when Germany's reputation was completely tarnished, the 1921 vintage still led the price lists. This is shown by a wine list from the Shamrock, a luxury hotel in Houston that was important at the time. The Johannisberger Beerenauslese cost 40 dollars – four times more than the most expensive Bordeaux, a 1937 Haut-Brion.

In addition to the climatic conditions and social circumstances of a hundred years ago, the pressing and storage of the wine were determined by three further factors that are often discussed today and are once again playing a role in many wineries: firstly, so-called spontaneous fermentation with free-living yeast fungi – not with industrially manufactured yeasts, which became common in the mid-20th century. Secondly, the fermentation takes place in wooden barrels, not in steel tanks. And thirdly, the wine is aged for several years – with time as a form of investment.

The brilliant history of this wine and the failed tasting of its predecessor moved Stefan Doktor at the end of the anniversary year 2021 to take another bottle of 1921 out of the treasure trove and open it for the author. He declared almost festively: ‘The decision is driven by the desire to bring a perfect product from the past into the present, and also to possibly learn something for the future.’

The Riesling from 1921

The tasting started promisingly: the old bottle was easy to open with the waiter's tools, the cork having been replaced 40 years ago. A 2020 Johannisberger Riesling was served to rinse the glasses.

Then the moment arrived: the 100-year-old flowed from the bottle – clear and amber-coloured! Its bouquet is rich in fruity aromas. At 6 o'clock sharp, with the bells of St. Johannes Chapel, the 1921 vintage was brought to the mouth.

From the outset, a wide range of fruits could be tasted: tangerine compote, orange and lemon peel. Dried apricots, raisins, apple and mango, all on a light yeast dough – put together by a talented pastry chef. There is also a hint of bergamot, like in Earl Grey tea, a little liquorice, cinnamon, tobacco leaves, dark chocolate and caramel with a little salt.

‘We drink a Beerenauslese that was sweet, but which we no longer perceive as sweet today, even though the sugar is still in the wine. This gives it a creamy, oily texture,’ explains Stefan Doktor. ’The acidity that dominates young Rieslings is a great blessing. It keeps the wine fresh.’

Bitter notes soon emerge, but never unpleasantly so. There is also the subtle spiciness of a chilli pepper. Even cabbage flavours: the stump of a broccoli, the taste of kimchi. And smoked, fatty fish. This is umami – a concept that was completely unknown a hundred years ago.

All of it fits together, in balance. What is particularly impressive is that the taste develops even after the mouth has long been empty. After a few minutes, mint envelops the fruit. ‘It's the essential oils that, in combination with oxygen, first released the citrus aromas,’ says Doktor. It is a finish that lingers on the palate for hours. This 1921 vintage was, as hoped, unique in its own way, with countless flavours. And, according to Doktor, ‘it will certainly remain beautiful for decades to come’.

Incidentally, it is not only the aromas that have stood the test of time at Johannisberg, but also old obligations: even today, a tenth of the proceeds are still transferred here to the former Austrian imperial family of Habsburg. In modern terms, it is ‘a dividend in cash’, no longer in barrels, as promised by Klemens von Metternich in 1816 after Emperor Franz I gave him Schloss Johannisberg as a gift.

Since the end of the 19th century, the prices of white top wines from Germany were on a par with or even higher than those of red wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy.