(Manfred Klimek)

There are a few, rarely recurring moments in a wine connoisseur’s life that quietly bring you to your knees – humility and reverence. Without a single bell, without a drum roll, without the excessive fanfare that is heaped upon so many trivialities of our time.
Quite simply: you sit there, looking at the bottles – and realise that you are witnessing an achievement that ought not really to be possible.

One such moment is Stefan Steinmetz’s 2024 collection of dry Rieslings.

No other collection of dry Rieslings on the Moselle – indeed, probably in the whole of Germany – possesses this radical breadth, this incredible depth, this almost biblical variety of styles. It’s as if someone had passed the entire Moselle through a prism and bottled each refraction in its own bottle. And we’re not even talking about the four fruit-forward wines, Steinmetz’s impressive collection of red single-vineyard Burgundies, or his three to four experimental wines each year (more on those next Sunday in *WELT am SONNTAG*)

Steinmetz is – like Markus Molitor – a winemaker who does not simply bottle the vineyards, but reveals them. Lays them bare.
Yet he does so not in a calculated way, but with brutal honesty. Without smoothing out the style, without the slightest arbitrariness.
Here, every vineyard is a document of reality in its own right.

All this with a precision so absurdly precise that one almost forgets that wine is made by humans at all.

Let’s get started

1 – Brauneberger Riesling 2024

The estate’s most reliable Riesling – and in 2024 with a straightforward precision that comes across as almost insultingly confident.
Less stone fruit than usual, but a wonderfully clear, juicy quince, gooseberry, a hint of kohlrabi, a touch of bay leaf on the edge, rosehip as a delicate finishing note – and then those famous slatey mineral notes, like a final full stop on the finish.
11.5% alcohol, 4 g sugar.

2 – Wintricher Riesling 2024

Definitely creamier than the Brauneberger.
White peach, acacia blossom, plus a homeopathic dose of yellow pepper, poppy and a whole meadow full of herbs. More fruit sweetness, more juice, less salt – a Riesling with a broad chest and open arms.
10.5%, 7 g sugar.

3 – Brauneberger Juffer Kabinett (dry) 2024

A Kabinett verging on a bone-dry wine – and therefore a Kabinett for adults.
Yellow plum, white peach, a hint of blue plum. Lime and lemongrass like a fresh blade.
9.5% alcohol, 6 g sugar, 9.5 g acidity.
The ideal wine for Asian cuisine – and for people who think a Kabinett can’t be taken seriously.

4 – Drohner Hofberger Gewanne ‘Kandel’ 2024

Plenty of body.
One of the ‘big’ Rieslings in this collection – rich, full of power, with deep, robust slate minerality.
Massive fruit, the herbal notes almost gone, no hint of vegetable notes – a Riesling that pairs well with roasts without being overpowered.
12.5% alcohol, 1 g sugar.

5 – Brauneberger Juffer ‘GB’ 2024

Bready, powerful, full of stone fruit and greengage.
Great spice.
A Riesling with depth and a long-term perspective.
12.5% alcohol, 1.6 g sugar.
The great Brauneberger, and it knows it.

6 – Zeltinger Sonnenuhr ‘GZ’ 2024

More nut, pear, apricot, dark mint, pink grapefruit.
A Riesling like a knife’s edge: sharp, long, sinewy.
12.5% alcohol, 2.3 g sugar.

7 – Wintricher Geierslay “GW” 2024

Refined, elegant, higher in alcohol – yet with the silkiest texture in the entire collection.
Green pepper, wet pebbles, a mountain stream – a Riesling as if distilled from cool morning air.
13% alcohol, 3.4 g sugar.

8 – Wintricher Ohligsberg “GW” 2024

Closely related to the Geierslay – but with more body, more depth and less delicacy.
A hint of chives that makes it an irresistible accompaniment to beef broth.
12.5% alcohol, 3.4 g sugar.
The most culinary of the Steinmetz wines in 2024.

9 – Drohner Hofberger GG 2024

A monument.
Crystal-clear, elegant, immense, without seeming heavy.
Slate, fruit, mushrooms, hazelnut – everything is there, and nothing overpowers.
13% alcohol, 1.4 g sugar.
This year’s great ‘Pure-Class’ Riesling.

10 – Detzemer Klosterlay GG 2024

A stone fruit monster, yet refined.
Raspberry, cherry, citrus, nut – and behind it all, a reservoir of ageing potential that’s almost impossible to drink up.
12.5% alcohol, 3.6 g sugar.
The long-lived fruit giant.

11 – Drohner Grosser Hengelberg GG 2024

The most feminine Riesling in the collection.
Apricot, delicate ‘sponti’ notes, everything seems to float.
13% alcohol, 4 g sugar.

12 – Neumagener Rosengärtchen ‘Am Fels’ 2024

A monument to elegance.
Single-vine, young – and already magnificent.
Almost no citrus notes, barely any nut, no hints of vegetables – pure slate fruit with monumental calm.
12.5% alcohol, 2.6 g sugar.
The collection’s great long-term wine.

The négociant wines – for the Bordeaux region (!)

13 – Piesporter Treppchen GG 2024

Hazelnut, walnut shell, chestnut, black earth, humus – a Riesling as if from a library of ancient roots.
12.5% alcohol, 4 g sugar.

14 – Neumagener Rosengärtchen GG 2024

Bone dry.
Elegant stone fruit, plenty of wild raspberries, rosehip, broom – an aristocratic Riesling, crystal clear.
12.5% alcohol, 1 g sugar.
A wine like a samurai’s cut.

15 – Neumagener Rosengärtchen VdT 2024

Suckling 99 points – entirely justified.
Perfect balance: stone fruit, raspberry, slate, elegance.
13% alcohol, 2.3 g sugar.
One of the best Mosel Rieslings of the year. Full stop.

16 – Piesporter Treppchen VdT 2024

Cooler, saltier, more herbaceous – and yet full of stone fruit.
Guaranteed to age for 30 years.
12.5% alcohol, 1.6 g sugar.
A Riesling with the breath of a cathedral.

17 – Drohner Hofberger Reserve 2024

Kohlrabi, cold spinach, Nashi pear, quartzite, green apple, a hint of meatiness.
A Riesling that possesses both body and spirit.
13% alcohol, 2.4 g sugar.
The most powerful, overwhelming Steinmetz Reserve in years.

18 – Drohner Grosser Hengelberg Reserve 2024

The king of the collection.
Stockinger barrels.
Fruit with the finest elegance.
50 years’ ageing potential.
13% alcohol, 2.6 g sugar.
The Riesling that will still be talked about in 2075.

Steinmetz 2024 is not just a vintage – it is an encyclopaedia.

There are winemakers who are good every year.
There are a few winemakers who are great in some years.
And then there is Steinmetz – who, with 2024, presents a dry collection that simply shouldn’t be possible.

Yes, he can!