Dönnhoff Riesling Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Grosses Gewächs 2008

95 points Fine Wine Review: "From 60 year-old vines. The wine shows the purest and stoniest of noses. In the mouth, it is calmer and less intense than the Dellchen with depth and firmness, and a bit of saltiness on the finish. It is perhaps a bit lighter than the Dellchen but shows more finesse and balance. (Issue #127; 2010)"

94 points David Schildknecht (Wine Advocate): "White peach with hints of spruce resin, scrub, and quarry dust in the nose of Donnhoff's 2008 Niederhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Grosses Gewachs prepare the way for a subtly oily-textured, sappy, peachy and resinous palate concentration accented by grapefruit peel and white pepper. This clings and invigorates with dramatic grip and energy while remaining coolly herbal and mineral, a mounting sense of salinity drawing out your saliva. As it opens to the air, a classic sense of layering of mineral, fruit, herb and spice becomes more clearly visible, but a dynamic sense of oscillation of flavors also remains. Look for this profoundly complex, intriguing, reserved yet startlingly powerful Riesling to evolve fascinatingly for 10-12 years. (Feb 2010)"

93+ points John Gilman (View From the Cellar): "The 2008 Hermannshöhle Grosses Gewächs is another stellar bottle in the making. Like the Dellchen, it weighs in at 12.5 percent alcohol (in comparison to the Felsenberg’s twelve percent), and offers up a deep and stellar profile on both the nose and palate. The bouquet is a superb blend of grapefruit, a touch of red berries, slate, petrol, citrus peel and a gentle topnote of fruit blossoms. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, deep and very discreet and elegant out of the blocks, with a rock solid core of fruit, brilliant focus and cut, and a very long, refined and laser-like finish. The Grosses Gewächs is all made from a parcel of sixty year-old vines on a base of pure grey slate, which adds a precision and transparency to the finished wine that is absolutely extraordinary in this vintage. The ’08 is a much more refined young wine than the equally impressive 2007 version, and it will be very interesting to compare and contrast these two wines over the coming decades. 2016-2040. (Mar/Apr 2009)"