The Finale of a Stunning Collection
2012 Keller: Hubacker GG & Hipping R
"Clearly among the most brilliant wines Klaus-Peter Keller has yet fashioned during his career." -John Gilman
Keller put together a beautiful 2012 collection. The wines are stunning in their clarity and balance.
It makes the tiny quantities available all the more painful.
There are no grander, more statuesque dry Rieslings than those fashioned by Klaus Peter Keller. They are simultaneously glossy, pristine and pure yet also almost painfully mineral, extraordinarily finessed, linear and elegant.
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| Klaus Peter in his cellar |
Today, I'm happy to offer our final two 2012 Kellers: the Hubacker GG and Hipping R.
I can't go any further without issuing a warning: Quantities are very limited. We're only sending this to Keller supporters. Still, allocations are likely.
Lets' start with the Hipping R. Niersteiner Hipping is a legendary, historic and impossibly steep red slate site. Keller now has a tiny .5ha plot in this site that he purchased from Franz Karl Schmitt. Hipping has a long, almost mythical reputation for producing epic wines. Franz Karl Schmitt's 1952 was served at the coronation ceremony of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.
Keller's Hipping R fully delivers on the illustrious history of the site. Hipping R is an off-dry bottling. It feels just shy of being dry and after a few years the sugar will be even less perceptible. The 2012 Hipping R delivers a crystal clear mineral expression of slate and salty minerality. The citrus and stone fruits are beautifully etched with a wonderfully long, detailed finish.
The Hubacker is the most masculine of Keller's GG line-up. Hubacker is broad and luxurious, but the precision of the 2012 is shocking. Since 2009, we've watched Hubacker make huge leaps in terms of fineness and tension. The 2012 Hubacker marks the most impressive example to date. There's a mineral density that's combined with cut and focus.
As I mentioned earlier, this marks the grand finale of our 2012 Keller offers. I've heard great things about the 2013s, but it's sad to see the 2012s go. They are just beautifully pristine expressions of Riesling and some of the most impressive young Kellers that we've tasted.
To order, reply to offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Joe Salamone
Wine Buyer
Crush Wine & Spirits
John Gilman: "As is always the case, the 2012 Hubacker Grosses Gewächs, with its predominantly red soils, is quite different in profile from the chalky Kirchspiel or Morstein, but in its own way it is every bit as magical as those two wines in this great Keller vintage. The glorious bouquet is a mix of blood orange, grapefruit, orange peel, incipient notes of petrol, beautifully complex soil tones, a touch of fresh rosemary and a topnote of lemongrass. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and rock solid at the core, with ripe, zesty acidity, great focus and balance and a very, very long, supremely elegant finish. In some vintages the Hubacker can be the most broad-shouldered of the Keller GG lineup and perhaps not quite as filigreed as a result, but this is emphatically not the case in the 2012 vintage, where the wine is brilliantly refined and complete. Great, great juice!"
2012 Keller Riesling Grosses Gewachs Riesling Nierstein Hipping R (out of stock)
John Gilman: "Two out of the three barrels of the Hipping destined for the Grosses Gewächs bottling did not ferment out to sufficient dryness to qualify for official Trocken status, so there is actually a bit more of the Hipping "R" than there is of the GG in 2012. This is a brilliant wine that offers up a youthfully compelling bouquet of pink grapefruit, fresh pineapple, a beautifully complex base of slate, citrus zest, a touch of smokiness and a gentle topnote of spring flowers. On the palate the wine is deep, fullish, pure and tangy, with a great core of fruit, filigreed complexity and a very long, snappy and dancing finish. There is just a whisper of residual sugar here and this is essentially also a dry wine in 2012, but not quite under the legal limit."