Ökonomierat Rebholz, Riesling Siebeldingener Im Sonnenschein "Ganz Horn" GG 2025

Disclosure: I have a commercial relationship with this producer. See my ethics and disclosure policy.

Gravel and colored sandstone: this is a parcel within Im Sonnenschein (see extended notes below). It has a broader, more expansive nose than Im Sonnenschein, despite an identical cellar regime of skin maceration, spontaneous fermentation, and vinification in INOX. Cool green herbs and smoky minerals at the fore, followed by a red fruit note, anise seed, and salty minerality on the long finish. Superb.

Here's an example of the flawed logic of Germany's 1971 wine law, which combined thousands of small, historically named vineyard parcels into larger vineyards with a minimum size of 5 hectares. Ganz Horn, or Ganshorn as it was historically known, is a 2.5-hectare parcel within the larger (post-1971) 31-hectare Im Sonnenschein, but it is topographically and geologically distinct; thus, Rebholz insisted that it be classified as a separate VDP.Grosse Lage. It should be obvious that Im Sonnenschein's limestone gives an entirely different wine than Ganz Horn's gravel and colored sandstone, as on display here with the two 2025 Rieslings shown side-by-side.

Scored on a five-star scale, where a plus is a third of a star. How I score and what I disclose is set out in my ethics and disclosure policy. More notes are in the review index, and the regional background is in Wine in Germany.