Rivaner 2022 Karl H Johner

A delicious and unusual German dry white, soft and delicate with apricot and nectarine fruit characters and subtle floral and nutmeg notes. Medium-bodied with a lovely gentle acidity and silky texture.

2022- 12% abv

Grapes are hand picked and gently extracted during a long, slow whole cluster pressing. A leisurely cold fermentation in stainless steel tanks captures and preserves the lively fresh fruit flavours and aromas. When fermentation is complete, the wine is moved to stainless steel tanks, aging as long as possible on light lees, adding a subtle richness and creaminess to the finished wine.

The Rivaner grape is better known as Mueller-Thurgau in the UK, where it has made great contributions to the burgeoning English wine industry. It ripens successfully in cooler climates where strict limits on leaf growth help prevent against the development of Botrytis, allowing the grapes to ripen on the vines for longer. 

Weingut Karl H Johner

After studying oenology in Geisenheim, Karl Heinz Johner and his family moved to England where he worked as a winemaker for a big winery. There he was introduced to the international wine world seen through the eyes of an English wine lover. Recognizing the prestige (and price-tag) attached to wines of Burgundy, he couldn’t help but wonder why the same varieties grown in similar winegrowing conditions in his home region of Baden failed to attract the same reputation! 

In 1985, after ten years abroad, Karl and his wife Irene returned home to found a little Weingut (vineyard & winery) in their home village, Bischoffingen, in the Kaiserstuhl, in the far south-west of Germany. With the wines of Burgundy, full of structure and pure elegance, as his benchmark, Karl set about overcoming the problems of winemaking in the Kaiserstuhl and strict German wine laws. He soon established himself as a pioneer of a new German wine style, recognised as being of an international class and today, Weingut Karl H. Johner is considered to be one of the best estates in Germany and is well-known amongst most wine experts.