Wittmann, Rheinhessen (Germany) Riesling Trocken 2020

 In the opinion of most experts on German wine, the Rheinhessen region is not all that close to the top of the quality pyramid, trailing the Mosel, Saar and Rheingau at a minimum, and probably Nahe and arguably even the Mittelrhein.  But that opinion seems not to have been heeded at Wittmann, where breathtakingly beautiful dry Rieslings are turned out every single year.  So obviously fabulous are the single-site Grosse Lage GG Riesling Trocken wines that almost no Riesling producers anywhere — including Germany — could set their own bottles alongside the top Wittmann wines for a critical blind tasting without breaking into a nervous sweat.  That’s not the most appealing mental image I could have conjured up, but the choice was deliberate, because the thing about these wines is that their deliciousness and excellence in a glass always seems calm and effortless.  To explain, the best wines of the Mosel are usually built on a push-pull style with ripeness tugging against tart acidity and palpable minerality, and this is also true of wines from the Saar.  When the push and pull in these wines produces a balance — which is usually the case for the best producers — the results are delicious and exciting, but hardly as harmonious as this wine is already, early in its evolution.  The fruit flavors recalling peaches and fresh apricots are ultra-pure, with their ripeness perfectly balanced by acidity that is so well integrated that it doesn’t really come across as an element different from the fruit but, rather, a characteristic of it.  Similarly, there’s a significant mineral component in the wine’s finish, but much more understated than the (often striking) slate minerality of wines from the Rheingau and especially the Mosel.  Nothing wrong with “striking,” to be sure, but there’s more than one way for a Riesling to impress at the highest level, which this one surely does.