Leitz Riesling Rüdesheimer Rosengarten Grosses Gewächs 2016

Worth noting upfront: Leitz had to earn this one. Rosengarten, now a Leitz monopole, is a gently sloping, largely alluvial riverside site at the edge of Rüdesheim with real historical pedigree but a recent track record of rot, over-ripeness, and other harvest headaches (I walk past the vines nearly every August, so the struggles were hard to ignore). Leitz has committed to its rehabilitation through selective harvesting, careful work at the press, and significant replanting. The result is predictably more fruit-forward and softer than his Rüdesheimer Berg Grosse Gewächse, plush rather than taut, with peach, quince, and mango carrying a resinous undercurrent from cask aging. Peach kernel and smoky nut oil add some bittersweet backbone to what is otherwise a generous, rounded palate with a long, soothing finish. Don't expect a long-haul wine, drink it over the next several years while that fruit remains the point.