”‘You with your (expletive) Eiswein!’ Gabi told me when we left these grapes hanging,” relates Donnhoff, and in fact his 2011 Oberhauser Brucke Riesling Eiswein was another of those that threatened to disrupt the Christmas holidays, and when that didn’t happen threatened yet worse. Helmut and Gabi Donnhoff left for Singapore and Cornelius for the U.S. “My daughter Christina was at home,” Donnhoff continues, “academically astute, loves wine, but has no idea about viticulture. On January 17, the telephone rings. ‘Mama, it’s going to get cold tonight. And not just a little: minus 10 (14o F.). What should I do?!’ So we set-up a three-way Skype connection, helped organized everything with the pickers, monitored the situation hour-by-hour, and walked Christina through the entire cellar process.” I wish I could after all that say we have here 250 liters of truly great Donnhoff Eiswein, but the 2011 vintage itself is surely responsible for any weaknesses, not the unorthodox process by which picking and pressing were managed, let alone Christina, thanks to whom the world is enriched by an amazing if slightly awkward young wine. Musk and leather; prickly radish and lemon rind; caramel apple and honey; passion fruit and mango inform an intense aromatic as well as ultra-concentrated palate performance. Unlike with so many other 2011s rendered from frozen grapes in early 2012, one can’t complain here about a lack of Eiswein-like acidity – but it takes-on a somewhat detached, slightly metallic and strident edge. Perhaps this extreme wine’s caramelized and animal aspects will reconcile themselves in time with its sharp citricity and radish-like sizzle, but the ways of Eiswein in the bottle are capricious. - David Schildknecht