Producer profile: Geil and their Riesling
Way back in 2011, a group of us went on a wine trip to the south of Germany to visit wineries, and the first winery we visited was Geil. We were hosted by Johann and his wife, Elizabeth and it was a really lovely lunch a really interesting tasting. It was the first time any of us had really tried any quality wines from the Rheinhessen.
They're based in the town of Bechtheim where they've had vines growing since the 1780s, and indeed before, but that was when the law decreed that it had to be a delineated area.
Geil have three principal vineyard areas with a combination of limestone soils and clay and then with varying mineral deposits in in each of the different sites that they have.
They create these really elegant, but quite intense, flavoursome, mineral, and refreshing wines which feeds into this kind of contemporary notion that Riesling is a really high quality, serious grape variety. Affordable and approachable too, particularly for people who might not have had it before.
Riesling now rightfully sits at the same table as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Grigio as a wine people will just pick up and try. And so they should, it's wonderful stuff.
The Geil Riesling, is 12.5% abv. It's really fresh, really delicious and it's what you'd call "approachable". It will go with really fine dining, duck, shellfish, lobster and all sorts of lovely food. You can pick up a few bottles of the Geil Riesling here.