Magical is a word that adequately sums up the Koehler-Ruprecht estate in Germany's Pfalz region. The wines bear little resemblance to their neighbors nor those just across the border in France's Alsace. Though Riesling is the focus here, a supernatural element in all of their wines makes them stand out among their contemporaries. These are some of the most fascinating wines on earth, and the extreme hands-off approach here is mainly responsible for that singular quality.

The winemaking has remained the same since the early 18th century when the winery was established. Ferments occur completely naturally and spontaneously. Aging takes place in larger old German oak barrels. The vineyards are worked without herbicides, pesticides, or irrigation. The sweet spot of the holdings comes from Kallstadter's famed Saumagen vineyard, which translates to "pig's stomach" due to its shape. The Pfalz region is home to an amalgamation of soils, much like its neighbor Alsace across the border. Howerver, in Saumagen, limestone takes center stage and bears the most responsibility for this site's crystalline nature and peerless transformative abilities in bottle.

K-R produces Rieslings dry, off-dry, and sweet, but their trocken (dry) bottlings really hit the mark for us. With age, these begin to convert into absolutely mystical wines. Their calling card is a faint cotton candy note that slowly develops, but the brilliance is the absence of confectionary sweetness. The protective influence of the Vosges mountains to the west gives the Pfalz the lowest amount of rainfall in Germany. This abundance of sunlight gives ample texture and full-throttle ripeness. Finding wines from the Pfalz that avoid getting a little chunky can be a tall task. But, K-R's dry versions always carry a brilliant mineral streak that's simply mesmerizing in the way it stands up to the golden apple, sweet corn, and ginger, and that quintessential cotton candy note. 

Different designations, such as Kabinett, Spätlese, and Auslese, refer to the ripeness level at picking. Auslese will show more density and power. The earlier picked Kabinetts will show more delicate and agile. Spätlese ripeness falls in the middle. Each bottling today is fermented dry.

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