I had yesterday a 2016 Grünhaus Alte Reben Reben for 16-17 Euro which has everything a Mosel Riesling should have. Drinking pleasure and this Mosel-Riesling typical fruit-acidity-play. BTW, its from Abtsberg. And perfect combo with Harissa Chicken.
12,5g RS, 8,8 acidity and 11,5%
The dry Pfalz wines are wonderful. Muller-Catoir is my favorite when I can find it. Haven’t had too many Keller wines. I do love the GGs from Schafer-Froelich but a different price there.
I buy a few from Austria. Nicholaihof Riesling Steiner Hund is one of my favorites.
I love Rudi Pichler and Prager too.
Around 2 week ago I had a 2017 Schäfer-Fröhlich “Schiefergestein” for 15 Euro. Needed 2 years to open, but now it shows a brilliant QPR and everything you love regarding the Schäfer-Fröhlich Rieslings. Purity, strong minerality and vibrant acidity.
Thanks Martin!
Another one is 2018 P.J. Kühn “Jacobus” Riesling from the Rheingau region for 12 Euro.
AND “von Porphyr” by Wagner-Stempel is another good recommendation.
I too have fallen down this lovely rabbit hole, a little further down than you Brian, but lots of tasty learnings along the way.
Adding to Martin’s note, I really like a lot of the non-GG trocken wines from some of the better known names. In addition to Schäfer-Fröhlich, I’ve enjoyed Dönnhoff, Zilliken (Alte Reben is very common), MF Richter, Peter Lauer, Molitor, and Clemens Busch. Definitely can be a challenge to find the wines in the US so hunting likely required.
I’m not sure why Molitor gets a bad rap, I’ve had many excellent wines from this producer. Their bizarre and idiosyncratic labeling system I’m sure doesn’t help. Look for white capsule (dry) samples that have no stars (very inexpensive, entry level) or two stars (a bit more expensive but very tasty and age worthy in my experience). The 3 star wines are roughly GG equivalent.
Clemens Busch may be the most under the radar producer of this list, but their wines are always well made, distinctive, and age worthy. Highly recommended. Look for the “Vom Roten Schiefer” “Vom Blauen Schiefer” or “Vom Grauen Schiefer” Trockens. His straight “Trocken” is also quite good.
I don’t know if I would call it a bad rap. I think his distribution is horrible, his wines are in none of the many shops I buy Riesling from. And he makes way too many wines! And then there is the capsule star rating system…
Clemens Busch may be the most under the radar producer of this list, but their wines are always well made, distinctive, and age worthy. Highly recommended.
In my very limited experience drinking Clemens Busch, a few bottles purchased on a recommendation from Chambers Street, found them to be excellent mineral driven wines.
Clemens Busch makes some great dry Rieslings and I’ve been able to snag some of their GGs for under $40!
Lots of good recommendations. I would add that if you keep an eye out to backfill Trockens from before the GG designation existed (in my view it was a marketing ploy that took off and reshaped the focus of the German wine market and its growers to some degree), you may luck out. Noted growers like Donnhoff, Muller-Catoir, Leitz, Becker, etc., have been making quality trocken for a long time. Cornelius Donnhoff told me years ago at a Rieslingfeier dinner that when GG arose, he and his father just changed the label on Trockens but that the winemaking hadn’t changed. (We can discuss whether that’s true still or the effect of changing vineyard priorities and global warming a different time.)
On Austrian recommendations I’ll add Hirsch, Hirtzberger (or was that said already?), Jamek. In Alsace, although the wines have varying degrees of RS, Boxler. No one in Alsace has made as consistently fine wines in my view as Boxler for the last couple decades.
This is the best Trocken I have tasted in a while
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8V1P7HHQMw/?igshid=a1qtb6zvh4sb
And I just found a new IG follow ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Is there a similar thread for GGs? I just had a Donnhoff 2014 Felsenberg GG and I’m hooked.
Best years for these wines?
Are other producers at this amazing level that are not as lofty in price? (I saw the recommendations but I don’t want to get any extra RS.).
There was a recent thread about the 2017 GG’s specifically, but not talking about QPR.
Barry - I think the Battenfeld-Spanier GGs are excellent QPR. Lyle Fass brings them in. If you don’t want to pay for the likes of Keller, Emrich-Schonleber, Schafer Frohlich, (or Donnhoff, but those aren’t my favorites) they are a good choice.
Any comments on the following:
2015 Laible Riesling Trocken “An der Kapelle”
2015 Caspari-Kappel Ellegrub Riesling Spatlese Trocken “Von Alte Reben”
The Von Alte Reben was compared to GG in terms of quality. Is it just as dry?
Thanks Sarah for those tips! Not just the QPR, as I don’t buy much and don’t need “drinkers”, so am interested in the better ones as well.
To be clear, the Battenfeld-Spanier GGs are serious wines, not what I would call daily drinkers. They are just not as “lofty” in price, which I believe was the ask.
I love Laible’s wines. I don’t know the exact RS levels of the trocken you mention, but would guess it’s at least as dry as many GGs. Remember GGs are not totally bone dry. People think of them as dry, and they definitely are, but usually (and someone can correct me if I’m wrong here) they have slightly more RS, which smoothes and supports the greater body.
Yes Sarah, I got what you meant. I was distinguishing my desires vs other posters. you gave me several names, which I am hunting down 
Thanks for the tip.
Ah! Gotcha. Happy hunting. At the level you are shopping, it’s all going to be about personal taste, so you have a lot of fun in store figuring what’s best for you! Within those I mentioned, one fun thing, if you can swing it, might be to compare Schafer-Frohlich’s Monzinger Halenberg GG to Emrich-Schonleber’s Halenberg GG. Two very different stunning expressions of the vineyard, and great year after year.