Keller Winery – Riesling Sparkling Wine Prestige Extra Brut Dry 2020

Keller Winery – Riesling Sparkling Wine Prestige Extra Brut 2021, Rheinhessen

Introduction: A Champagne-style approach on Rheinhessen limestone

This is not simply a sparkling wine, but the consistent application of the Keller philosophy to traditional bottle fermentation. The ‘Prestige’ is the flagship cuvée of the Keller sparkling wine range and embodies the aspiration to create a sparkling wine of absolute character and longevity – comparable to a Blanc de Blancs from a grand cru vineyard in Champagne. The foundation: high-quality Riesling from the finest vineyards, vinified with the same dedication as the still wines.

Sensory description (young stage)

As a vintage sparkling wine with an‘extra brut’ dosage, this is a powerful, serious and age-worthy sparkling wine.

• Perlage & Colour:

  • Perlage: Fine, dense and extremely persistent. The stream of bubbles is perfectly straight and creamy.

  • Colour: Radiant pale golden yellow with greenish highlights – a sign of its youthful freshness and concentration.

• Nose:
  The bouquet is intense, clear and of remarkable mineral depth. It combines the typical ripeness of the 2021 vintage with the lively tension characteristic of Keller’s winemaking style.

  • Citrus & stone fruit: Ripe lemon, white peach, mirabelle plum and a hint of pineapple.

  • Keller-style minerality: Distinct aromas of damp pebbles, chalk and a cool, salty note.

  • Yeast-driven complexity: Delicate notes of fresh bread dough, brioche and yeast cake – a sign of autolysis during bottle ageing. Not dominant, but elegantly integrated.

  • Spiciness: A subtle, tingling note of ginger and lemon zest.

• Palate :
  On the palate, the sparkling wine is characterisedby a majestic balance between power and elegance.

  • The texture is creamy and velvety thanks to the fine perlage, yet it also has a firm, straightforward core.

  • The acidity is lively, electrifying and crystalline. It forms the backbone of the sparkling wine, lending it tremendous tension and length – typical of the structure of the 2021 vintage.

  • The aromas of citrus, peach and brioche unfold perfectly.

  • The dosage (extra brut, presumably 0–3 g/l residual sugar) is almost imperceptible and merely supports the fruit without introducing any sweetness. The impression is absolutely dry, purist and mineral.

  • The finish is long, salty and characterisedby a refreshing bitterness (like lemon zest). It lingers for minutes on end and immediately invites you to the next tasting.

Vintage & Production

• The 2021 vintage in Rheinhessen: a classic, cooler vintage with pronounced acidity. These conditions are ideal for producing long-lived, precise sparkling wines. The natural acidity and moderate alcohol content ensure freshness and finesse, whilst concentrated vineyard sites provide the necessary extract intensity and depth.

• Grape blend: Selected Riesling from Keller’s finest vineyards (presumably including proportions from vineyards such as Hubacker, Abtserde or Kirchspiel), which are renowned for their mineral rigour.

• Méthode Traditionnelle:

  • Secondary fermentation and maturation on the lees (sur lie) in the cellar.

  • The period of ageing on the lees (autolysis) lasts several years, which explains the creamy texture and complex yeasty notes.

  • Disgorgement by hand.

  • Extra brut dosage to highlight the pure character of the fruit and terroir.

Drinking maturity & ageing potential

• Current drinking window: The sparkling wine is already exceptionally approachable and complex. The yeast notes are present but harmonious. It can be enjoyed with great pleasure right now.

• Ageing potential: This is where its true greatness shines through. This sparkling wine is designed for long bottle ageing.

  • Optimal drinking window: 2024–2035+.

  • Long-term development: As it ages, the yeast notes (brioche, nut) become more intense and blend with the mineral base to create an even more complex, spicier and creamier texture – similar to that of a mature Champagne.

  • Ageing potential:15–20 years or more when stored in a dark, cool place .

Rating & Recommendations

Rating: 95/100 points
A sparkling wine of world-class calibre. It sets new standards for German Riesling sparkling wine and proves that, using the Méthode Traditionnelle and first-class raw materials, sparkling wines of Champagne calibre can be produced.

Recommendations:

• Serving temperature: 8–10°C. Do not serve too cold, so as not to numb the complex aromas.

• Glass: A classic champagne tulip or a standard white wine glass is ideal for concentrating the bouquet.

• Decanting: Not necessary. Savour slowly in the glass and observe how the flavours develop.

• Food pairings (A true dinner sparkling wine):

  • Starters: Oysters, caviar, scallops, sushi.

  • Main courses: Grilled fish (e.g. sea bass), pan-fried white meat (veal fillet, poularde).

  • Cheese: Creamy cheeses such as Chaource or mature mountain cheese.

Conclusion

The Keller Riesling Sekt Prestige Extra Brut 2021 is a milestone. The Kellers have succeeded in translating the unmistakable mineral density and linear rigour of their Rieslings into the lively, creamy form of a sparkling wine. This sparkling wine is powerful, serious and of breathtaking length. It is not a light aperitif, but rather a gastronomic companion and an object of contemplation for connoisseurs. Anyone who has ever doubted that Germany can produce world-class sparkling wines will be proven wrong by this bottle. A must-have for every lover of great, traditionally produced sparkling wines.

Keller Winery – Riesling Sparkling Wine Prestige Extra Brut Dry 2020: The quiet precision of a new era in sparkling wine

There are wines that are more than just a drink. They are the audible pulse of a region, the uncompromising signature of a winemaker and a time capsule for a specific moment in the vineyard. The 2020 Riesling Sparkling Wine Prestige Extra Brut Dry, produced by Weingut Keller in Flörsheim-Dalsheim, is one such wine – and, at the same time, a fascinating paradox. It comes from the hand of a winemaker whom the wine world has long since crowned the ‘Kabi King’ and who, with his dry Rieslings and Pinot Noirs, sets standards that are unrivalled worldwide. Yet this sparkling wine is not a by-product of the great white and red wine ranges, but the result of a separate, passionate project by Felix Keller, the son of Klaus-Peter Keller. Tasting a bottle of this wine is no ordinary encounter with a German sparkling wine, but a journey into the quiet grandeur of a new era in sparkling wine production, in which a top winemaker is re-exploring the boundaries of the genre.

To understand this wine, one must first understand its origins. The grapes for the Riesling Sekt Prestige 2020 come – as reported by a taster who sampled the wine alongside Klaus-Peter Keller – from a plot at the top of the Bürgel, the coolest part of the vineyard, which was only recently acquired by the Keller family specifically for this sparkling wine. Klaus-Peter Keller confirmed that Felix had addedthree hectares of vineyards exclusively for sparkling wine production. This decision underlines the seriousness with which the family is pursuing this project: it is not about utilising surplus grapes, but about the targeted selection of cool, mineral-rich plots that provide the acidity and tension necessary for a great Riesling sparkling wine. The winemaking process follows the estate’s time-honoured methods: traditional bottle fermentation, Extra Brut with a dosage of around 1 gram per litre, and a long period of ageing on the lees in the estate’s cellars. The result is a sparkling wine which – according to the unanimous verdict of the few tasters – ranks among the most profound and exciting Riesling sparkling wines available.

The sensory expectations for the 2020 Riesling Sekt Prestige can be deduced from the available tasting notes and the estate’s characteristic style. The nose is likely to be characterised by clear, single-varietal Riesling fruit, supported by fine perlage and crisp acidity. One taster, who tasted the wine in December 2024 alongside Klaus-Peter Keller, described it as ‘spectacular’ and ‘likely the best Riesling sparkling wine I have ever encountered’. He highlighted the ‘incredible thrust’ and the ‘good body without heaviness’ – a description suggesting a sparkling wine of great intensity and density that nevertheless remains light-footed and elegant. The ~1 g/l dosage (Extra Brut) underlines the purist approach: The wine is “incredibly drinkable” and displays a mineral precision reminiscent of the estate’s great Rieslings. A tasting note on the follow-up vintage, 2021, describes the aromas as “ripe Williams Christ pear, ripe apple, pineapple and strawberry, with a hint of yellow plum’, underpinned by ‘wood-like texture, chalk powder, cream and white bread’ as well as ‘white blossoms’ in the finish. This description, which should apply equally to the 2020 vintage, paints a picture of a sparkling wine that combines the fruit of the Riesling with the autolysis notes from the long yeast ageing and the chalky minerality of the Bürgel vineyard.

On the palate, the wine is likely to display a taut, precise acidity, supported by a fine, creamy mousse. The Extra Brut dosage allows the fruit and minerality to take centre stage, whilst the yeasty notes of brioche and nuts lend the wine an additional dimension of complexity. The finish will be long and mineral, with a lingering hint of citrus, white stone fruit and a salty note. One taster described the 2021 vintage as ‘not complex and rich like a great masterpiece, but rather like a concise, clear and lively little piece’ – an assessment that is likely to apply to the 2020 vintage as well. This sparkling wine is not merely a show of strength, but an elegant, precise and approachable wine that bears the producer’s signature in every nuance.

The 2020 Riesling Sekt Prestige is now, six years after the harvest, ready to drink and already accessible. The yeast ageing has given the wine a creamy texture and complex aromas, and the acidity is still lively and supportive. This sparkling wine is not a candidate for decades of ageing in the style of a great Champagne, but it has the potential to continue developing and gaining in complexity over the next five to ten years. Anyone lucky enough to own a bottle should therefore open it in the coming years to experience it in its current, refined splendour. The serving recommendation is clear: the wine should be served at a temperature of 8 to 10 degrees Celsius to bring out its delicate aromas and lively acidity to the full. It is a perfect accompaniment to oysters, seafood, sushi or a fine aperitif – and it is a wine that deserves to be enjoyed on its own and in tranquillity, as a meditation on time and the unbroken power of a great terroir.

Conclusion: The quiet grandeur of a new era in sparkling wine

The Weingut Keller Riesling Sekt Prestige Extra Brut Dry 2020 is not a wine that takes centre stage. It is not a ‘Große Lage’ in the marketing-driven sense, celebrated as a legend in every wine magazine, and it is availableonly in vanishingly small quantities – a rare bottling that went primarily to loyal customers in the winery’s Christmas hampers. And yet it embodies a virtue that is often overlooked in today’s wine world: the quiet, enduring greatness of a wine born of a careful selection of cool-climate plots, the persistent craftsmanship of a winemaker who is redefining the sparkling wine genre, and a vintage that combines warmth and ripeness with precise structure. It is the result of a fortunate combination of the cool Bürgel terroir, a long yeast ageing period and an Extra Brut dosage, which lends the wine its clarity and tension. It reminds us that true class is not always expressed through spectacular opulence or a famous name, but often in the ability to develop its own subtle and deeply satisfying character within the conditions of the times. Its greatness lies in its modesty – a quiet triumph of consistency and a worthy ambassador for the Keller winery, the Bürgel region and the decades-long tradition of a family of winegrowers who have the courage to break new ground even in a supposedly saturated market.