Messidor BA
⏳ Drinking Window
Typically best enjoyed from 10 to 40+ years from the vintage release, as its intense sweetness integrates and develops profound petrol, honeyed, and spice complexities over decades.
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Blue cheese, apricot tart, foie gras
✨ Technical Specifications
Gunderloch's 'Messidor' Beerenauslese is a rare and sublime expression of noble rot, crafted from meticulously hand-selected, botrytized Riesling grapes grown on the steep, iron-rich red clay-slate soils of the Nackenheimer Rothenberg. The name 'Messidor' pays homage to the tenth month of the French Republican Calendar—the 'month of harvest' associated with golden wheat fields and radiant summer warmth—reflecting the deep golden hue and sun-drenched concentration of this dessert wine. Fermented slowly to preserve the pristine purity of the fruit, this Beerenauslese beautifully balances luscious residual sweetness with the vibrant, electric acidity characteristic of the Roter Hang (Red Slope), resulting in a wine of immense complexity, longevity, and mineral tension.
🍾 About the Producer
Weingut Gunderloch was established in 1890 when Mainz banker Carl Gunderloch acquired prime parcels on the steep banks of the Rhine, later becoming a founding member of the VDP. Anchored in Nackenheim, the estate comprises approximately 29 to 31 hectares centered along the legendary Roter Hang ('Red Slope'). This dramatic geological formation is dominated by 280-million-year-old Permian red shale, clay, and slate (Rotliegend), which imbues the vines with unmatched mineral depth, phenolic tension, and warmth reflected from the adjacent river. Sixth-generation winegrower Johannes Hasselbach took the helm in 2016, ushering in certified organic farming, spontaneous fermentations, and a paradigm shift toward tension, lower alcohol, and transparency. Benchmark expressions range from the precise, off-dry Jean Baptiste Riesling Kabinett and bone-dry Grosse Gewächse from Nackenheimer Rothenberg and Niersteiner Pettenthal to world-renowned auction-grade Auslesen and Trockenbeerenauslesen.
🍇 Grapes
100% Riesling