2023 Tesch Riesling Trocken Laubenheimer Karthauser Nahe 750 ml

Jancis Robinson—our greatest active wine critic and a Master of Wine—declared that “German dry Riesling is one of the wine world’s undervalued treasures.”

Case in point: Weingut Tesch, who has been hailed by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate as “one of the most interesting producers in Germany when it comes to dry, linear…Riesling classics in top quality and for affordable prices.” They went on to declare that “2023 is perhaps the best vintage that Martin Tesch has produced.” 

Weingut Tesch was founded three centuries ago, in 1723, and has been tending vines in the heart of the Nahe region ever since, acquiring land in some of the most coveted crus of the area. This bottling is entirely from the Karthäuser, which is one of their flagship vineyards, a true Grand Cru. It’s made with more care and technique in both the vineyard and the cellar than nearly any white at the price—an undervalued treasure if we ever saw one.

The result combines “the soul of the samurai sword and the brilliant shine of its blade,” according to Suckling’s editor Stuart Pigott. The Wine Advocate swooned over it, calling it “deep, pure and refined but impressively intense and aromatic.”

It’s hard to think of a white-wine-friendly meal this wouldn’t improve, and we’ve enjoyed it recently with everything from a Little Gem salad studded with radishes, pumpkin seeds, and goat cheese crumbles to a char-broiled branzino stuffed with fennel, lemon, and herbs. You’re gonna love it.