Ever since Jancis Robinson described a white from Klaus-Peter Keller as the “Montrachet” of Germany, we have been trained to think of the Rheinhessen as a bit like Burgundy. In the Mosel the wines are usually sweet and the soils are slate. In the Rheinhessen the wines are mostly dry and the soils are limestone.

Anybody who loves magnificent dry white wines with a clear sense of place should give the new guard of talented winemakers in Rheinhessen a chance.

Jochen Dreissigacker is one of those upstarts and among those drawn to the great unheralded wines of his homeland. He gave up a career in accounting to go learn wine with, among others, the great Keller himself. His family winery in Bechteim, the historic center of wine production in the area is just one village over from the better-known Westhofen, where you find many of the region’s top Grand Crus and Keller’s own winery. Though Jochen has holdings in Westhofen too, he is a big believer in Bechteim's own great terroir.

Jochen’s wines have this in common with Burgundy: there is a clear hierarchy from the more general expressions of his terroir (like a regional or village Burgundy), up to the magnificent Grand Crus. Today, while we wait for the top bottles, which are released later than most Riesling, we share with you their exemplary regional Riesling from the fantastic 2020 vintage.

If the zippy, crystalline Barrel X from Lauer is our quintessential must drink of the Saar, then Dreissigacker’s Riesling Trocken is its counterpoint must-drink of the Rheinhessen, and again, under $20.

This is an extraordinary value compared to costs of both white Burgundy and Keller’s Rheinhessens.

Dreissigacker doesn't have Keller's international rock star status yet. But within Germany his wines are widely regarded as not being all that far behind Kellers. And it's what's in the bottle that really counts.

Dreissigacker, Riesling Trocken Organic, 2020