John Gilman about 2011: Helmut Dönnhoff was absolutely beaming about the quality of the 2011ers at his family estate this year, for as he stated, “in my whole career, I have never seen such beautiful grapes as those in 2011.” Helmut was very quick to point out that this year, his son Cornelius must receive all the credit for these beautiful grapes, as he has been solely in charge of the viticulture of the estate for the last three years (with Helmut always available for consultation). While the Dönnhoff estate has produced excellent wines in the last several vintages, I am not sure that they can match the consistent brilliance of this collection of 2011ers, which left me as ecstatic as I was a decade ago tasting through the young 2001ers at this estate. There is a tensile brilliance to each and every Dönnhoff wine in 2011 that is going to make long-time fans of this great estate very, very happy.