Until the 2003 vintage winemaker Andreas Adam added old parcel names (Tholey, Sängerei, Malay) to different bottlings from the Hofberg vineyard. Tholey refers to a part of the Hofberg vineyard that used to belong to the cloister Tholey in the Saar county. His goal to identify the differences of those three parcels and thus further illuminate Riesling's unique ability to even translate subtle differences in terroir into the qualities of the resulting wine was in conflict with the German wine law, which favors confusing Grosslage names over complexity of terroir. Andreas Adam was forced to remove the old Gewannnamen from his labels.
When I uncorced the bottle, or, should I rather say when I tried to uncork the bottle, the cork was firmly stuck to the inside of the bottle's neck and its center crumbled away into myriads of little pieces as the corkscrew tried to lift it up. All I was able to do was to use the corksrew as a drill and force a tunnel through it. I was able to reach the wine, but it resulted in multitude of little cork pieces swimming in the wine.
I fetched a small drainer with a fine mesh and was able to filter most of the mess out of my Riesling, but the deeply golden color of what was slowly dripping into my glass had me worry. Fortunately, the wine was not corked and actually had a concentrated aroma of honey, apple and delicate flowers. It was slightly off-dry and very lively through its medium(+) acidity. The alcohol was on a pleasantly medium level and the wine overall medium-bodied. It had a nice touch of honey on the palate and a medium(+) intensity of dense fruit and honey flavors. Finally, there was a hint of oxidized apple, a result of the dried out cork, I believe. Nevertheless, the fruit was lush and the acidity pleasant and round and carried through a medium length.
Adam's Dhronhofberger Tholey Riesling is a QbA, a "Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete" (quality wine of a designated region), which means it cannot carry a predicate such as Kabinett or Spätlese. Most QbA wines are (or used to be) for immediate, undemanding consumption. The Tholey, however, is a decade old and is still full of a vibrancy decorated with qualities of age.
Winemaker Andreas Adam Tholey is