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WINES
Winningen
 Weingut
Fries: Reiner & Anke
www.weingut-fries.de
Over lunch at
Hotel
Moselblick on the outskirts of Winningen itself (very nice restaurant by the
way - food, decor and setting), 1 December 2008:
2006 Apollo-Terrassen
Riesling trocken (13%) - lightly peachy and honeyed aromas; nice purity and
style with grapey v mineral notes, fresh acidity v rounded mouth-feel with
off-dry finish. Attractive balance between dry-ish, quite rich, mineral bite and weight; good with the pike-perch
starter and delicious with the pork dish.
88+
And later at a walk-around tasting in the local Vinothek:
2007 Apollo-Terrassen
Riesling trocken - has some of those exotic
aromas and flavours followed by a steelier zestier palate; lovely intense citrus
fruit and mineral core v riper oily finish. €8.20 89+
2007
Winninger Uhlen (WU)
Riesling trocken von alten Reben (old vines)
August-Horch-Edition 2008 - more 'pungent' and gummy on the nose, again
concentrated and tasty with lime intensity, oily v zippy texture; closes up on
its long fine finish. €12.50 90+
2007 Apollo-Terrassen
Riesling feinherb - pretty similar in character
to the dry 07 above but with a touch of sweetness (which is what feinherb is in
fact). €8.20 87+
2007 WU
Riesling Spätlese - a slight waft of SO2 on the
nose, but moves on to an attractive mix of weight and sweetness, exotic fruit
and oily texture v zesty mineral bite; only 9.5% alcohol yet has tantalising
balance and zingy gummy v medium-dry/sweet finish.
90-92
Weingut
Richard Richter: Thomas & Claus-Martin
www.weingut-richter.net
(see opposite)
2007 WU
Riesling Spätlese trocken - perfumed and
lightly exotic honeyed grapey aromas; zesty citrus & mineral mouth-feel v oily
and a bit of weight, then crisp length. 87-89
2001 WU
Riesling Spätlese trocken - quite developed
oily/petrol nose with dried apricot notes, maturing creamy fruit v zesty cut,
beginning to oxidise a little adding caramel flavours onto that mineral bite.
87-89
1996 WU
Riesling Spätlese - mature almost burnt (SO2?)
aromas lead on to a very intense palate with raisins and mature sweet fruit, cut
by incredibly fresh acidity (9 grams/litre {g/l} = high) creating a lively
finish. Wow. 90+
2005 WU
Riesling Beerenauslese - voluptuous developing
nose, very raisiny and concentrated sweetness v again that fine acid structure
and panache; honey and fig v orange peel flavours to finish.
92-94
Weingut
Domgartenhof: Günter Kröber
www.domgartenhof.de
2007 WU
Riesling Spätlese feinherb - lively yeast-lees
notes add to its intense honey v mineral palate, crisp and zesty v
off-dry/medium finish. Nice style. €9 87-89
2007 WU Hochgewächs
Riesling Spätlese - similar in style although
richer and more intense; actually tastes fresher / more mineral even, so it
doesn't seem any sweeter. 89+
2006 WU
Riesling Spätlese feinherb - delicious ripe v
flowery style; big, lush and less elegant but still very nice. €9.50
88+?
2005 WU
Riesling Spätlese feinherb - more 'classic'
(whatever that means) nose with maturing mineral / oily Riesling notes; quite
rich and concentrated with lovely cut and length. Yum.
90-92
Weingut
Kröber: Rüdiger & Ute
www.weingut-kroeber.de
2007 Uhlen S WU
Riesling Kabinett trocken (12%) - slightly more
exotic apricot and raisin notes; moving on to a gummy mineral palate with
attractive fresh length, elegant and intense. €6.80 87-89
2007 Uhlen T WU
Riesling Kabinett trocken (12.5%) - leesier v riper
/ richer, appealingly concentrated & vibrant berry & herb notes v oily texture;
fresh cut and a tad more weight to finish. €7.70 89
2007 Uhlen Nr. 1 WU
Riesling Spätlese
trocken (13%) - fuller and seems zippier (although acidity is about the same
as above two), more intense with snappy mineral mouth-feel and oily texture v
yeast-lees intensity. €12.50 90
2005 Uhlen Nr. 1 WU
Riesling Spätlese
trocken (13%) - more developed and raisiny, pretty concentrated and petrolly
v perfumed and exotic; attractive leesy intensity with crisp mineral palate v
weightier finish. 90-92
2005 WU
Riesling Beerenauslese (160 g/l residual sugar
{RS}, 7.8 g/l acidity {TA}, 8.5%) - complex honey, raisin and linseed oil
aromas; super concentration and lush sweetness, lovely fresh mineral bite v
teeth-coating sugar. Wow. €30 half-bottle. 92-94
Weingut
Heymann-Löwenstein: Reinhard & Cornelia
www.heymann-loewenstein.com
2007 Uhlen B (Blaufüsser Lay) Riesling -
leesy gummy nose moves on to quite tight mouth-feel with zesty citrus and
mineral characters/flavours; fine length, a bit awkward and closed up at the
moment. 88-90
2007 Uhlen L (Laubach) Riesling - different
in style, 'chalkier' and more intense palate, very fresh and mineral finish.
Again needs a few months to come out of itself. 89-91
2006 Uhlen R (Roth Lay) Riesling (12.5%) -
richer (the vintage was) showing more honey and apricot fruit; lovely zingy
palate underpinned by elegant acidity, mouth-watering finish too.
90-92
2007 Uhlen Auslese 'R' - delicious voluptuous apricot nose, concentration
and richness; zingy mineral acidity gives nice cut, sweet and very long with
superb balance. 92-94
Weingut
Knebel: Reinhard & Beate
www.weingut-knebel.de
2007 WU
Riesling Spätlese trocken - yeast lees notes
with exotic perfumed edges; oily texture v bitter twist and very crisp bite,
good although lacks finesse perhaps. €14.50 87+
2007 Auslese - glamorous gourmet nose: honey, dried apricot and mango;
fresh acidity adds to its mineral profile and quite fine finish. €23
half-bottle. 89+
2005 Auslese - much more developed, rich and voluptuous; intricate v
sweet flavours finishing with fresh balance and style.
92
2007 Beerenauslese - wow, very rich with intense apricot and honey;
raisiny oily texture v 'chalky' acidity and citrus peel flavours brushing down
your cheeks, although in the end is there enough acid to keep the structure
tight? €105 half-bottle. 92+?
Freiherr von Heddesdorff: Andreas von Canal
www.vonheddesdorff.de
2007 WU
Riesling trocken (12.5%) - pungent yeast-lees
notes on the nose; concentrated, oily and honeyed v fine, delicate and zingy;
elusive long finish, very nice. Great value too @ €6.
88+
2007 WU
Riesling Kabinett trocken (12%) - gummier and
'fuller' showing similar intensity of honey v herbal fruit, delicious zip and
style. Ditto for value €6.50. 90
2007 WU
Riesling Spätlese trocken (13%) - leesier and a
touch more complex, very lively and fresh v subtle vibrant almost curranty
Riesling fruit. Wow. Impressive for €9.30. 90-92
2006 WU
Riesling Spätlese trocken (15%) - big and
blowsy (that alcohol figure is right!) with lots of raisined fruit, weighty
mouth-feel v pretty high acidity. A little unbalanced but certainly unusual.
87
2007 WU
Riesling Kabinett halbtrocken (11.5%) -
yeast-lees touches add nice texture, similar profile to the dry Kab above with a
less zippy finish (even though acidity is about the same). €6.50
85+
2007 WU
Riesling Kabinett fruchtsüss (9.5%) - vibrant
curranty and leesy, raisin v citrus fruit; again very zesty with fresh acidity
making it taste on the drier side of sweet. €6.50 87+
2005
WU
Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese (377 RS, 11.7 TA,
6% alc) - deep golden and viscous, incredible compressed raisins and exotic dark
honey on the nose; very rich and very sweet caramelised grape juice flavours,
yet it's so lively at the same time with maturing oily complexity on its tight
acid framework. Has years of life in it. €60 half-bottle.
95-97
The von Canal family also rents out three holiday flats, available by the
night as well. Details on their website.
Bremm
VQ (Vinitorum
Quaterni): Heinz Berg
www.vinitorum-quaterni.de
/
www.calmontwein.de
2007 Bremmer Calmont (BC) Riesling (c.10 RS,
12.5%) - very nice, pure mineral Riesling style with gummy yeast-lees, zesty
citrus and oily notes/textures; well-balanced with quite fresh acidity and
off-dry finish. Made from young vines (planted in 2004), so one to watch as it's
already attractive and stylish, with greater depth from vine age should become
quite fine. 87+
Weingut
Reinhold Franzen: Ulrich
& Iris
www.weingut-franzen.de
2007
Riesling von Quarzit-Schiefer QbA
(11.5%) - soft honey and citrus style with lightly 'chalky' texture, lacks a bit
of zip finishing a tad bland although a nice sipper with the soup; surprisingly
developed too / volatile? €6.50
80+
2007 BC
Riesling trocken (12.5%) - showing quite nutty
and honeyed development, moving on to slightly 'real cider' in style; juicy v
quite oily v some mineral zest, again loses it a little and lacks depth. €9.50
83-85
2007 BC
Riesling trocken Goldkapsel Grosses
Gewächs - similar profile although richer, more honeyed v more mineral and oily;
elegant concentration and zest with nice weight and depth v 'chalky' texture and
length. €16 87+
2007 Calidus Mons (BC)
Riesling - has that characteristic cider/volatile nose with pretty
full-on honey notes; bigger and sweeter v 'chalky' mouth-feel, quite rich yet
with attractive zesty cheek pinch, oily & lush texture/flavour balanced by
subtle cut. €27.50 88-90
2006 BC
Riesling Auslese (120 RS, 10.5%, +8 TA)
- seductive honey dried apricot and spicy 'rot' notes on the nose, very sweet
and exotic; weighty, very rich and a touch cloying, impressive but lacks zip and
signature although it might come together better? Typical 2006 I guess. €45
half-bottle 87-89
Weingut Stein: Dr. Ulrich, Peter & Danah
www.stein-weine.de
2006
BC
Riesling Spätlese trocken (12%) - nice ripe
citrus with honey and oil tones, aromatic and quite rich; fairly serious cut and
zip adding 'chalky' mineral texture and off-dry finish v attractive lingering
fruit. €9.50 87-89
2007
BC
Riesling Spätlese trocken (12%) - zestier style with more mineral nose, slightly exotic too v lively and
crisp mouth-feel; nice concentration, purity and focused length, elegant
well-balanced with steely v oily aftertaste. 88-90
2002
Spätlese (11.5%) - wow, toasty petrol aromas and wilder style
(natural yeast fermentation only until its stopped); rich and oily v crisp
backbone, attractive weighty texture within its zippy framework and fine finish.
88-90
2002 Auslese (11%) - exotic honey and mushroom notes, voluptuous sweetness and
vibrant noble rot character; turning into mature Riesling 'minerality' on the
palate with 'chalky' texture v rich mouth-coating juiciness held together by
fine acid structure; actually retains it old Riesling extract and style, not
just exotic late harvest / botrytis taking over (apparently there wasn't too
much of the latter in 02), and classy length carrying the wine nicely. Good
value really at €14 for 50cl. 92-94
Weingut Laurentiushof:
Thomas Franzen-Martiny
www.weingut-laurentiushof.de
2007
BC
Riesling Spätlese feinherb (12%) - subtle oily
honey and ripe grapefruit nose; showing pretty 'mineral' development already on
the palate v elegant cheeky acidity v soft-ish texture, slightly sweet finish
although overall it's an attractive style; perhaps I'd prefer it a bit drier.
€8.50 87
2007
BC
Riesling Smaragd (12%) - selected berries with
about 20% noble rot. Similar profile but with greater intensity and depth
initially, tastes a tad zestier (although lower acidity than above) then sweeter
finish showing a bit less focus; in the end more up-front in appeal, just not
sure about the finish or something? Maybe just not showing very well at the
moment.
Sekt (sparkling Riesling) - we tried some of
this up in the vineyards earlier: quite toasty and rich with good yeast-lees
depth and texture, somewhat off-dry style but very nice.
The Franzen-Martiny family owns a guesthouse as well: see website for B&B rates.
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WORDS
Winninger Uhlen
They say the dividing
line between madness and genius is often a very narrow tightrope. When you
stand at the bottom of this vineyard and look up and up in awe, you're not
sure at first which word applies. But tasting the intense pure Rieslings
that derive from it soon convinces you of the sheer (ho ho) brilliance at
work here. With a healthy dose of impassioned lunacy, of course. To throw
a few facts and figures at you: although vines are 'only' planted from 75
to 210 metres (250-650 feet) altitude - in European terms that's quite but not very high
(above sea or river level perhaps) - the gradient of Winninger Uhlen (WU) is
between 30° and 50°. So get those spiked running shoes out.
On average, each grower or estate has about two hectares (ha, approx 5
acres) of vineyard holdings in WU, which in total comes to 15 ha (37
acres). Some are part-time growers and a few only sell grapes and don't
make wine, so "there aren't many 'large' wineries," Thomas Richter said understatedly. "Because
it's so steep and labour intensive." His family must be the biggest with a
massive seven ha! After lunch,
we took, erm, a stroll up part of the vineyard, where the terraces at
the very top are ridiculously extreme (we didn't climb that far up on
this occasion). You
really can see and feel why and how we're
talking about a completely different kind of growing environment here.
We're talking
full-on, you-can-smell-it-as-you-tread
terroir.
The soils in WU shift from slate to slate & chalk then a little redder, softer
and siltier as you go down the slope, but not much as it's still very
stoney. "After I bring my
customers up here, they stop complaining about the prices!" Thomas quipped.
Indeed. Towards the top, the soil's only three metres deep in places, before
you hit hard rock forcing the vine roots to poke out vulnerably here and
there, running down to 10 m lower down. The way the vines
are trained, called the traditional Mosel 'heart' I'm told, is a bit
like a vertical
gobelet or slender bush tied to a tall stake. Thomas added they've
been using pheromones ('sexual confusion' tactics) for 18 years to try and
control insect pests, but "we do still have to spray, by helicopter," with a
touch of regret in his voice. By the way, "there's only Riesling
planted here," he also reminded us. Did I mention that already?!
A tad more geology, geography and climate info is perhaps required to set
the scene fully (fascinating
stuff, honest). The severe slopes along this part of the Mosel were
cut and shaped over time by the river itself; where it's very winding is
where the rock is hardest. Going back millions of years, it was of course
an ocean here; and they do still find fossils buried in the vineyards. WU
runs behind the towns of Winningen and Kobern on the lower Mosel, not far
from Koblenz where the latter river merges with the Rhine. The mean annual
temperature is 10.5°C, which might not sound much but is pretty warm for
Germany. "It can sometimes be 40 degrees in the summer up on the terraces,
like in 2003," Thomas confirmed. "And snow doesn't stay here for long either,
even if it's very cold on the ground below."
Bremmer Calmont
If you thought Winninger Uhlen was
steep, wait till you get a load of the Calmont (BC)! It rises up
awesomely on the north side (therefore facing south) between Bremm (nice
picture on
bremm.info) and
Ediger-Eller, a little further up the Mosel (south of Cochem heading
towards Trier). There's
actually a marked hiking path running across the vineyard and around the
bend in the river, so you can
experience its intense terrain at first hand (see
www.calmont-region.de). Oh, and wear hefty boots as it's sometimes
quite hairy with ladders and ropes to deal with (I felt ready to join
the special forces afterwards); let alone a big mamma wild boar and her
half-a-dozen 'little' ones, who suddenly appeared from the bushes and
charged straight up the hill at us (I gallantly scarpered and hid behind the two women
journalists in our group).
Our escort up the Riesling wall was Heinz Berg (pictured
above, second left), who along with three other investor-friends
virtually doubled the surface area of BC in 2004. They (with quite a few
other hands on deck of
course) painstakingly replanted almost eight hectares on the
most outrageously sheer slopes imaginable - up to 68 degrees in places (the steepest in
Europe I'm told) and somewhere between 95 - 280 metres altitude. Not surprisingly, it was a hell of a task
planting & trellising thousands of baby Riesling vines, pruning down the
remaining old ones and building a rollercoaster of a monorail, which weaves through and
down the vineyard to transport grapes to the bottom at vintage
time (and a
person if necessary). Nowadays, BC comes to 14 hectares (35 acres) -
originally it was about 25 ha at its height - thanks to the efforts of an
increasing band of right-angle Riesling fanatics (about 50 growers own
plots up here); following a period of neglect as one plot after another
was reluctantly abandoned.
Our perpendicular
winter hike was
remunerated with a tasting of BC wines and a thick, warming and tasty spud
& smoked ham soup at Weingut Reinhold Franzen, although we did have a
refreshing slurp of Heinz Berg's airy Riesling up in the vineyard
beforehand. I've included a few brief comments and tit-bits of info on
each grower as they presented their wines - refer to my tasting notes
opposite. Ulrich Franzen owns about three ha in Calmont and buys
grapes from another one to two ha. The second wine tasted is from a new vineyard
planted between 2003-2005; in contrast, their Goldkapsel 'Grosses Gewächs'
(Grand Cru) comes from 50 to 60 year-old vines. These two 'dry' wines
vary from about seven to nine grams / litre residual sugar: "it's not fixed,
just
depends on acidity (quite fresh in 2007) etc." Ulrich commented. His Calidus
Mons (hot mountain in Latin, where BC probably derived its name from) is
built from "very selected berries from our oldest parcels."
Dr. Ulrich Stein told
us: "we just buy grapes from a few people in Calmont and own
vineyards further downstream near Alf/Mosel. I'd like to buy some here..." but
it sounds like there's a lot of local politics involved making it
difficult for him (allegedly)! Overall, I rather liked their (his brother
Peter works with him) wines and found them good value considering the
quality and depth of character in the glass. Thomas Franzen-Martiny at
Laurentiushof has 4.5 ha of vineyards around Bremm, with many old
ungrafted vines, and appears to be one of the few who farms organically
round these parts (not intended as judgmental regarding the others, by the
way, see
www.ecovin.org for more).
Ediger - Hotel zum Loewen
We stayed here (www.mosel-hotel-loewen.de)
the night before our Calmont hike and tasting (opposite) and had an excellent
dinner in the Saffenreuther family's restaurant (they own a small winery too),
where various local Rieslings were paired with each course. So, a few scribbled
tasting notes and comments on the food might stimulate your appetite... when I
get round to it (the venison steak was particularly delicious)...
Traben-Trarbach
In the evening of 2nd
December, we headed
further upstream to Traben-Trarbach in the central Mosel, where we had dinner
with
Ulrike Böcking, who runs the region's Slow Food association as well as being
a winegrower and cookery book author, along with two handfuls of young local
growers. They all brought a bottle or two to have with the meal - all mostly
very good Rieslings actually, although it would have been nice to have tried
some reds by this stage: allegedly Pinot Noir is doing well round these parts!
Anyway, an enjoyable informal occasion so I've listed the wines below (I can't 100%
vouch for the spellings and I might have mixed up some of the vineyard and
grower names...) with a few brief comments, without the annoying '100
point' scores this time.
2006 Bergrettung Riesling Auslese,
der Klitzekleine Ring (7.5%) - the latter is
a group of youngsters who've got together to restore a few abandoned terraced
vineyards: hence the former isn't a site but a kinda brand, 'save the mountain'
rather than mountain rescue that is. Very rounded and rich mouthful with apricot
and marzipan flavours v 'chalky' cheek freshness, nice balance and elegance,
better than many other 06s we tried on the trip.
2007
Riesling trocken Reiler Mullay-Hofberg,
Melsheimer (11.5%) - nice clean crisp steely
style, oily citrus flavours/texture, delicate and tasty.
2007 Bergrettung Riesling Kabinett feinherb (10.5%) - quite fine
acidity stops it becoming too sweet, subtle oily v floral Riesling style, good
with the creamy parsnip soup.
2007 Kröver Letterlay
Riesling Spätlese trocken 'H + 11',
Müllen (12%) - aged for 11 months in old
tuns (H = Holz, wood). Steely v peachy, oily mineral then crisp tight
mouth-feel; fair weight, class and length.
2007
Riesling Spätlese trocken Reiler Mullay-Hofberg,
Melsheimer (12%) - richer and more honeyed &
textured, finishing with refreshing, lively bite.
2007
Riesling trocken 'Schimbock',
Vollenweider (13%) - steely and very dry (3.5
RS) yet still very Riesling; floral, oily and gummy with a bit of weight too
then crisp length. Very nice.
2007 Riesling Spätlese trocken
Trarbacher Burgberg, Weingut Böcking
(12%) - slick v steely, concentrated and pure with precision finish, lovely
presence and elegance.
2007 Riesling Spätlese Kröv
Steffensberg, Staffelter Hof (8.5%) -
bit of a S02 kick on the nose, which lifts off giving honeyed v gooseberry
notes; sweet but not very thanks to its 'chalky' texture and balance.
2007
Bergrettung Riesling Auslese,
der Klitzekleine Ring (8%) - quite closed
and relatively tight, becomes more voluptuous on the palate v fresh acid
balance; a bit awkward at the mo, needs time (1-2 years just for starters
although will live for much longer than that).
2007 Trabener Gaispfad
Riesling Auslese,
WG Moog (9%) - creamier with more apricot
and spicy botrytis, moving on to steely mineral, fresh acid framework; nice
balance and style. This one and above both good with apple cake and cinnamon
cream in different ways.
2007 Trarbacher Hühnerberg
Riesling Auslese,
Müllen - very young and gummy, tight acid structure v creamy apricot
and botrytis coming through after a bit; sweet v crisp finish, again very
promising.
2007
Riesling Beerenauslese Wolfer Goldgrube,
Vollenweider (6% + 380 RS!) - very exotic and
super-raisiny, lush texture and mouth-coating concentration and richness; not
huge acidity but certainly enough to claw back that incredible sweetness.
Teeth-coating experience.
Richard M James Jan 2009.
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