I’ll second Weiser-Künstler.
I know it is off topic,but it is an event to look forward to each year: To compare (blind maybe) the Himmelreich bottlings from J J Prum and Shafer. Very educational
All producers have a slightly different signature although some commonality. I have have many Willi Schaefer in my cellar have have tasted it numerous times. Whilst, I like W Schaefer, I prefer Schloss Lieser wines for their crystalline purity. You should give the a try. And Of course J J Prum. Those two would be my top two producers from that region.
Willi Schaefer has Fuder casks and stainless-steel tanks, whereas Schloss Lieser and J.J. Prüm ferment exclusively in stainless steel. That is a difference.
This is the first producer I thought of.
Dusty, I also recommend Julian Haart and maybe A.J. Adam, as these guys can have similar precision, while remaining singularly unique as well.
Regarding Adam, his vineyard sources have such different character from those at Schaefer. (Haart as well actually.)
True David. To me these two producers do share some of the “precision” qualities that seem to be kinda the theme here. I entered them as a separate line to differentiate them, as they are, like I said, singularly unique. I do think Dusty would benefit from trying these two producers as well as some of the others mentioned if the Willi Schaefer compelled him that much. Adam and Haart actually have a lot of wines from the same sources and actually make or have wine together from at least one site.
For what it’s worth, Willi Schaefer is the number one producer in my cellar with 170 bottles and counting. I do believe that the family is one of the best winemaking families in the world. One of my top highlights was drinking the 1976 Beerenauslese with Christoph and Andrea at Rieslingfeier. His "birth year " wine set aside by Mr Schaefer himself.
I know he is from Sweden, but his love of Riesling seems truly genuine:
yeah I know its Miran
Markus Molitor really makes some wonderful wines. But he makes so amny different labels in different styles, that it makes little sense to compare him to other porducers. I just wanted to suggest, that he makes some wines that might be liked by someonde who likes Willi Schaefer. But they must be choosen carefully. I think of the sweet Spätlese from Zeltinger Sonnenuhr.
The closest cognate to Willi Schaefer for me is Carl Loewen.
Interesting. Loewen gets zero press/enthusiasm. I do like the wines.
Thanks so much for all the feedback. I stopped by the bottle shop that I knew would have the best selection, and they were a little low on Rieslings right now, but had some Selbach-Oster, Lieser, Molitor, and J.J. Prum, as well as a few other producers that haven’t been mentioned here (no Fritz Haag, Rhienhold Haart, von Schubert, or Zilliken). The wine director said that many of the smaller bottling would need to be pre-ordered with the distributor to make sure they get them (which he said typically happens in Sept.). Not much past Spatlese, but I grabbed a few and will not doubt check back from time to time until I get my bearing a bit.
Did you read this: " There are a lot of truly great producers in the middle mosel, but the wines from each taste a little different due to the styles of the producers."
On June 6, Christopher Loewen was pouring some of his 2014s at Willi Schaefer. I find the wines different from Schaefer’s, plus the focus at Carl Loewen is more on dry and dry-tasting Rieslings from a stretch of the Mosel Valley further upriver towards Trier. But perhaps some of the wines have similarities. It would be good to taste their Kabinette or Spätlesen side by side. I know that Terry Theise wishes Carl Loewen would go back to producing more residually sweet wines.
They did show three of the drier wines from Loewen at the NYC tasting in June though.