(Bloglike) Visits to Germany, Belgium, Italy

I’ve been traveling in Europe the last few weeks, and thought I’d share some of my experiences. I’m going to resist posting massive lists of wines I tasted or drank, and instead mix in wine details with some of the more human elements of my trip. I will share just a few tasting notes for exemplars or stand-outs, as well as some fun pics, in this thread.

Day 1: Wandering in the Nahe and Mosel
While I enjoy wines from this region, I’d never really done a deep dive. This was my chance. All appointments were booked in advance, very easily done through web/email.

In the Nahe I visited Dönnhoff and and Schäfer-Fröhlich. Both offered recently bottled 2017s, and the tastings were excellent. At Dönnhoff we tasted most of the range, about 19 wines. Yes, wow. I loved the dry wines (a common thread this week). I tried many things I’d never had before, including a delightful Weisburgunder/Grauburgunder blend (the Doppelstück) that sadly doesn’t seem to get to the states. Similar experience with S-F (beautiful range, especially the dry wines, though we only (!) tasted 8 or 9 crus). Picked up some bottles back in the US from both producers - entry levels to drink now and GGs to sock away. The GGs from these producers really impressed and surprised me. Very high levels of extract, great aromatics, intensity and balance. Highly impressive dry white wines.

Favorites:
2017 Dönnhoff Höllenpfad Erste Lage Trocken - (from red sandstone soils) white fruit combined with tropical fruit nose, spicy finish, crunchy palate, so balanced.
2017 Dönnhoff Hermannshöhle GG - white fruit, petrol slight reduction, high intensity, tartness and minerality. 75+ year old vines. I’d put this one away for 8 or 10 years at least.
2017 Schäfer-Fröhlich Felsenberg GG Trocken - a wow, high intensity, grapefruit and more grapefruit, mineral, iron, amazing finish. Very long.
2017 Schäfer-Fröhlich Felseneck Spätlese GK - gorgeous, so balanced and intense, delicate and fine white fruit and tropical scents, grapefruit and white fruit palate. Rich sweetness but somehow manages to be delicate at the same time.

After a fun drive on windy roads to the Mosel, I visited Clemens Busch. Rita Busch began the tasting, and then Clemens took me and another American in his car across the river. There we clambered up his Mosel riverside cliff/vineyards to show us how things are done. Talk about hands on! This was truly an epic visit. And his wines (we tasted ‘16s) were stunning. Among many beauties was:

2016 Clemens Busch Fahrlay GG - Light honey, white fruit nose, paired with a fruity dry magical palate, well balanced and very very rich, very intense

I tried to capture what a highly sloped Mosel vineyard looks like (iPhone X, meh camera). Here’s an example:

And another, this one with Clemens on the left.

After finishing the wine tasting, I walked up the street to some kind of town holiday event in Punderich, and enjoyed a kinda potato latke from this kiosk.

Day 2: Mid Mosel Mania

I made my base in Trier - a model small European city. It’s utterly charming and crammed full of historical sites (it was founded as a Roman City over 2100 years ago). Just big enough to feel sizable, yet small enough that I walked everywhere I wanted to go. I stayed at the Villa Hügel and it was one of the nicest small hotels I’ve stayed in, anywhere. The nearby Landes Museum (Ancient History) provides excellent background to the city’s ruins and deep past. And I found the people to be utterly friendly and gracious - very welcome for someone traveling on his own. At dinner one night the couple sitting at the table next to me invited me to join them. We had a very fun evening chatting, and now are Facebook friends .

The next day I visited Willi Schaefer, Schloss Lieser, Max. Fred. Richter, and Markus Molitor. I tasted with the owner/wine maker at each of these small family wineries, and each was special in its own right. Willi Schaefer’s were about the best collection of sweet wines, and Christoph very thoughtfully organized the selections into pairs to demonstrate various aspects of the wines. For example we tasted the 2005 and 2017 Graacher Domprobst Spätlese to consider how the wines age.

Thomas Haag of Schloss Lieser was a good host, sampling both ‘16s and ‘17s. In general I found more intensity and depth in his ‘17s. Dirk Richter of M. F. Richter grilled me about American politics before diving into a similar excursion across the range of his wines. And I finished my second day with a 3+ hour exploration of 24 of Markus Molitor’s wines, focusing on the ‘16s but trying many older things to see how the wines age. Denise was incredibly generous in this tasting, what a great host. But I needed a nap after that (and thank goodness for the spit bucket!).

Favorites:
2016 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Kabinett - Very earthy and complex, less about pure fruit than other Kabinetts I’ve tried. Palate: very mineral, earthy, structured, but still fruity. Good Acid. Wowzers
2008 Markus Molitor Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese** (white cap, dry) - beautiful fresh nose of pure honey and white fruit. Not caramelized at all v. 2003, palate very rich and flavorful, dry as heck, balanced, mouth filling and a major step up from the other wines. Yet very refined and delicate. Age well? Check!
2016 Markus Molitor Graacher Himmelreich Spätlese (green cap, off dry) - light exotic nose but showing intensity. Fresh and pow. Pow but still delicate. Barely off dry, Less sweet than the other Green caps. The fruit is present but hidden, with minerals showing, back of the mouth tingling, acid splash all over. Beautiful length.
2016 Markus Molitor Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese*** (gold cap, sweet) - sweet fruit nose but already some earthiness and crisp spiciness. A hint of milk/cream. Palate has apple, peach, sweet honey, terrific finish across the entire mouth, very long. Balanced as well, really lovely. Already showing complexity, will age like a dream.

Here’s a shot of the Roman Amphitheatre (2nd or 3rd Century) in Trier with vines up the hill in the background. A wonderful place to contemplate the ancient wine tradition of this part of the world.

Day 3: Saar

My last day in Germany began with a visit to the Saar. After coffee I walked up to the Saarburg Castle (aptly named, perched high above the Saar river, with a great view of the region and vineyards). Then I had a wonderful, formal tasting at Zilliken with Hanno. We tasted through the 17s. The 2017 Zilliken Rausch GG was amazing, crystalline, perfectly balanced, floral and tropical notes on the nose. The 2017 Zilliken Rausch Auslese was also excellent, ‘essence of mangos’ I wrote in my notes. We compared this to the ‘05 and it is clear how, with time, the nose and palate open up with deeper and more expressive fruit and honey notes while the wines gains in complexity. Yum. Finally tasted with Katie Lauer at Peter Lauer. Tasted through a dozen ‘17s. They were fascinating wines, with a thread of clear refreshing salinity through the dry wines. I really liked the 2017 Peter Lauer Fass 15 Stirn, ever so slightly off dry, with wonderful citrus and floral nose complemented by salty lemon and very long finish.

Here’s the wonderful Saarburg castle, getting some work done so was closed when I was there.

The castle still affords amazing views of the Saar, as well as nearby vineyards like this.

And Beyond …

Next I drove to Belgium for a few day visit to Antwerp. The highlight of the visit was a glorious dinner hosted by Herwig Janssen and his friends at ‘t Fornuis. We had an unique meal custom built by the amazing chef there to complement the wines brought by the group. Wine highlights for me were a 1946 d’Yquem and a 2001 DRC RSV. The 2006 Molitor Zeltinger Sonnenuhr TBA I brought from Germany did me proud, even in such noble company. Otherwise I had a great holiday in Antwerp, wandering around this fascinating city. Among other treats, I visited Peter Rubens’ house (now a museum), and had another great dinner at Invincible, a very modern restaurant with a fine wine list that I highly recommend. Departing through the Brussels airport I found this fascinating display case. Clearly the Belgians love their Bordeaux!

I spent the following long weekend visiting the Ligurian coast of Italy with friends. Didn’t visit any wineries, but enjoyed lots of great local wine and ate like kings (well it was Italy!). The highlight of the weekend was visiting Cinque Terre by motor boat - the only way to visit such beautiful towns that are stunning but also stunningly overrun by tourists. Bobbing in the little boat, munching focaccia, cheese and dried meats, while watching the Ligurian coast drift by was fantastic. Wine highlight for me was a ‘95 Tignanello that was silky, earthy, with lots of secondary leather developed. Perhaps a tad past peak but very enjoyable. My dining partners preferred the light bright and fruity locally made 2016 Durin Ormeasco di Pornassio. After the meal the restaurant owner was eager to show me his small but wonderful cellar. Long deep runs of Tignanello and Sassicaia were complemented by many other regional Italian delights. Plus there was this little shelf. Well, perhaps next time!

Nice trip and notes, next time feel free to spend a night in Luxembourg instead of Trier!

Thanks … next time I will!

Looks like a wonderful trip. The notes and the pictures definitely take me back to exploring Germany years ago and remind me that I need to head back over for a more proper adventure into the wines.

Rich, thank you for posting the thoughts and photos. My expertise with many of these wines are limited, only recently learning what “GG” meant when a bottle of it landed on the table in front of me at an offline. And to think, I thought I knew everything already?

The photos of the slopes in your photos are steep. Very steep. Is that a common feature of the area?

In short, yes. All along the rivers I toured (Mosel, Nahe, Saar) the vineyards’ slopes were somewhere between steep and terrifying. Climbing up Clemens Busch’s vineyard required a lot of careful balancing.

Thanks for posting, sounds like a great time. My experience in Trier was much like yours, I found the people to be very welcoming.

The Clemens Busch vineyards are as steep as anything I’ve seen, particularly Felsterasse and Raffes. We were told during harvest the pickers often have to rappel down to the vines.

Great post! I totally agree with your assessment of the Markus Molitor Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese** (White Capsule), which was one of my favorites there, though I tasted a recent vintage. Glad to see it ages well, as I’m looking for a few bottles locally.

Not only steep, but unbelievably high as well. Nothing like it in California. In many vineyards, it’s so steep and high they use little helicopters to spray anything that needs to be sprayed. They look like hummingbirds up there doing figure 8s over the vineyards.

Sadly I didn’t see the helicopters. Are the slopes in the Rhône as steep Alan?

There are certainly some just as steep and maybe as high, but probably not nearly the extent of the Mosel, where vineyards line the river for miles and miles.