TNs: Mosel is the real deal

This February I dedicated myself to the Mosel. A complete revelation that left me smitten. I now consider these wines amongst my very favorites. I mean: drinkable, pleasurable, moreish, yet refined, elegant, and complex. The fact that they are the best values in fine wine is just incredible. Reading the Therry Theise portfolio along my journey was such a pleasure. I highly recommend this to anyone that doesn’t like Riesling or ‘fruity-wines’ - I was never completely enamored with the varietal before and was suspicious of the sweeter style. I couldn’t have been more wrong and all my preconceptions have been shattered. Thanks to everyone that has contributed to any Mosel thread in the past, as I have vicariously read most of them, and absorbed all your knowledge with my Berserker hunger!

2016 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (23/02/2021)
Minerally and fresh, notes of citrus and fresh mint, with a great core of grapefruit on the palate. Quite forward and juicy, this is very approachable and charming.

2016 Schloss Lieser Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (23/02/2021)
Very moreish and delicious. White orchard fruit and ripe pear are wrapped in honey with an overtone of sponti coming through on the nose. Not the best complex but simply irresistible with its honey-scented fruits.

2016 Schloss Lieser Niederberg Helden Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (23/02/2021)
The initial reductive struck match fades after a while giving way to white peach and passion fruit. Very high deliciousness factor - primary yet so moreish, with brown sugar and lemon sprinkled on the beautiful core of fruit.

2018 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (23/02/2021)
Incredibly elegant and complex. It’s fresh and edgy and defies the warm vintage completely. The nose carries minerals, lime zest, and spices such as cardamom and coriander. Highly structured and built to age, this is both intellectual and a crowd-pleaser. I see this developing quite a bit in the cellar. Great wine.

2016 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese #5 - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (23/02/2021)
Richer nose than its Kabinett counterpart. A wave of struck match, honey, Cantaloupe melon, raw sugar, minerals, ripe peaches, red apples, and verging on the tropical at the tail end with bananas and passion fruit. In the mouth, the wine is round and has a great, juicy, core of fruit, but also structure, minerality, and acidity to keep it together. Already approachable thanks to the charming 2016 vintage, this can definitely benefit from further aging and gain more complexity, but it’s hard to keep the hands off it now.

2016 Joh. Jos. Prüm Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (23/01/2021)
I finally get to taste J.J. Prum after reading so much about this producer. Poured with Coravin through the aerator which supposedly corresponds to about 1 hr in the decanter. Right off the bat, the wine is extremely pleasurable and delicious. Tropical fruits, yellow orchard fruits, great concentration, textural, huge amounts of dry extract, yet still in balance, with perfectly integrated residual sugar. Perhaps not the most complex wine at this point in time, but utterly irresistible, a wine that just draws you in. I wonder how a fully mature Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese tastes - the price is quite above this bottle, in the double category, but I’ll keep my eyes peeled, and hopefully, I can taste that one too.

2013 Joh. Jos. Prüm Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Auslese - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (15/02/2021)
Terrific depth and length, this is not a wine you can sip without taking notice. A beguiling nose of honey, beeswax, tropical fruits, canteloupe, white flowers, peach, pineapple, topped by some leesy notes. The palate is incredibly fresh and airy; balanced; concentrated and effortless, it stretches long intermingling fresh strawberries, ripe orchard fruits, and flowers before ending with brown sugar apples and squeezed lemons. Apparently, the name derives from a Spa (Badstube) on the Mosel river - names checks out.

2017 Julian Haart Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (15/02/2021)
Fresh slate-y mineral, wet pebbles, lemon, lemon zest, white flowers, precise, pure, stoney. A great core of white grapefruit, minerality, citrus, long lip-smacking finish. This is a very racy and pure Kabinett that will develop nicely with a few more years in the bottle, as the 2017 vintage shows through with its high-acidity - one for the acid freaks!


Posted from CellarTracker

WOTM (wine of the month): 2013 JJ Prum Bernkasteler Badstube Auslese

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Welcome to the club! You picked a great selections of wines. Thanks for the notes.

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Thanks Robert! All thanks to the Berserkers. I picked these wines based on what’s discussed here. Next time around I’ll try to get some AJ Adam, Maximin Grünhaus, and Zilliken. I actually ordered a Dhroner Kabinett from AJ Adam but received a Trocken instead. By the way, is Von Hovel worth seeking out? I see he does a Scharzhofberger Kabinett. Although I’m guessing a less-prime location than Egon Müller?

Jan, congratulations on finding German Rieslings from the MSR. Loved your notes and esp. your enthusiasm. These are the best wine values in the world.

I think your next step should be trying to find German wines with some age on them. Whether from the producers you tasted or the producers you want to try, I think this will provide you with more information as you continue your journey than anything else. You will find that a 10 or 20 year old Kabinett or Spatlese tastes completely different from a younger version and then spend the rest of your life trying to decide which you like better - I will let you know when (if) I ever decide and I had my first Riesling over 45 years ago!!!

really good selection from Mittelmosel.

Yes, von Hövel is very good, but in my opinion more the Oberemmeler Hütte than the Scharzhofberger.
When descovering the Saar, do not miss Peter Lauer and Hofgut Falkenstein.

Nice introduction! Don’t get jaded. :wink:

Still so much to explore.

The von Hövel wines I have had (and it has been several years since I have had any) have been very good but not in the same class as Zilliken or Falkenstein or even Lauer.

Yes, Scharzhofberger is the more famous vineyard in which von Hovel has holdings, but I have in the past thought he made better wines from Oberemmeler Hütte.

I would say worth checking out if it is easy to find. They are not the same level of Egon Muller but also 1/10 the cost.

Definitely try some wines from the Saar, I would recommend Falkenstein and Lauer for some slightly different takes on the wines you tried above which are all great.

Congrats on finding the MSR, and thank you for the notes. I’m trying to be patient and haven’t dipped into my 2016s (or even 2015s) pradikatsweins since release.

Haha, I assume Howard meant to say 50 years ago! Maybe he had imbibed too much low alcohol Mosel Riesling before typing?

Thanks for the notes, Jan. I really enjoy these wines too. I would echo others in encouraging you to try some with age. This week we opened a JJ Christoffel 2004 Urziger Wurzgarten Spatlese. Lesser producer than your list and from a modest vintage … and yet, it still hit the spot! Particularly good with Thai takeout.
Regards,
Peter

Yes, I dimly recall that von Hövel’s holdings in Scharzhofberger are near the bottom of the slope. In any event, in some less prime area.

Meant to say 45 years ago (I have fixed my earlier post). Thanks Peter. Hope that you are doing well.

Thanks, Howard! I will try to find some older Mosels. They don’t pop up often over here but I think this is good advice.

Good call on Falkenstein! They were actually the first Mosel winemaker that I tried. It was a 2019 Euchariusberg Kabinett - I must have forgotten to include them or post the note to CT.

If Oberemmeler Hütte is the vineyard to try for von Hovel, was should I be looking for Peter Lauer? I see he does some numbered bottlings?

So fortunate to have landed on Hofgut Falkenstein when first exploring. Personally, I’m backing up the truck on their kabinetten and select kabinett and spätlese feinherb wines from here on out. Love the elegance, weightlessness, and racy acidity in those wines.

Peter Lauer’s prized jewel is the Ayler Kupp vineyard, from which he makes several cuvées based on parcel and level of residual sugar (dry, off-dry, etc). But he gets fruit from other vineyards as well (https://www.vomboden.com/growers/lauer/). It might be worth trying the Barrel X or Fass 6 Senior first to see if you like the style before venturing into the more expensive bottlings.

Hard to go wrong with Lauer, although I’m not nearly as much of a fan of what VomBoden lists as the “terroir wines” as I am of the pradikat and GG wines. Try to find the Lambertskirch kabinett in 2019 if you can. ‘18 is worth seeking out as well. The auction wines also pop up in the states at good prices. The Kabinett is the Fass 5 and the spatlese are Fass 23/24.
A

Nice notes. Inspired me to buy some Rieslings. We have a shop called Surdyk’s that specializes in Rieslings and no one in MN buys them so sale is on now and time to stock up.