Do you have any insight to share regarding the harvest in the Saar and Mosel generally speaking and Hofgut Falkenstein specifically @Lars_Carlberg?
You have posted in another thread that there won’t be a 2023 red spätburgunder.
I can’t say much about the 2023 harvest in the Saar and Mosel for other producers, because I was busy picking grapes at Hofgut Falkenstein. But in general 2023 is a cooler vintage than 2022, even if the weather was relatively warm during the harvest. It was a difficult vintage for Pinots, because of wetness, which caused rot, and a number of producers had severe problems with peronospora (downy mildew) for their Riesling, if they didn’t spray properly or on time.
Below is a harvest report.
At Hofgut Falkenstein, the harvest ended on Sunday, October 8th. We picked Riesling grapes non-stop for over three weeks. Jonas Dostert, who visited us on the next-to-last day, said that Egon MĂĽller would be done a couple of days later, but his team probably had off on the 8th. (It turns out that Egon MĂĽller finished on the 11th.) Jonas was accompanied by Moritz Kissinger, and both confirmed that it was a difficult vintage for Pinots.
In total, we have six different Fuder casks of Euchariusberg Kabinett: Arthuro, Klaus, Kugel Peter, Gisela, Ternes, plus a special second cask of Gisela. We picked both Gisela casks at 81 degrees Oechsle, a record low from this prime parcel of ungrafted old vines.
In Bockstein, we picked, once again, Mia earlier than Schorsch, but both will be wonderfully light Kabinetts. Mia, which has more topsoil, ripened quickly. It should be even better than the last two vintages. On the early morning of September 26th, we picked Schorsch in the place-name Im Jung. Nik Weis drove by us that morning; his crew was picking in the Zickelgarten sector farther east down the path.
The must weights were between 80 and 92 degrees Oechsle. To be exact, Munny was a shade below 80 and is a Kabinett trocken. There will be a couple of Euchariusberg Spätlese wines and a few Herrenberg Spätlese feinherbs. Onkel Peter will be a Kabinett feinherb this vintage as well, and Ober Schäfershaus will be a Spätlese trocken once again.
We picked an Auslese at 92 degrees Oechsle. It’s from Förster, and the grapes had no botrytis. A few days later, we harvested on the same day the bordering parcels of Ternes and Mammen, which had 84 and 88 degrees Oechsle, respectively. Mammen will be a Spätlese. It just shows how different these three adjacent parcels of old vines are. Each has different Riesling clones.
The last-picked parcel was Gisela—namely, a few rows in the corner area that were a little more vigorous. The must weight was a mere 75 degrees Oechsle and fermented dry in a Halbfuder. This will be a Kabi trocken house wine for Erich and me.
This vintage, we have had rapid fermentations. Many of the wines are done and just need to mature in cask.
Thank you Lars, that was even a more thorough report than I had hoped for!
This information is a great backdrop from which to build upon as more information becomes available.
My pleasure, William. I sent a similar report to a few friends earlier this month.
Just to be clear, downy mildew was a problem for Pinot Noir and other grape varieties, not just for Riesling.
Among the standouts are Onkel Peter and Gisela.
A quick question Lars.
Is there an official mailing list, is it possible to order directly from the estate? With Goldrichs gone one has to look for alternatives. I never tried to contact the estate, the web page is rather minimalistic.
What happened here?
I don’t know what happened but there were multiple flash sales during the spring and besides of '22 Falkenstein’s no new arrivals (so stock was close to none many months) and then the site just stopped working. @MaciejK Concept Riesling is a really good alternative for Goldrichs if you are not familiar with the shop already.
Interesting. I pre-ordered all my Falkenstein 2022 from them and paid some months in advance before receiving it all, but I haven’t had a look since.
Hopefully no customers have been left hanging.
Hi, Maciej. Sorry for the late reply. I worked in one of the Spätburgunder parcels today.
No, there is no mailing list, and the Webers don’t sell to private clients. If you Google “Hofgut Falkenstein,” you’ll find a list of the various wine merchants who sell the wines in Germany and beyond, such as Concept Riesling, Pinard de Picard, and N° elf.
The two business partners at Goldrichs split up, but Nico Kliche still has Heimat.Wein in Berlin.
It was planned, so I don’t think any customers were left hanging.
It is a pity, I will miss them. A one stop shop for all things MSR. And for those with good reflexes, a chance to score some rarities.
Yes, that’s true. Goldrichs had a great selection of Mosel wines.
Just happened to read a short summary for 2023 in the Mosel from Stephan Reinhardt (Wine Advocate - posted 10/31/2023). Does not sound promising at all, with the understanding that excellent producers who make strict selections can always pull a rabbit or two out of a hat.
Lots of comments regarding rot and fruit fly issues.
FWIW, his brief comments on 2022 in the same article were quite negative for dry Rieslings which was the focus on the article.
A very simple summary from my conversations would be that producers are a lot happier now that they were just before harvest.
But it wasn’t easy.
I have neither access to The Wine Advocate nor Vinous, and I can’t speak for other producers, but we are extremely happy with the 2023 vintage at Hofgut Falkenstein.
We really like our dry Rieslings from 2022, too.
He did say conditions were better in the Saar.
As I mentioned above, certain growers’ vineyards in the Saar region had been severely afflicted with downy mildew. I also pointed out that rot was a problem, especially for Burgundian varieties. That’s why we left one parcel of Pinot Noir unpicked and only produced a rosé. Riesling, however, did well.
Yesterday, Johannes and I pruned vines in Euchariusberg. He flat out said that the 2023s at Hofgut Falkenstein are even better and “cooler” (i.e., lighter and crisper) than the 2022s. I have only tasted barrel samples once since after the harvest and was very pleased with the results. Next week, I will retaste the wines with Johannes.