I’m new here, but I know a handful of folks here from the NYC wine world. I enjoyed reading some notes from others about the Mosel as I was planning a trip there this month - so I thought I’d share some notes and impressions from my brief (4 days including a Sunday) trip to this incredible region!
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS: everything that I heard from riesling lovers just rang true as soon as I arrived in the Mosel. The place is incredibly beautiful, the weather is dynamic (especially in April), the people are kind beyond belief, and there’s an essential soul of the place reflected in the geography and the humanity. The wines were of course fantastic, but spending time with the winemakers and hearing their reflections on life and on their craft was really what made the experience magical.
WINERIES VISITED
Clemens Busch - we had the pleasure of tasting with Lukas, a Danish self proclaimed wine geek who seems to know every winemaker and character in the Mosel. Tasting a '93 spatlese trocken was really wonderful. We mostly tasted through the ’22 lineup from village wines through GGs, followed by a few pradikats. I love that they bottle separate parcels of the Marienburg vineyard denoted by slate color - experiencing the difference between red (fruity, spicy, verging into red berries), blue (floral, mineral, phenolic, powerful) and gray (unusual elsewhere in the Mosel, balanced, elegant, linear) slates was an excellent study. A highlight for me was the ’18 Felsterrase - a gray slate parcel adjacent to Falkenlay, fermented to slightly off dry levels (so not labeled as a GG - something Clemens fought to keep that way when he joined the VDP).
Stein - what can I say to describe this visit? We met Ulli at Haus Waldfrieden, right above the Alfer Holle vineyard, with views of the Mosel and towards the Palmberg vineyard. Over 3 hours with a lively group of other Americans and Danes, we tasted through a mighty lineup; ’23 barrel sample rieslings, ’22 rieslings, natural wines, and finally red wines. Ulli was full of stories and wisdom. He reflected on the importance of showcasing the soul of the Mosel in all of his wines, including the simplest ones which are made for drinking with simple food like potatoes. He told us stories of the vineyards - the Palmberg (‘the most emotional for me’), the Himmelreich, and the Alfer Holle and its 1900 parcel, complete with stories of his tending to the individual vines which all have names. He reflected on the magic of old vines - containing wisdom of life just like an older person even if they are no longer as strong, and showing more of their character in recent warmer vintages. And he regaled us with stories of pioneering red wine growing in the Mosel - fighting the authorities (‘if I grew marijuana here it would be less problem for them than growing red wine!’) and exploring the potential of pinot and even cabernet. When we started our tasting the weather was horrible; over the course of our tasting the weather changed and the views cleared. As we finished I stepped outside and was floored by the sight of a complete rainbow spanning the Mosel - a moment of pure magic, that felt like it only could have happened in Ulil’s company.
Will Schaefer - we were very fortunate to visit Christoph and Andrea especially so soon after Willi’s passing. We started by tasting ’23 barrel samples of 3 kabinetts - Wehler Sonnenuhr (which I’m much less familiar with from Schaefer), Himmelreich, and Domprobst - an excellent side by side comparison of vineyards (WS showed exotic notes, Himmelreich floral precision, Domprobst earthy and darker minerality). We also tasted a number of older wines: 75 Domprobst auslese (incredibly complex and fresh), 04 Domprobst spatlese, 09 Domprobst spatlese auction, 22 Himmelreich spatlese, 13 Domprobst auslese. Christoph and Andrea emphasized that their focus is on maximizing time in the vineyards above all else and this shows in the quality of the wines in the glass. As Christoph mentioned when telling us the story of their label, these wines are intended to be distance runners, so matching trends and current fashions is besides the point.
Ludes - Julian Ludes is a dynamic force and after tasting with him my dominant emotion was excitement at following his career through his wines for decades to come. It was uncanny meeting someone this young (he’s 27) with such passion, paint of view, and knowledge about riesling. We tasted through ’23 and ’22 wines from the Mosel and Hermann wines, through the single parcels, and some older vintages (17, 19) of Monster, Gackes Oben, Gackes Unten, and the Thornicher Ritsch auslese. Many of these bottles had been open for 3+ weeks (Julian had indicated with marker the date opened for each) and tasted incredibly fresh. These wines are intense, spicy, and complex (the ‘23s showed a lot of mint and spice notes); there’s some sponti / reduction on many but it’s faint and blows off with air.
Karthauserhof - this visit gave us an excuse to stop in the Ruwer and complete the Mosel/Saar/Ruwer trifecta. The terroir here is much different - less steep than the Mosel, with no river in sight from the vineyards (we drove over the Ruwer at one point where it was basically a creek). The domaine is historic - with documented history of continuous winemaking in the Karthauserhofberg vineyard since 1335. We weren’t able to taste any GGs but had some great experiences with their kabinetts - the main takeaway was that their terroir shines in cooler vintages, as evidenced by 08 and 21 kabinetts.
Lauer - we got a full experience by tasting at the estate, driving through the Ayler Kupp, and eating and staying at the Weinhotel. We had a great discussion with Florian about his GGs and the aging profile of dry wines - he thinks his GGs enter their optimal zone 8-10 years after the vintage - and enjoyed comparing the 3 best known GGs young (Schonfels backwards and coiled, Kupp open and savory, Feils rounded and most enjoyable). Unfortunately the night before our visit, they had experienced significant loss of grapes to frost in many vineyards (including about half of the Senior parcels).
Falkenstein - an absolutely wonderful capstone to an excellent trip, as Erich hosted us (and we also got to meet Johannes). We talked about Erich’s life’s work of building the estate, the journey from selling solely to private collectors to reaching several international markets, the nature of Mosel/Saar dry wine, and above all family. On discovering that he shared a mutual friend with my dad, Erich remarked ‘the world is a village’. We tasted ‘23s which were so typically Falkenstein - racy, electric, mineral and above all just enjoyable (‘adult lemonade’ in Erich’s words). I hadn’t had much experience before with the auslese (Forster #5) and it was the highlight of the tasting.
Other Notes
We stayed for 3 nights in Zeltingen at Zeltinger Hof and 1 night in Ayl at Lauer. We ate dinners at Wei und Tafelhaus (formal and long but very good), Die Mosel (highly recommended by many and very worthwhile), Zeltinger Hof (more traditional German and had the best old wine list of anywhere we visited), and Lauer.
We also got the chance to meet and spend quality time with @Bobby_Frank over two winery visits (Stein and Schaefer) and one long dinner - amazing evidence that love of riesling brings people together!