On the path towards a Legend: Germany 2015

First week of March I escaped the jaws of school and headed south to Germany for a walkabout among some of the winemakers, to taste their 2015s from tank. Let me say this - the 2015 vintage delivers in every sense of the way the optimistic promises hinted before and during the harvest last autumn. I would go so far as to claim that some of the wines are the best I have ever tasted in my life from this region and that’s quite a powerful statement given my long history of testing the winemaker’s patience when standing outside their doors shouting Weeeeeeeinproooobe! Before you give me any credit to call out this vintage as one of the legendary vintages in Germany the last 50 years, let me disclose that many of the winemakers themselves have compared the 2015 vintage with some of the greatest vintages they have ever experienced. And given the fact that many of them have more than 50 harvests under their belt, that’s saying quite a lot. Especially because you will normally have to turn to torture to make them say even the slighest positive word about their own wines. I hear so often that we joke about the greatest vintage being the latest vintage and that every new vintage is called “the greatest ever” but when you follow the trail to the source you will notice that you never hear this from the winemakers themselves. So when you hear even THEM hinting that this vintage was one for the books, then you know you’re in the presence of something truly special…

During the short time I travelled around the countryside I had time to visit and taste the 2015s (and some 2014s) at the following estates:

Fritz Haag - Brauneberg, Mosel
Schloss Lieser - Lieser, Mosel
Willi Schaefer - Graach, Mosel
Reinhold Haart - Piesport, Mosel
Zilliken - Saarburg, Saar
Keller - Flörsheim-Dalsheim, Rheinhessen
Emrich-Schönleber - Monzingen, Nahe
Gut Hermannsberg - Niederhausen, Nahe
Dönnhoff - Oberhausen, Nahe
Jakob Schneider - Niederhausen, Nahe
Schäfer-Fröhlich - Bockenau, Nahe

So I will try to share my impressions from the entire line-up at most of these estates, when time permits. Some where in a different state of development. Almost no wine was bottled (bottling for many starts towards the end of april), the majority still on their lees in fuders, unfiltred. ALL the visits had its fun moments. One for the books was tasting solo mano a mano with Tim Fröhlich, who had just come from a meeting and seemed unusually tired - a big yawn on his behalf as he poured the first wine confirmed my initial impression but you know, when two wine nerds meet and discuss their passion…six hours later I pulled out from Bockenau, wondering where I would find an open restaurant after 10 pm. Normally tasting with Tim means five hours of ultra-focused sipping and discussions but this time we somehow managed a new record, despite both of us being exhausted from previous activities. In fact, I did hurry down to Niederhausen just to catch Wigbert closing the restaurant but he generously provided me with a glass of a Jakob Schneider Riesling and a sandwich with blutenwurst. If you have never dined here while visiting the Nahe, PLEASE don’t miss this wonderful experience. World-class food just adjacent to the Hermannshöhle vineyard. Here’s a link: Restaurant Hermannshöhle

Another incredible experience was climbing down into the cellar together with Werner Schönleber after tasting tank samples with him, but now tasting the wines straight from the fuders. Man, does he have some beauties waiting in those old barrels… Or when tasting with Wilhelm Haag (at Fritz Haag) - seeing him disappear down into the cellar and then hearing his son Oliver shouting - “Not NOW, father! We’re filtering those wines!!”. Well, taste we did and oh boy do they have some stellar wines waiting for us. At Jakob Schneider it was this fun experience of Jakob having different fuders of the 2015 and then mixing them together in different proportions, posing questions like: “What do you think, 25% of the first fuder, mixed with 75% from the second, or do you propose a different mixture?”. Or when Thomas Haag, just returning from a VDP meetuing in Mainz, hurrying out to the cellar and returning with samples of every possible wine and excusing himself because he had to work in the cellar and wondered if I wouldn’t mind being all alone with the wines, tasting them at my own leisure. Or tasting with Hanno and Dorothee Zilliken together with Max Gerstl and Heiner Lobenberg, or when tasting with Helmut Dönnhoff and him revealing there’s a new wine no one else have tasted before… BLIMEY! The WILLPOWER it takes to leave all that and go back to teaching!

So expect a LOT of subjective impressions in this thread! However, before dwelling deeper into those magical moments, I have a big sack of shrimps waiting in the kitchen and I need to find an appropriate Riesling to accompany the dinner so meanwhile I just share my impressions from two different German Riesling I opened recently.

2007 Reinhold Haart Wintricher Grafenberg Riesling Kabinett
Tasting this makes me - almost - angry. Why? Because I bought this wine straight from the hands from the vinemaker while visiting Theo and Johannes in Piesport and at that time I bought mostly Riesling Spätlese from every estate. Only to realise NOW how incredibly delicious a Kabinett can be now, with some years in the bottle. I was there with a car and I think I bought a 6-pack. When I should have bouth cases. It has all those usual features so often found in wines from the Haart family. Despite not being a Piesporter wine you still notice the tropical fruit and almost “oily” character in the wine. At this developmental stage, after eight years in the bottle, it offers delightful tropical fruits. Think yellow and red colours, like taking a bite of a succulent, red peach, add some mint, currant and a bowl of spices and you get an intriguing mix of flavours that keep holding your interest. Fresch, juicy, lip-smacking and a lovely tension and buoyancy keeps you pouring for a second sip and a third and…well, a bottle that is gone far too quickly! The minerality keeps it rigid and focused and the acidity balances the creamy, sappy fruit and above all, the salty slate makes it drying out towards the end. No, I mean, sure - you feel the residual sugar but it ends in such a fresh and invigoratingly salty/stony style that your tongue is reminding you to take another sip because you feel very, very…thirsty! 92 points.

2002 Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spätlese
I opened these two bottles at the same time and there were moments when I had the Grafenberg Kabinett as a better wine than this and moments when I felt the opposite, that this lovely Spätlese had an advantage but at the end of the day, I feel that both have its merits. Do you know what the damn problem with this wine is? It’s a bottle that I have only recently purchased and before that, it rested - not like the Norwegian Blue - but really resting in a cold, damp cellar beneath the Zilliken house in Saarburg. And wines resting in such a perfect environment seem to be aging in a glacial pace. Sometimes they feel like they have just been bottled. And then there’s Hanno and his d*mn excursions into the cellar, only to pop up later with some unmarked bottles and a big smile on his face, urging me to guess the vintage. Here’s an account on how THAT went the previous vintage last year.
Weingut Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken

I though I’d offer a small interlude with Zilliken from Saarburg - a visit to anyone passionate about Riesling is a “must-do”. I think Hanno and Dorothee Zilliken might be the only ones in Germany who would ask you to please keep the engine running while you’re visiting and tasting. Being slightly cooler, Hanno explained, in the 70s, 80s and even 90s you were lucky to have three vintages for every 10 year period where you would have most of the grapes reaching full ripeness. Nowadays almost every vintage so just a l i i i i i t l e more global warning and Saar will be perfect (whereas some sites with perfect sun exposure along the Mosel can already be too warm in very hot vintages). So feel free to leave your car keys inside and the engine running while you’re visiting. This year and maybe the next one - then Saar will probably reach an opimally climatic peak.

I guess Hanno considered 2013 to be one of those few outlier vintages remaining in the 21th century. The challenges for the Zilliken family seem to be similar to what many other estates reported so if you visited at harvest time and were contemplating about the unusual scarcity of people in the villages it’s because every passing visitor was probably kidnapped by the winemakers to hurridly climb the vineyards and help out with the record-fast harvest as the grapes turned from still somewhat unripe to overripe in matter of days. Hanno’s story reminded me of what Helmut Dönnhoff told me one year, that the postman came by to deliver the mail and Helmut asked him:

- What will you do now?
- I will of course continue delivering people’s mail, the postman replied.
- No, you’re NOT, Helmut replied and pointed up towards the vineyards.

So a lot of stress to pull everything in while the grapes were still healthy. In fact, Zilliken did have an opportunity to bottle both Spätlese and Auslese but they simply didn’t feel that the ripeness and the extract was sufficient to produce them with such high quality and style that has always been the hallmark of their estate so they decided that the juice would go into fewer wines and by that make the wines they actually release being top notch. And admirable effort but probably not a winner economically speaking. So no Riesling Alte Reben this year, and no Diabas, no Grosses Gewächs, no Spätlese and no Auslese - but nevertheless some delious juice in the glass.

2013 Zilliken Riesling Trocken
Delighful, elegant filigree from the very first sip, is the first line in my notebook. It’s as if you feel aromas of flinty dust on the nose, mineral dust, a tad smokiness, almost like a dusty layer abobe the liquid in the glass. Utterly pure and transparent yet with enough stuffing and extract in its texture. Utterly elegant, very crisp and vivid, with lime-peel, white peach and green apples. And smoke! From grinding two pieces of slate together. The saliva keeps you drooling uncontrollably with your lips smacking to save the day. Not a pretty sight if I would take a selfie at this very moment. 87-88 points.

2013 Zilliken Saarburger Riesling Trocken
Take everything you find in the wine above and make it a little more polished. Divide the crushed slate into even a finer powder to a accentuate the minerality and salinity. Add to it flavours of violet, almost minty violets and mixed it with more yellow fruits compared to the brighter white peach infused regular Riesling Trocken. A touch of mandarine-peel bitterness towards the finish, making it more interesting. This really is the epitome of succulent juiciness. I teach biology at school and try to describe to my students that in order to reach the reflex to swallow the food it needs to be moist from the saliva and oh boy, this really makes you swallow. 88-89 points.

2013 Zilliken Butterfly
Considerably rounder in style, with more residual sugar but as with other 2013 it finishes almost dry, making it a very refreshing. Yellow peach, some nectarine, quite juicy, medium-full and well-balanced. A typical food wine that I imagine must do very well in restaurants. 86-88 points.

2013 Zilliken Saarburger Riesling Feinherb
So yellow in colour I was expecting a little more yeallow fruit and roundness, like the wine above, but instead you are met by this very pure and surprisingly weightless, levitating wine that seem to just touch your tongue ever so lightly as if not wishing to step on it. Flint stoniness with added smoke, delicate fresh herbs and only towards the finish you get more yellow apples mixed with dito green. Very elegenat finish with a lovely boyancy. 89-91+ points.

2013 Zilliken Saarburger Riesling Kabinett
Very light in style, weighing in at 7.5%, it starts of with sweetness on the palate but as the acidity kicks in and wraps up the entire package on each side of your mouth, it slightly erases the initial delicate sweetness with added salinity. Very lucid and fresh, delicate on all senses as is so often used when describing Zilliken’s wines but for an even higher rating I would need more energy and extraxt on the palate. 87-88 points.

2013 Zilliken Bockstein Riesling Kabinett
A totally different style here, more oppulent, juicy, rounder and with more yellow apricote and orange-peel. But get this…with racy acidity that makes it very difficult to settle for one glass only. Smoke on the nose, the succulent texture on the palate being very flirty and overall very fine, transparant and light Riesling that reminds me more of the classic type of Kabinett from before - not this declassified Auslese-versions you come across in so many vintages. 89-90 points.

2013 Zillken Rausch Riesling Kabinett
Compared to the Bockstein this is both more elegant yet denser with more stuffing and hence to my palate a wine offering even more drinking pleasure. Influenced by teaching in mathematics I imagined it with the basic characteristics (fruit, acidity, minerality) as vectors pointing in every direction with uttermost, razor-sharp precision. Crisp, lazer-like focus with hints of melon and pink grapefruit, It seems to accelerate into this extra gear making it levitate above the ground with a wonderful vibrating energy and a long, complex and mineral-driven up-up-up-lift finish. A class act. 92-93 points. It really is a remarkable vineyard, this Saarburger Rausch, one of the very few that has this soil type, a mixture of two thirds blue slate and one third volcanic soils, the only other one that comes to mind would be the Abtsberg vineyard in Ruwer, according to Hanno. Both capable of creating this zappy, complex Rieslings with invigorating tension and complexity.
2011 Zilliken Saarburger Riesling Alte Reben
Hanno could of course not prevent himself from opening some more bottles “while we’re at it”. Harvested from several plots of old vines with widely spaced clusters and tiny berries. As good as I remember it upon release. Crystalline precision, crushe the stone and then liquify it and you get the crisp, stoney feeling, add to it cool, snow-like fruit with lemongrass/citrus and a very lively, boyant texture and you start to get the idea. Flushes down your throat like detergent in a washing machine (I know that doesn’t sound too positive but what’s that liquid called that you can use to flush your mouth after tootbrushing them, like an extra wave of cleaning?). One of the most delicate and filigree examples of Riesling from this vintage in Germany. 92 points.

2011 Zilliken Rausch Riesling Grosses Gewächs
Remains almost as weightless and delicate as the wine above but add to it even broader, deeper layers of extract and you have the Grosses Gewächs. Silky, almost creamy (but not yellow creamy but think creamy with white flowers and white peach - anything white will do), beautifully caressing ripe acidity like sun rays on a frosty window a cold winter morning. I find myself saying “crushed stones” all the time but how else to describe this wonderful feeling of salinity and minerality? Crystal-clear, totally transparent in its flavour profile, laser-like focus throughout the drinking experience and such utterly pure, seamless finesse on the long finish. How can you possibly go wrong here? 94 points.

2012 Zilliken Rausch Riesling Diabas
So fun to jump like this between different wines and vintages and have the possibility to compare! I’ll start from the end. A loooong, persistent finish makes it difficult to continue to the next wine since this stays on your palate and refuses to budge. Feels a little more creamy and above all juicer than the ultra-precise GG and that’s what the extra r.s. usually does - rounds it up a bit and in good years, does it without taking away the balance. Otherwise I think this is basically the same material as the GG but just that one barrel didn’t ferment completely out (so basically a “halb-trocken” version of the GG) and thus not fitting with the legat boundaries of a GG according to VDP rules. Lovely floral notes with some slate smokiness. Similar to the GG, this comes out as so incredibly graceful and fine-tuned. Impeccable juice in a glass. 93 points.

1983 Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Riesling Halb-trocken
Obviosuly a completely different create (I have learned my lesson and today I’m always guessing 10-20+ years compared to what I really think), this offers up a delightful mix of swetness and freshness rolling out on your tongue like a silky carpet (imagine the age you will normally guess with that kind of first impression…). The acidity more integrated with the creamy, yellow fruit, with hints of butterscotch and some smoke. Lovely liquid gold feeling. It really adds to the experience when a wine can look this good. 89 points.

1983 Zilliken Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Spätlese
Yes, it’s true, some years the Bockstein vineyard also produced Spätlese. Compared to the other 83er above this too has a lovely note of smokiness adding to the spicy flavour profile yet it possesses more fruit of mango, some pinapple, again a very lovely creamy texture and in the middle of all this integrated fruit you have this refreshing flinty smokiness (yes, again) and flinty stone character that makes it fresh and boyant. I think this is what Hanno would like more of us to taste, to see what Riesling can truly be like with considerable age but the truth is that very little of the output from any German winemaker will reach this type of maturity amongst us consumers. And who can blame us when young Riesling can be so refreshing and hard to resist!? I’m not taking the blame for this! 91 points.

1991 Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spätlese (Auction)
Lots of herbs here, mixed with round stones and flinty smoke. Fruitwise its an intriguing mixture with green AND yellow apples, melon, mint and some starfruit - incredibly salivating on the palate makes you politely ask for another napkin to hide the most obvious drooling. Very herby and refreshing with ripe acidity well integrated but in no way “creamy” like the older examples above. This feels fresh and delicate so trust me, you won’t mumble about this wine being 22-23 years old as you sit opposite Hanno. So what - I guessed maybe a 2004 on this one. For a while I forgot how and where it was stored. And after all, it’s a Zilliken. So I should have added ten years to my guess. I would love to have a stash of this at home to sip every now and then but how on earth do you get hold of bottles like this? 92 points.

2009 Zilliken Rausch Riesling Diabas
Strange thing to suddenly jump to a 09, you say? Well, I describe them in the order they were served. Compared to the younger versions of this wine, here are the first tiny signs that the Diabas with this age is beginning to peel of its initial baby youth and enter into a more adolescent style of maturity (and a long, long way to fully blossom as a true adult). Pronounced flavours of spices and herbs, like dried grass still left on the field. The r.s. is 15 grams in this one and it has already started to integrate very nicely with the acidity. Not creamy in any sense but still very soft-spoken, almost mellow in the middle but refreshing towards the end as the acidity on the finish kind of reappears (with a vengance) to make it succulent and mouthwatering as the wine sploshes down your dry throat. 91+ points.

2011 Zilliken Rausch Riesling Kabinett
Oh, succulent peach, juicy and refined at the same time, adds to the initial peachy flavours with an intriguing mix of fresh citrus, mango, mandarin-peel, and even some flowers. And all this mixed up with an inner core of stone-stone-stone creating wonderful complexity of this typical sweet-sour-salt feeling. So delicate and energetic and at the same time so graceful. No wonder another sip is mandatory, despite Hanno’s effort to pour the next wine. No-no, we won’t have that so I politely asked for a refill to sample this wine once more before the next one arrives. 92 points.

2012 Zilliken Rausch Riesling Auslese
Holy shit… What to say about this one? Harvested from cold, shrivelled grapes, it bounces in your mouth like a flipper, cold minty melon flavours with white peach as the wing man and passion fruit as the backup. Loads of minerality and also balanced with a lovely touch of salinity. A strange mixture indeed as it feels both tropical yet crystalline and zappy, crisp and mineral-driven. Layers of complexity here - optimally one should just sit with the glass for a long time, contemplating while the flavours change on the nose and palate but Hanno was already waving with the next bottle so I had to leave this one in a hurry. 95+ points.

1995 Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Riesling Auslese AP #1
Mature, creamy, caramell-coloured and completely integrated in all aspects of flavour, mineral and acidity profiles. Feels very tropical with mango, pineapple, vanilla, and yellow kiwi - like a meringue cake. And at the same time with such a precise, levitating acidity, perfectly integrated with the fruit at this stage. An Auslese with tension and up-lift, at this age. Every component seem to have taken its place and are now neatly tucked in to display percet and utter harmony. 95 points. A quick look in my cellar - number of bottles: 0. Damn…

1959 Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spätlese Trocken
You see, this is what I’m talking about. This is what he does to visitors. You’re happy if your guess comes at least within 30 years of the correct vintage and you leave with yet another humbling experience as to your ability to guess the vintage of a Riesling. Not! Smoke on the nose as well as first impression on the palate, completely dry at this stage with more notes of crushed rocks and polished stone rather than fruit flavours. Looks and feels like liquid gold or some ester mixture taken straight out of the chemistry lab where I teach. To me, more interesting than delicious as I find hints of sherry notes and I usually don’t appreciate that even in young wines, you know, the way a Chablis can get with some bottle age. However, many of my friends would drool over a wine like this and insist there’s nothing better than this combined with tapas and a bowl of nuts at the wine bar. 85 points. Since this was dry already from the beginning (Spätlese trocken) I would love to find out how a regular Spätlese (or Auslese) of this age would taste today. Probably almost dry but I suspect with added complexity as the sweetness has melted together with the acidity.

1976 Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Riesling Auslese Halb-trocken
Nowadays there’s no more “halb-trocken” bottlings but basically it’s the same as a Diabas version. With age this has taken on a full-bodied, creamy texture and compared to the dry 59 above, the younger age and the added residual sugar from the beginning lift up the flavour profile a little more, to make room for hints of papaya, mango dried apricot, and some yellow stone melon. Above all, what makes it such a joy to drink is the feeling of seemless integration between acidity, minerality and fruit. 91 points.

Oh, before I continue I should point out that tasting with Hanno carries this love/hate relationship. After the tasting of the recent vintage, Hanno very much enjoys running down to the cellar only to return with these damn, unmarked bottles. I mean, have you seen the cellar? It’s like this imaginary this-is-how-a-cellar-would-look-like-if-I-could-invent-one-from-scratch-in-your-dreams. Damp, cold, several layers beneath the rock with stalactites forming from the roof. Now, imagine how a wine evolves in these perfect conditions. Why the cursing and why is it love & hate? Oh, don’t get me wrong - I absolutely love this unique opportunity to taste wines I would never have come across otherwise. Sure, you might find an occasional bottle on the internet but that’s usually a bottle that has been stored way, way too warm in a store somewhere for many summers and will most likely just disappoint. But this…this is something different. The bottles are absolutely prestine with utterly perfect storage and has never left the famous Zilliken cellar. So where’s the “hate”? The reason that it’s not uncommon to have this type of dialogue at the table with Hanno Zilliken:

Hanno returns from the cellar with some bottles and pours the first one.

- Well?

- Hum…a more yellowish colour…on the nose, a little more perfumed and some petroleum compared to the new release - this one has some age!, I shout out triumphantly.

- Yes-yes, please go on.
- But still with lot’s of freshness and the sweetness slighly integrated with the acidity so can’t be that old but still, hum…

- Yes, carry on, Hanno replies with that disturbing smile in his eyes, making me suspect I should guess older than I really think.

- Hmm, I was going to say 2004 but with the smile on your face I reckon it’s older so I’m actually going to say 2002!

- Ahhh, not bad. Really not bad at all! (Encouraging words from Hanno Zilliken. What a relief!)
- Really!? Not bad at all? I was that good? Spot on or did I just missed it by a year?, I ask eagerly, thinking that shit Miran, you’re not such a bad taster after all.

- Yes, yes, really not bad at all. Almost there.

- Stop teasing me! So what are we talking about here? 2001? 2002??

- Almost. It’s a 1983.
- But… But that means I was 20 years off!

- Well, yes…

Do you get the picture? So you can imagine the slight drop of self-confidence. I think I hit rock-bottom once when I was sure a wine was from 1993 or possibly 1989 but it turned out to be a 1959. That damn cellar!

See…?? He’s teasing with you! He’s exposing you to all these mind games!! Same thing with this. It feels much younger than its supposedly teenage life. And more, I remember tasting this when it was released and frankly, I liked it but I felt it didn’t have that extra nerve and electricity so often found in Zilliken wines. To me, it was softer and more subdued, sweet and arguably with lots of filigree but not with the tension I expect in a Spätlese from Zilliken. Well, lo and behold, because here we have a completely different creature, with a lovely combination of laser-like acidity, brimming with energy, scoops of salty slate minerality, a cool feeeling of wet stone pebbles and only then you add the notes of yellow peach, some apricot, a hint of pineapple and and sprinkle of fresh grapefruit and lime to keep it vividly fresh. And speaking of a sprinkle - there’s this very light, delicate nuance of vanilla, mixed with melon and mint towards the end, as the long finish lingers on your tongue. Exotic and tropical yet fresh with a feeling of cool and sappy fruit. Impossible not to like if you have a similar palate. 92 points.

And the 2015s from this estate… Yes, you probably guessed it. Hanno compares it to 1975. Look up the history books and you’ll realise what that implies.

Great stuff, already printed off and in my 3 ring German binder!!

No helicopter wines?

Nice! I was at the middle Mosel during the Easter weekend and visited Clemens Busch and Kees Kieren. They did not have any 2015 available yet. For Clemens Busch this will only be after the summer. Kees kieren will start bottling in April. He only had a 2015 blanc de noir which was very promising. Big fat wine. Might make a separate post about our experiences.

I also have good hope for 2015. Fortunately most German wineries ship to the Netherlands. To make the Americans jealous, shipping usually amounts to around 1 euro per bottle max…

Sounds like it might be a helicopter vintage!!!

Miran is the Cecil B. Demille of thread originators.

Anyone heading to the VDP auction this year?

I go Le, will be my sixth. There’s a little group of 6/7 from the UK.

Awesome! i went to the rieslingfeier this year, had some great young and vintaged Rieslings, I never been to the VDP auction before, how does it go?

Le, did you write any notes at the riesling do?

nice notes & pictures - thanks for sharing

Not to worry, Keith and Charlie…! There WERE indeed some major helicopter moments when tasting the 2015s. Got me into a lot of trouble when I breached the restricted and heavily trafficked air space above with the air traffic controller shouting: get that “thing” out of here!

Thanks for the notes, I have high hopes as 2015 is the birth year for my first child, and Riesling is one of our favorite grapes. I will definitely be stocking up if these are truly so wonderful.

Eric, congratulations for becoming a father! And trust me, your first-born child will have a vintage of a lifetime to savour when he/she comes into age. Many of the thrilling 2015s will be very much alove and kicking even in 20 years from now.

Before reporting more on the spectacular 2015 vintage in Germany, I thought I’d give you some glimpses and impressions from to road leading up to the harvest and subsequent great vintage as 2015 seems to be based on early tastings. When reading reports and impressions from people living in America I always become somewhat envious, thinking how great it would be to live in California and having so close to so many great wine estates. But then I remind my self that this is probably exactly what they are thinking when they read about our encounters with European winemakers here in Europe. This is a cross-post but might nevertheless provide a personal glimps into the German landscape as it was unfolded during my many visits there last year.

Lots of lifetime experiences from Germany last year, some that will be quite hard to describe but I’ll do my best when time allows. How to paint the experience and feeling of doing a complete two hour grape tasting with Roman Niewodniscanski, starting at…midnight. Yes, in pitch darkness, from vineyard to vineyard with only the faint lights from our cellular phones to guide us. I know, I know, it was as crazy and surreal as it sounds. Or a complete day with Helmut Dönnhoff from morning until midnight, following hime from vineyard to vineyard, listening to stories from the past, mixed with thoughts and musings on current topics and a look into the future. Or an incredible lunch and wine tasting with Nik Weis at St Urbans-Hof in Leiwen. So many grateful thanks to give to these generous people. The problem with experiences so many things day after day is that you need double (or triple!) the time to acually share all impressions.

This was my 6th of seven visits to Germany last year year. This time I was able to follow the harvest in Rheinhessen. The next visit allowed me to follow the harvest first-hand in Nahe, Saar and Mosel.

Before anything else I’d just like to show you one thing, that we should remind ourselves when we drink these Nectars of the Gods, German Riesling. The incredible effort to bring these grapes in and covert them into something enjoyable in the bottle. While photographing Niersteiner Hipping along the Roter Hang section along the Rhine river I was reminded what it really takes to harvest these grapes. One slip and you have a possible roll of a lifetime downhill until you crash into the river. With 80%degree slopes, this a place where you want to grab onto the vines and dig down deep into the ground with your sturdy boots. I had my TEWA sandals which made things somewhat more “complicated”… Nevertheless, I was able to capture some images that reflects the strenous effort to work in these steep vineyards. And mind you, it’s even steeper in Mosel! Actually FAR steeper in some vineyards!

I was trying to point the camera so it was horisontal with the horizon and…well, you’ll notice it yourself. I can only imagine how your calves feel after a day’s work in the vineyard…

First an observation from the VDP Mosel auction in Trier. If anyone wonders if the world record price for the 2003 Egon Müller Schartzhofberg Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese might have gone to Egon’s head and made him loose his touch with the ground, I can report that while there were many fancy super cars parked outside the hotel, Egon, after the auction, neatly dressed as always, jumped into his mud-stained, used worker’s van and headed towards home, creating chuckles among the winemakers standing outside. :slight_smile: I thoght I’d offer some impressions from the wines tasted at the auction later but for now I would say that some of the hightlights, except TBA mentioned above, was also Hanno Zilliken’s Rausch Riesling TBA from 2005 and, in my opinion, also the lineup from JJ Prüm, with Manfred himself standing at the table and pouring four different wines from the 2014 vintage while captivating the audience with his description of the growing season and his take on how it affected the style of his wine.

As to the weather and the winemaker’s discussions about the growing season and when to harvest in Mosel, there were some anxious looks among many growers because prior to the auction there had been considerable rain, with an increased risk of swollen grapes and hence dilution of grape juice. However, I talked to Jean Fisch from the excellent Mosel Fine Wines who stressed that although rainy, it was nothing compared to the heavy rains in 2014. The days after the auction the weather was continously unpredictable with many heavy rain showers. While attending a wine tasting at St Urbans-Hof, Nik Weis commented that it felt like the weather in April, where it could go from rain to sunshine and then back to rain again within minutes. I heard other wine growers whot commented that the rain has already made some damage but that it could still be a very good season depending on the forthcoming weather prior to harvest and indeed, when I was there the weather shifted into a more stable high pressure with lot’s of sunshine going well inte the harvest period that had already commenced at some estates and that will commence these coming days at others. Next week, it looks like, will see a considerable drop in temperatures at night which many growers commented were particularly desirable at this stage of the season. Slow ripening in dry weather during the day and the preservation of flavours during cool nights. It will be very interesting to taste the grapes next time around to see how they have developed these last few weeks. When grape tasting with Roman Niewodniczanski at van Volxem, we both noticed that some grapes were already sufficiently ripe and he also informed me that there will be some preselection harvest the very next day, after my visit.

One thing that seem to be the buzz among the wine grower community is the extreme early harvest in Pfalz. Christmann and other estates reported that they had finished harvest already by the late third week of September. And I’m not just talking about the early ripening grape varieties but everything including the top rieslings. Some were commenting that riesling was harvest even around the second week of September and I get the feeling that many growers had some doubts that would be enough to obtain the highest quality but would sure enough be a safe harvest to secure they get the grapes in. I don’t know why many of the top Pfalz growers chose such an early harvest - maybe someone more familiar to that wine region might offer their input?

Nahe seemed to be in waiting mode with no harvest going on, at least not that I observed among the top estates. Talks with the growers suggest they seem very happy the way the grapes look like at the moment and as many said - right now they are approaching the period where rain will make it quite difficult but it will still save them a reasonable harvest, while a prolonged period of sunny days and cool nights would open to window to a possibly great vintage. While I was there the sun was shining and above all, it was a little windy which is an additional advantage in the vineyards. I can report that the grapes in Hermannshöhle taste delicious right now but that Helmut will try to wait as long as possible to harvest.

Rheinhessen was in full harvesting swing but the difference here is that most of the harvest was from earlier ripening grapes with Riesling only now (towards the end of my stay) approaching the beginning of its harvest cycle, while having awaited the Pinot Blanc (Weissburgunder), Pinot Gris (Grauburgunder) and Sylvaner to be picked. The last few days the weather really turned into a picture perfect postcard with crystal-clear blue skies, sunshine and wind, a weather that has been continuing this recent week with wine growers like Klaus-Peter Keller running around like a child in a candy store, enthusiasticly pointing to the perfectly looking grapes and I can only confirm that the grapes really taste like they look. Like small, tense champagne bubbles bursting with energy. Two pics from this morning’s harvest illustrate it more than words can offer.

The first Riesling harvest in Westhofener Morstein.

First picking for Spätlese in Abtserde, officially known as Westhofener Brunnenhäuschen.

Thought I’d share some snapshots taken while roaming the countryside prior to harvest and especially to show a site from different angles. A favourite valley of mine, has always been the Nahe river, and of course…the wines produced there. Like the Schlossböckelheimer Felsenberg, Schlossböckelheimer Kupfergrube, Oberhäuser Brücke, Oberhäuser Leistenberg, Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle, Norheimer Dellchen and Norheimer Kirschheck.

A classic vineyard and one of my personal favourites, is the Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle, spread out like a sun feather in a perfect southerly exposure. And with some very old vines with roots dug deep into the slate. To me, the wines from here always seem to offer that extra layer of complexity compared to the neighbouring vineyards, as if the roots have reached deeper and captured even more aromas that vines at other sites are yet to discover. A perfect viewpoint for the Hermannshöhle is right at the bridge crossing the Nahe river in Oberhäusen. Here’s a snapshot:

While standing beneath the vineyard, it might be difficult to grasp how perfect the exposure to the sun actually is…but if you climb the Lemberg hill on the opposite side of Hermannshöhle, you get a good overview how it looks like from above. Like this photo illustrates:

The picuresque building right below the vineyard is Restaurant Hermmannshöhle, with superb local food and wines from the Nahe region, where the owners Wigbert (the chef) and his wife Sylvin welcomes hungry and thirsty visitors. A perfect end of the day for anyone visiting the wine growers in this region.

And…if stepping into the vineyard in late September, you will encounter…this:

Already sweet with refreshing acidity, these grapes feel like small champagne bubbles exploding in your mouth as the skins burst and reveal the flavours from the juice. Yet, they are still at least two weeks from harvest.

Another example of different perspectives is the bridge over the Nahe river and the vineyard associated with it, Oberhäuser Brücke. When standing in the village looking across the river it looks like this, with the vineyard barely visible right there at the end of the bridge (with Hermannsberg above and Hermannshöhle to the right):

While…when looking out from Lemberg, you see Oberhäuser Brücke from this angle and can see how it follows the river on the northern side. Grapes from here are usually harvested as Spätlese and Auslese but also, this is the perfect site for Eiswein since cold air is flowing down the hills, creating a perfect trap of cold air just along the river. At Spätlese level I have always felt that the wines, for my taste, have been a little rounder and softer than the neighbouring vineyards but since the last ten years the wines from here seem to have shifted into a more precise and mineralic style.

And finally, for those who haven’t yet been there but are planning to visit, here’s an overview angle showing many vineyards in the same photo. From left, the Schlossböckelheimer Felsenberg (the small strip above the railway), Schlossböckelheimer Kupfergrupe (the old copper mine above the Gut Hermannsberg), Niederhäuser Hermannsberg (to the right of Gut Hermannsberg buildings), Oberhäuser Brücke (close to the railway across the bridge) and to the left, the grand-daddy of them all; the Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle.

And the most fascinating thing…so it’s basically the “same” site or place, but with wines displaying so much different aromas and flavours despite being so close together. I can’t think of a better example of the concept of “terroir” and how it effects the character of a wine.

It strikes me how beautiful the landscape looks like this time of the year and words are really not that necessary to convey that natural beauty. So I thought I’d offer some photos from a place beside the road when I stopped the car just outside the tiny village of Trittenheim in Mosel. To the right side you notice the famous Trittenheimer Apotheke vineyard. Also, check out the cargo boats plowing the Mosel river. I have no idea how these incredibly long ships manage to maneuver past the meandering river.

I especially like how the colours shift in the landscape as clouds come and go. On this particular day I had just visited Nik Weis at St Urbans-Hof in Leiwen, just south of Trittenheim, and like Nik commented - the weather was really April-like with rain showers and sunshine taking turns every five minutes.

And speaking of Nik Weis of St Urbans-Hof, he invited me to a tasting to which I arrived without eating breakfast and having no time for lunch because of a tasting just prior to arriving to Leiwen I wondered how I’d manage to survive a tasting without strange noises from my stomach indicating some craving for non-liquid consumable products… Well, there was no need to sound the alarm bell as this was waiting at the table.

Saved by the bell! :slight_smile: Lunch, German-style.

And then the Nik Show started. That’s when he generously opens bottle after bottle while discussing differences in vintages, variations in characteristics depending on the weather any particular year and then…for those who have met him, other stories that make you laugh so much you have difficulties focusing on taking notes. This is just a snapshot on how the table looked like after spending some time with him.

I don’t know what you think about his wines but I have fallen in love with them from the first time I tasted them many moon cycles ago. The thing I like the most with them, is their “yellow” character in the fruit, that of a ripe, succulent yellow apple with a varying degree of dryness and maturity depending on the wine’s age and vintage character. Even more difficult years like the 2000 vintage displays a mellow harmony throughout the palate with a very balanced and vivid texture. Palates differ and I can only offer my subjective impressions, but I’m particularly fond of his Ockfener Bockstein. Always racy and vividly mineralic in a perfect balance with the citrus and peach fruits. And I love the viscosity and oily, “fat”, tropical richness in his Piesporter Goldtröpfchen.

I’d welcome comparisons from others, in particular if you have recommendations from other producers from these two vineyards.

Roman Niewodniczanski at van Volxem in Wiltingen is a dividing tour de tour character on the German wine scene; he even admits it himself. No one will leave indifferent after meeting with him. People either seem to like Roman and his wines, or despise him. Hum… I wonder where I’ve heard a similar story like that before! :wink:

I had hoped to spend a calm afternoon with him for some photo shots and tasting a wine or two over a tranquil conversation. Well, people who know him must be laughing if reading this. By now I too realise that is a naive approach to Roman. From the moment I stood outside his massive door outside his house and knocked, to the moment I finally crashed into bed at 2 am I felt like coming from a Buddhist Zen temple and then jumping into a washing machine just at the moment it starts to speed up to maximum velocity for the final rinsing. It I would live my life like that I’d never make it to my next birthday but somehow Roman survives this life style.

Again, the generosity and kindness is difficult to describe so I thought I’d just offer some photos and a brief subjective account from the experience. First, speaking of how a kitchen table can look like after awhile, here’s a snapshot.

My tasting notes would probably completely take over this forum and we all know how popular THAT will be so I’ll refrain from doing that and instead just offer my two cents on the wines in general. The style of the vines are somewhat different from what you might be used to. The Master of Wine here is not so much Roman but rather Dominik Völk, who in my opinion, makes some thrilling examples of fermented grape juice from this estate. In general, the wines are not dry and not sweet but somewhere in-between, with some exceptions. Quite rich, very mineral-driven, rather spicy and smokey and to my palate very delicious. But then again I have been accused by certain winemakers that I seem to embrace and enjoy ALL styles of Riesling. Guilty as charged, I guess… van Volxem rieslings more resemble Austrian Riesling from Wachau, to my palate. Not exactly the same, of course, but with similar texture while retaining a distinct Saar style. Above all, the word that comes to mind when I taste them is…drinkability. I always enjoy them either as a glass accompanied with food or just the wine by itself. When speaking to others I realise these wines divide the consumers in two different blocks, for or against, but count me in the formr group.

What no one can take away from Roman is his passion. And he embraces this passion not only through wine but also history. His father was an avid collector of maps and the history of German Riesling seems to strike a special chord within Roman and I must confess I share his fascination of how once upon a time, German Riesling was considered the best and most expensive wines in the world. A century ago you could dine in the most posh and exclusive hotels and restaurants in Europe and when you looked at the wine list you could sample through pages of first growth chateaus from Bordeux or famous estates like Domaine Romanee Conti but the most expensive wines were…dry German Riesling, particularly from the Saar. Roman has a fine collection of old menues and price lists from luxury hotels in London, Paris, Berlin, etc - showing a very different pecking order among the best and most expensive wines a hundred years ago.

And speaking of reviving old history, I guess you’ve heard of his project in Ockfener Geisberg where he, together with Markus Molitor, is putting back this historical site into production. Wow, there is so much to be told here but I won’t push my luck by expanding my text even further and instead conclude with some photos illustrating Roman showing old maps and restaurant menues, and passionately discussing the past glories of Saar Riesling. Something he intends to revive.

Another photo to illustrate Roman’s passion when he speaks of the history of German Riesling. You really can’t have the camera set to a slow shutter speed with all that fervent waving around… :slight_smile:

And speaking of the many wine education degrees and diplomas discussed among people passionate about wine, ONE piece of education/experience I would like hope that every sommelier student will be able to indulge in, is the magic moment of having a wine grower taking you out into the vineyard to taste the grapes and discuss terroir characteristics such as soild composition, elevation, sun exposure, microclimate, etc. You can read about these things until you suffocate but it’s only until you really step into a vineyard that your truly grasp the sense of diversity of different characteristics that together influence the taste of a wine.

These photos were the daylight photos from the grape tasting with Roman. Unfortunately I have no photos when he took me for a midnight grape tasting through most of his vineyards between midnight and 2 am because it was pitch black and the only light source guiding us where the dim light from our cellular phones. An…interesting…experience.

And as a final installment before I shift to more pressing issues, I’d like to make some PR for the VDP auctions. They are always held on a Friday (Mosel), Saturday (Rheingau) and Sunday (Nahe, Ahr, Rheinhessen), usually the third or fourth weekend in September each year (in Trier, at Kloster Eberbach and in Bad Kreuznach). If you haven’t been to one, please go and see for yourself!

Here you will be presented with the best and specially selected wines from most VDP estates, from the previous harvest and occasionally from older vintages (especially when they offer Icewein and Trockenbeerenauslese. What I like the most is the possibility to really meet & greet with the winemakers themselves, as they stand at their table pouring the wines straight into your glass as an intermediate station before it continues down your throat. Although spitting IS very much advisable…you’ll understand what I mean if you go there. This gives you a perfect opportunity to meet with the winemakers while sipping on their wines AND…afterwards, when the auction starts, you will be poured each and every wine AGAIN into your glass so there are plenty of opportunities to really sample the best and the brightest as they are being auctioned off to thirsty buyers. And you meet many people sharing a similar passion for Riesling!

The Mosel auction in Trier is a larger event, with the winemaker taking his/her seat at the podium above the audience. A fun way to meet with the faces associated with the wines (and not necessarily the people that work in the vineyards). Like below, Ernie from Dr Loosen and Manfred from J.J. Prüm.

Ernie Loosen

Dr Manfred Prüm

It’s really a marvelous feeling to actually have the chance of standing there and sipping on their wines while listening to Manfred explaining about the latest vintage and how he feels the flavours and remind him of comparable vintages from the past when at a similar stage of development. Please go and see for yourself, because I believe no pictures will do the event justice - the atmosphere is difficult to capture in a photo.

My favourite auction is the much smaller one for Nahe/Ahr/Rheinhessen regions held Bad Kreuznachand. It’s almost cosy compared to the bigger autcions at Kloster Eberbach (Rheingau) and Trier (Trier). Held in a beautiful museum of Roman art and culture, there is no real podium above the audience so the winmakers sit up close to the participants. All in all, it’s a very familiar atmosphere as you stroll around and chat with the winemakers while they are pouring you their auction wine. Like in Trier, there’s a second chance to sample the wines as the auction is in progress.

An inside hint, if you really want to get upfront and close the action (not just the auction), is to stand close to the auctioneer as he/she swings the club while the commissioneres (the ones who you need to give your bid to) gather in front to discuss and try to divide their various bids into a combination that will set the price. If they can’t agree and have higher bids and more demand then the amount of bottles available, the price goes…UP. Sometimes they lean towards the winemaker, asking if there is a possibility to add more bottles to the auction, effectively stopping the auction if the result is that everyone of the remaining bidders are happy and satisfied. But if not, the price goes up and new negotians take place. It’s a wonderful tradition and a fascinating spectacle to observe; like a tradition folklore display of some sort. With wine as the background music.

Here are two photos illustrating what I’m trying to describe with words. You might recognise the gentleman in the middle. It’s Johannes Selbach from Weingut Selbach-Oster.

So if you haven’t experienced this already, please have a go at it. If you are a Riesling fan, you will have lots of fun! [cheers.gif]

Miran, Two of the most respected men in the German wine trade in the same picture. Johannes Selbach, who you identified, and Agi Ress from the Rheingau champagne.gif

I hope the wines are as good as those pictures!

Amazing photos in your recent post! Thanks for sharing them