Lovely report. Thank you.
Question - that entire set of 8 or so Dönnhoff wines (Feinherb through Spätlese) were all 40 g/l of RS, or am I misreading.
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Thanks, David. You got it.
Just first 4.
I hope you know to not use that word.
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After a tearful goodbye to our new best friend, I got back on the road.
Drove over the Hermannshohle and walked the vineyards for a while. Beautiful. I’ve walked vineyards every day for at least an hour. There is so much understanding and joy to be had this way. If I had my druthers, I’d always walk the sites before doing a tastings.
Beat a storm into Trier. Very pretty drive. Big forest in the middle. No time to stop though as I had a very important appointment, lunch at Yong Yong with our own @Lars_Carlberg. Lars is as generous, thoughtful and knowledgeable in person as you would expect from his posts. We had a wonderful meal as I got to soak up his stories.
There are lots of people who love german wine and not a tiny amount that promote it, but few Americans make that ultimate move to leave behind the land they know and fully graft themselves onto new rootstock as Lars has done by picking up to Germany many years ago. Bravo.
Treir street parking is a pain. Just go to the underground garage. Yong Yong is clean with tasty food. The wine list is smaller (<50), but high quality in producers and vintage.
Drove to Ruwer Valley.
I arrived directly at Maximim Grunhaus. The estate is very pretty and has a gorgeous view of their holdings. Had been corresponding with Rebecca Langenfeld there and she’d been very responsive and kind. It was their release event as well. I tasted and took detailed notes on all 48 wines.
Given how behind I am in this chronicle, I will not reproduce them all now, just the highlights.
2024 was very difficult for them they lost 80-90% due to frost. On account of this, much of what was shown was '18, '20, and '23. There was a minor scare during the event where it hailed for 30 - 60 seconds during what was a torrential rain (it had been very dry before, so the rain was very welcome). Thankfully the hail let up quickly.
In general, GrunHaus had the most consistent house style of everywhere I’ve tasted so far. There is a distinct Gentleness to these wines (imagine the extra age plays a role, but it’s more than that) and fruit profile. The three main vineyards are on a hill directly across the little road from the winery.
The sparklings (6) were all solid. Highlight was 2019 Riesling Sket brut Reserve - Citrus, lees, mild mannered, elegant. Very good wine. With the others good wines to needing more time.
The Pinot ('23 1gr) and Mash Riesling ('22) need more time to integrate their oak.
Drys showed lots of wine with gentle energy and fruit, but I did not have a stand out here. Lots of good wines that time will have to judge. Some questions on sunburn in '20.
Off drys: Mixed bag. I preferred the 2018s which showed very clean, though admittedly with lower acid. Very confused by 2024 Das kapital Feinherb blocky geometry, but again, '24 so we’ll see.
Schloss Kabinetts from '23 and '24 gave real impression of young vines to me.
2018 Herrenberg Auslese 59 - Wonderful nose with light petrol, flowers and yellow fuit. Touch of crystallization. Light on it’s feet. Excellent.
2018 Abtsberg Auslese 89 and 88 both felt restrained, but with potential
Reserver wines
2018 Grunhaus Alte Reben Trocken - Nectarine. Starts slow, but then pulls together. A gentleness and seamlessness that feels a value at 30euro (tbd on US prices though).
2020 Herrenberg Spatlese - Gentle nose with apples and orange and some spice. Weightless. Delicate. Acid provides structure, but already very much in supporting role. A very good wine
2018 Abtsberg GG - Profound. More old stone feel and energy than the 2020. Not noticable acid, but not flabby at all. Particular. Very good
2018 Abtsberg Kabinett - peanut skin and kettle corn. Pineapple and ripe apple. Peculiar, but this is the Kabbi for those that want a lower acid higher “yum” version.
2018 Abtsberg Auslese #69. Nose light and very clean with Mandarin orange, clover honey and fresh loaf. Taste follows with more orange and marmalade. Complex. Light in mouth. Short in finish. They are very proud of this wine. And it does seem special for those that desire the very clean and light off dry Auslese style
Max felt the most “proper” of the winemakers I’ve met so far. Jacket and vest + British English accent.
Stayed at Karlsmuhle hotel in town. Nice rooms. Pretty patio by lively stream for drinks. Nothing wrong with the restaurant, but better places.
I spent the rest of the day running in the valley up on the hills and vineyards into the sunset quite a pretty place
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That error I did manage to avoid 
Sounds great, and interesting how one could interpret this. The fact that they have a narrower range of vineyard (all on one hill, as you note) could be the key factor.
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Interesting. Going to have to try one of my few bottles soon. Hope the acid level isn’t too low. Recently opened a 2016 Abtsberg and was blown away by how good it was. About as close to perfection as I’ve had. Instant Grunhauser fan! 
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I would not even use it in writing, to be honest.
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I visited Bürklin-Wolf last weekend. I am biased as I love their wines, however, it was their Cuvée Brut Sekt, which was a revelation for me. Indistinguishable from a good champagne (fruit profile, autolytic notes, finesse …) and probably the best Sekt I have had so far. Whatever Bürklin-Wolf does, they do it right.
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I really like the Sekt wines from Grunhaus.
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Can you help me understand? Doesn’t it just mean ~“missy?”
While I wouldn’t address a stranger that way, even ironically with a chummy 60 year old hotel owner, I don’t see the harm of writing that in a clearly comedic context.
I think it’s impolite to ask or imply marital status. Seems you wouldn’t learn this from a regular dictionary.
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Indeed 
Indeed. Regarding the vineyards, Rebecca and Max both referenced how the forest’s proximity to Herrenburg had a cooling influence in the wine. While Abtsberg’s center aspect contributed more ripeness and Bruderburg’s cant gave it aeration in both directions.
Not flabby, but not Hermann Ludes. This feels designed of mid range drinking and I think you’d very much enjoy one now. maybe the next at 10 and the last at 13? The wines can certianly age, I had an '89 two nights ago (note forth coming) and it was devine.
Yea, that was very much my experience with the sparkling. I grabbed a bottle and will pop in a couple just to confirm
My first time with them. My sparking notes, in addition to '19 reserve:
- 2020 Sekt brut - restrainted and quite elegant
- 2016 sekt brut reserve - four years onthe lees and put together, prehaps the lees influence is a touch strong at this point, but some bottle time will help that
- 2019 Rose sekt brut - the blend is mostly pinot blanc with some PN, don’t have much experience with sparkling PB, very floral and soft structured, but mouth feels a little bit a loggerheads. Strange to me
- Pinot Blanc Reserve - honey suck nose, gentle, lots of PB typicity. Upside here
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Gotcha. Thanks, Tom.
They carry it in my market, but not many SKUs and very little inventory.
No native German speakers bother to chime in, so I will. F* is a word from the days long gone, outdated, and banned from the official vocabulary. Something you only expect to encounter in old, bad comedies from the fifties (the parking lot scene as Gavin described would fit there nicely). Not forgotten, but if ever used today then in a completely harmless, joking manner.
As a German would say, let’s leave the church in the village.
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Yes, that is perhaps what makes Grunhaus so special and distinct. The vineyards definitely have their own character that is fairly easy to distinguish, even for a novice (when I first got hooked). But they are also monopoles and on the same hill, so they have a distinctive Grunhaus character that makes them different from other wineries whose vineyards are more dispersed.
My earlier comment was poking at the idea that maybe the wines are more influenced by heavy-handed winemaking, to impart the distinctive signature. But I like this terroir argument better!
Enjoy the rest of your trip…
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Nice travelogue
Great photos
Thanks for not including photo of naked man
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Long run in the morning and then drove down the Mosel. Side bar - “Up” and “Down” are tricky to figure out for first timer. Down feels north-ish and the river curves a lot.
We, still just me, but feels like we at the moment, had a very important meeting with … lunch. Zeltinger Hoff.
Pretty architecture in old school aesthetic. Traditional German dishes in traditional German sizing (large) that stick to your ribs. MASSIVE wine line. This place is famous for back vintages, the oldest being 1921. And - it delivers. It’s nice, but not fancy, convivial, but not hip. You really must go here.
I had already went through the wine list and decided on a 1988 peter Weller-Lehnert Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese. I think '88 is overlooked, but haven’t had much of it. Plus - at 60euro how do you say no?
(Men’s room decor)
(yes, that is chicken with a wedge of brie melted onto it)
The somm wasn’t there for lunch and the waitress, who was in every other respect really kindly, butchered the cork with a true violent disregard. Stabbed the corkscrew in. Yanked it out. Broke it halfway, obviously. Used the corkscrew like a chisel. Broke the cork down to a 1/3rd. Then tried to Ah-so it. 1/3rd a cork does not an Ah-So work. Then took it behind a bar. I heard a bang (execution?), and then brought back the wine.
It poured clear. No crumbly cork bits. Hat off and guess there are many ways to skin a cat. No flaws at all. I stretched this bottle over 5 days sharing it with everyone I visited and it held up the whole time. My note:
Beautiful. This wine dances in slowly under chiffon filtered evening light. Was it probably at the height of its powers 5 years ago? Sure, but real beauty doesn’t fade, just evolves. The color is quite gold, more than I’d expect with '88 Spat, so I feared something was amiss. Needless fear. This held up beautifully over many days. The nose is excellent is elegant, seamless, and subtle bunch of melon and flowers. The mouth was probably best a couple of year ago. There is a tangerine, smoothed out grapefruit creme brulee, kiss of sweetness and still some acidity.
Brief cut.
When I go to a wine region I bring wine with me. Wine makers love wine and wine is made for sharing. It also changes the vibe of a tasting or visit. It’s usually not something fancy, I aim for something interesting. This time I was coming from Spain so I brought a sherry, which, in addition to being interesting, also holds up over multiple days. Additionally, lots of times folks won’t have tasted other producers’ current releases, so if I pick up something from one to drink during the trip, I’ll bring the leftovers (while traveling solo and driving like in the Mosel that’s usually quite a bit of the bottle). I recommend the practice highly.
Afternoon tasting at Markus Molitor. Grand time.
I have loved these wines for many years. One of the bottles I had brought to Reslingfeire was a 2015 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese. It drank great. I appreciate how sensible his label system is (just check the capsule color) and people sleep on these wines. I think for two reasons:
- He makes a lot and it can be tough to navigate if you don’t spend 5mins figuring it out
- He’s a big producer now and that turns some folks off.
Markus was going up and down from the winery. He still does the winemaking though he very much does not have to - Respect. We chatted for a while and he was quite down to earth. Thinking a lot about how to best communicate his wines in the US and we had a several good volleys on the VDP labeling scheme vs his vs what consumers understand.
I tasted with Marceel, who had great energy. They make a lot of wines and we probably went through 15/20, so I will not reproduce in full. In short, there really wasn’t a bad wine here across the dry-sweet spectrum. I think the reds are showing good potential as well.
An important note, I only tasted a single 2024 here. They have the resources and philosophy to hold things back. The average red age I had was ~2019. The average age of drys ~2020. Off drys were ~2018 with big outliers and sweets from 20020 kabi to 2003 Auslese. Makes for a great time and discussion of vintages.
2020 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr auslese* - A good wine at the moment with lots of upside potential, but I’d wait 10 years. Very mellow. Spice finish.
2023 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese* - They are experimenting with concrete eggs and used one for this wine. Lends an expressiveness. Orange finish. Very dry.
2023 Bernkastler Doctor - 3 hectare. 9 wine makers. There is a reoccurring auction by the landowner for who gets the grapes. Very expressive. Reductive orange explosions. This is gonna be something in 20yrs!
2018 Green top Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett - Very good. Not too sweet. Stones on one side of the balance beam and stone fruit on the other. Very good today with plenty of upside.
2003 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr ** Auslese - Weird. Lovely. Big complex nose. Mouth isn’t huge, def ripe peaches with fuzz and something savory / mineral licks. This is yummy. A very good wine.
White top 2022 Schiefersteil - Can a wine be astute? Smells like it somehow. Bottle had been open for a while, but tastes so fresh. Rainbow level diversity of flavors. Wild.
2005 Z Deutschherrenberg Auslese Edition 18** - ‘Edition’ is a line pulled specifically bc it’s ready to drink. This vineyard faces east but got so hot in 05 it was ripe enough for off dry Auslese. 120 RS and 9 acid. Over ripe tangerine and some sharp tropics (passion fruit), light crystallization hint of ginger, Acid brings a great balance.
2005 Haus Klosterberg BA - Blend of vineyard that depends on year. Their “entry level” BA. True to form, but in a gentle stage.
I realize, I haven’t been including pricing on things. Will do going forwards as I’m always curious myself what wine is costing aboard.
Afterwards, I headed over for an early dinner at Die Mosel. Some days are just busy like this
Lovely spot. The view from the patio seating is scenic. Very different wine list than ZH. It’s focused on younger vintages and more current producers. Perhaps fair to say that ZH is focused on recording the past while Die Mosel on predicting the future?
The food is not trad German, but rather an international mix with Spanish tapas x Asia vibes and clearly on a mission to be wine friendly. The owner and her husband are nice folk. Great fun.
Ordered a Stefan Muller Niedermenniger sonnenberg Kabi Alte Reben 2021 - A good wine. Has that kabi quality where you want to drink more. Citrus and flower nose. Lime, mineral, and hint of stone fruit. The sugar is sticking out just a touch on this one though there is plenty of acid so image that comes together with time? Screwcap.
Stayed at Hotel Trabener Hof. Totally serviceable. Traben- Trarbach is a pretty small town.
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