On Sunday, Tobias, who shot the photos for our catalogs, and I visited Weingut Peter Lauer in Ayl, where we met with Florian Lauer. I was able to re-taste the 2008s, but this time after bottling. Back in April, I had tasted on two separate occasions Fuder and tank samples.

One of my favorites is the 2008 Ayler Kupp Riesling “Senior” Faß 6, a filigreed dry-tasting Saar Riesling from 80- to 90-year-old vines, partly ungrafted, in the most westerly sector of the “original” Ayler Kupp hillside (more later about the Kupp). This was the style of Saar Riesling that his grandfather enjoyed to drink, hence the name “Senior.” The 2008 vintage of this bottling has 13.1 grams per liter residual sugar and 8 grams per liter acidity. Although technically halbtrocken (or, feinherb), it comes across dry on the palate because of the acidity. In fact, Florian designates this wine as “trocken” rather than feinherb.

Kupp is a short form of Kuppe, which in German means hilltop. The “original” Kupp is the steep vineyard north of the village. Similar to Scharzhofberg and other prime Saar vineyards in villages such as Ockfen, Wawern or Oberemmel, the vines grow primarily on south- to southwest-facing slate slopes in side valleys.

As with so many other vineyards on the Mosel, Saar and Ruwer, the Ayler Kupp had former specific site names (listed below from east to west):

• Kupp. The original rounded end of the hill, above the village of Biebelhausen; also east facing.
• Stirn. At the top of the knoll, west of Kupp, below the tree-line cover; south facing.
• Untersten Berg. At the foot of the hill, below Stirn; south facing.
• Neuberg (or Neuenberg). The large middle section of the hillside; south-southwest facing.
• Herrenberg. A monopole site of the Bischöfliche Weingüter within Neuberg.
• Kern. A cross-section of the slope between Neuberg and Neuanlage; southwest facing. (The former owner, named Kern, was an industrialist from Saarlouis.)
• Neuanlage. The tail end of the slope; southwest facing. (Cleared of trees and planted with vines ca. 1900.)

The Prussian tax map of 1832 (map1832.JPG), highlights in dark red the middle section known as Neuberg, which for the purposes of taxation was the essential area, since the Catholic Church in Trier and the rich Graff family of Ayl had their holdings here.

This map doesn’t show today’s entire hillside, however. For example, the pink area, west of the Kern section, was removed of trees and planted at the turn of the century and was unofficially called “Neuanlage” (or, “new planting”) to differentiate it from Neuberg. The vines from “Senior” come from Neuanlage. Both sites, Kern and Neuanlage, have a more southwesterly exposure and benefit from the late afternoon sun combined by the cooling winds, especially after sunset, that rush up this area of the slope owing to the humid, marshy fields below.

“Neuberg” means “new hill.” Even though this section is listed on the old maps, dating back to the nineteenth century, it was surely at one point in time indeed “new” and also cleared of woods and planted with vines as was Neuanlage later on. The “Kupp” was the oldest site. (On the Saar, this vineyard name is commonplace, such as the unappreciated Saarburger Kupp in addition to Wiltinger Kupp and Wiltinger Braune Kupp.)

Up until the Golden Twenties, the hillside was simply divided into Neuberg (or, later named Neuenberg) and Kupp. (See picture below.)

From 1933 to 1973, Ayler Neuenberg and Neuanlage (the wooded area of the slope behind Neuenberg) were merged with Ayler Kupp.

Since 1973 the official Ayler Kupp vineyard incorporates now a number of spread-out sites beyond this particular hillside. These include the following vineyards: Ayler Scheidterberg, Ayler Rauberg, Ayler Schonfels, Biebelhausener Sonnenberg, and Saarfeils.

On Saturday, I visited Weingut Reinhard & Beate Knebel to taste their newly bottled 2008 vintage. The elegant two-day presentation took place — as in every year — over Pentecost (a major European holiday weekend), and the sky-blue weather played along, at least on the first day. Gernot Kollmann, who consults and makes the wines alongside Beate, offered me a ride from Trier to Winningen, so we had a chance to talk and then arrived early to open and taste the wines before the festivities officially began.

The big news at Knebel is that Beate’s youngest son, Matthias, has decided to work full-time at the domaine since finishing his viticulture studies in Geisenheim. He’ll help with the vineyard, cellar, and management workload and bring his perspective and point of view to the Knebel tradition — one that carries enormous meaning for him. He has already played an increasingly important role over the past year, accompanying me to wine-tasting events in Paris and NYC and emerging as the public face of the domaine.

In addition, after long deliberation, the Knebels have decided to redesign their label, putting the cursive script on a back label, keeping their coat of arms, highlighting the family name, and drawing the reader’s eye more deliberately to site and (when appropriate) Prädikat.

I had already traveled twice to Knebel recently to taste some barrel and tank samples: once with Stephen Bitterolf of NYC’s Crush Wine & Spirits and then again with my colleague Dan Melia and Rubén Sanz Ramiro, former wine steward at the NYC’s Monday Room. On Stephen’s visit, Matthias took us on a short hike up the drywall terraces of the Röttgen vineyard. Knebel’s vines in these plots, as with Ulli Stein’s vineyards, are mostly trained on wooden stakes, with one cane per vine, and also tied down by willow. The slate, to quote Stephen, looked more like “slate bricks” in this sector of the Röttgen. Matthias also made a quick stop for us at Heymann-Löwenstein, and Reinhard Löwenstein kindly gave us some samples to take along. The next week Matthias took Dan, Ruben, and me on a (death-defying) monorail ride up the imposing Uhlen after we had tasted some tank samples with Gernot in the cellar.

True to the 2008 vintage, the wines have lower alcohol — a welcome change — than the previous few years. In fact, I was able to re-taste certain 2007s alongside their 2008 counterparts, such as Von den Terrassen Riesling trocken from both vintages. The 2008 is lighter, with only 11.5% alcohol, whereas 2007 is just now starting to open up and reveal itself. The 2008 Von den Terrassen was partly fermented and aged in a large, used Acacian barrel from South Tyrol. Moreover, I was also deeply impressed by the 2008 Röttgen Spätlese trocken. Gernot feels that early on it had more aromatics than the typically austere and masculine Uhlen Spätlese trocken, which also needs more time in bottle. I also liked the feinherb wines from the overlooked sites of Hamm and Brückstück. Spätlese and Auslese wines with more noticeable RS and Beate’s dessert wines, though all in small quantities in 2008, were pure and very good.

To celebrate this first presentation day, I was invited with other guests to a special dinner in Koblenz that paired various dishes to Knebels’ wines, including 2006 Röttgen and Uhlen BA magnums at the end.

(Photo: Tobias Hannemann)

(Photo: Tobias Hannemann)

On Thursday night at a friend’s house, where my wines are cellared, I decided to open some 1998s from Provence among eight of us: six Châteauneufs, a Pibarnon Bandol, and a Trévallon. We tasted these in flights of two and finished with a delicious 2007 Günther Steinmetz Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Devon. Without getting into all the details of the different wines and our tasting impressions, it was good to see that the elegant Clos des Papes showed well and was arguably, alongside Vieux Télégraphe, the wine of the night. On the other hand, Yutaka Kitajima, who shot this photo, loved the La Nerthe Cuvée des Cadettes.

Ulli Stein has purchased as well as rented an additional 0.25 ha in St. Aldegunder Himmelreich. He now has a total of 0.5 ha here. When we talked earlier this week, he was putting in new wooden stakes and pruning the vines in these plots. His holdings cover the entire (pre-1971) site, quasi a monopole. Himmelreich has a very stony blue-slate soil with an easterly exposition. This vineyard gets the sun early in the day that helps dry the morning dew and keep the grapes healthy and free from rot. Originally, this area was called “Lay” and the upper terraces further upstream were named “Himmelreich.” All the vines are ungrafted, averaging 70 years old. His core plot has 100-year-old vines, the oldest in St. Aldegund.

One of his newly acquired parcels was planted with clones, but the former owner was unhappy with the results and ripped them out back in the 1950s for ungrafted vines (i.e. on original European rootstock). Ulli said the ungrafted vines develop physiological ripeness at lower must weights than clones would at a similar ripeness level. He likes to make from Himmelreich a delicate Kabinett trocken or feinherb and the rest goes into his Estate wine called Blauschiefer (blue slate). The majority of his Pinot Noir vines are planted in Himmelreich, too.

Both the 2008 Palmberg Spätlese and Himmelreich Kabinett will be under 9 grams residual sugar (RS), hence officially trocken. He recently racked the two Fuder of Himmelreich Kabinett from the lees and the analysis showed 9.7% alcohol by volume, 6 grams RS, and 8.3 pro mil acidity — a dry-fermented Mosel Riesling under 10% alcohol. (Photo: Tobias Hannemann)

Tonight, I’m drinking a 2007 Krettnacher Altenberg Riesling Spätlese trocken from Hofgut Falkenstein. Although this producer is not in our MWM portfolio, I have great respect for Erich Weber. Moreover, he is modest and authentic like his wines and doesn’t seek the limelight. The majority of his Saar Riesling wines are fermented naturally dry and are typically Saar in style with pronounced acidity and bite. No attempts are made at this address for making full-bodied dry or off-dry wines with riper, creamier fruit.  Weber seeks physiological ripeness, but doesn’t want over-ripeness. So, he picks earlier than most. Unlike many of the best-known growers on the Saar, he also has no real interest in the sweeter style. He prefers to let his wines run their spontaneous course in a deep, cool underground cellar, which was once a winery that belonged to the Friederich Wilhelm Gymnasium. His cellar is one of the finest in the region and an ideal place for him to handcraft naturally reductive light-bodied Riesling wines. Weber ferments with wild yeasts in Fuder and bottles late: no inoculated yeasts, additives, or enyzmes here.  Thanks to David Schildknecht for introducing me to Weber a few years ago. He sensed I might like these wines based on the growers we have in our book.

(Photo: Tobias Hannemann)

A trail winds mid-slope in the steep Palmberg-Terrassen in the village of St. Aldegund. The old ungrafted vines are trained in the traditional manner on wooden stakes. The 2008 St. Aldegunder Palmberg-Terrassen Spätlese trocken is still fermenting in two old barrels. Meanwhile, you can taste the Steins’ 2007 Palmberg Spätlese feinherb. (Photo: Tobias Hannemann)

On our visit to Weingut Clemens Busch, my friend Tobias shot this photo of the Marienburg vineyard in the village of Pünderich. (Photo: Tobias Hannemann)