[philosophy]

“Riesling for advanced learners” means…

1. Stylish wines with elegance, not too alcoholic, but with depth and concentration is the goal of our traditional work in steep slate hillsides.

2. A natural, organic wine production—in the vineyard and beyond is essential.

3. Riesling as passion. The noble white grape plays for us the sensory keyboard of soil, climate, and upbringing. Here originates an individual, first-class range from one single grape variety.

4. Real wines mean for us: one vineyard, one character. We harvest our best parcels separate and let them ferment with their natural yeasts. Nature is the composer, we are the musicians.

5. A spontaneous fermentation with wild, untamed yeasts is risky, though infinitely exciting.

6. In regard to quality levels we think logical and simple. Our wines are arranged in three distinct categories: light-bodied wines from the Saar Valley, typical site-specific wines from around Ayl, and genuine terroir wines from our best parcels.

This was translated from Weingut Lauer’s website. Click here. For Point Two I kept to the original text and left the word “organic,” even though Lauer is not officially organic. The Lauers avoid artificial fertilizers, insecticides, and herbicides. They do use, however, non-organic treatments against mildew when necessary. Florian Lauer feels that the use of copper, which is toxic, is more harmful than certain fungicides. The three distinct categories under Point Six are similar to Burgundy with regional (i.e., Saar Riesling) wines, “villages” (from sites near Ayl), and then the “premier” or “grand crus” (e.g., from pre-1971 names within today’s Kupp, such as “Unterstenbersch” and “Stirn.”)

Last night I brought along a bottle of 2007 Maison Pierre Overnoy (Emmanuel Houillon) Chardonnay from the Jura region to my friend Stefan’s place to watch the Champions League final between Bayern and Inter. It was purchased by a wine-maker friend of ours at the domaine. The wine already had an orange color and an oxidized taste—a far cry from the excellent 2001 (clear, crisp, and clean) and the very good ’04, which Dany Bertin-Denis of Les Enfants Rouge once decanted and poured alongside the Savagnin. In fact, I even preferred the more opulent 2006 Chardonnay from Overnoy to the ’07. Fortunately, we had other wines to drink, including a newly bottled 2008 Pinot Noir from Günther Steinmetz. This has only 12% alcohol and is quite closed down after bottling, but so impressive. I’ve always been critical of Steinmetz’s Pinot Noirs, but his 2007s marked a change in style. And the 2008 Pinots might be his best ever.

Today, I’m taking the train from Trier to Winningen to partake in Knebel’s 2009 vintage presentation.

Below is our vintage 2009 summary for the Mosel-Saar region:

A frosty January was followed by a warm April and an early budbreak. In June, many areas of the Mosel region had an uneven and long flowering, resulting in tiny shot berries (often good for quality), but reducing yields. This was due to strong rains and a drop in temperatures followed by mild humid conditions with fears of peronospora (downy mildew), which affected Riesling in certain communes of the Middle Mosel. By September, it became drier and warmer, ideal for the grapes’ ripening (especially old vines with their deeper roots in the steep slate slopes), leading up to an early harvest in mid-October under sunny skies and cool nights. Most vintners, who were selective with multiple passes in the vineyards, picked at ideal ripeness levels, despite fears of rot, and finished by the beginning of November before the rains came. Botrytis was minimal. The healthy Riesling grapes had marked aromatics and the subsequent fermenting musts were remarkably fruity. The vintage has more similarities with 2005 than 2008. The latter is a leaner, classic year with pronounced acidity, and the 2009s have more fruitiness from the start. On the Saar, there was frost in October, and only a band of sites nearer the river were unaffected and kept their leaves.  Nonetheless, the best Saar Rieslings and certain wines of the Mosel, often from side valleys, have a noticeable mineral tension, between fruit and acidity. It’s indeed an excellent vintage.

Photo: Harvesters climbing up Peter Lauer’s site in Schonfels on the Saar, one of the few vineyards in the area that kept its leaves after the October 2009 frost.

Although no one ever noticed, I realized on my own that I had mistakenly captioned this photo from Tobias on page 27 of our Catalog 2009 as Bremmer Calmont. It’s actually Stein’s revered St. Aldegunder Palmberg-Terrassen.

Stairs up one of the many old drywall terraces at Palmberg that need constant upkeep, as in other Lower Mosel vineyards, such as Winninger Röttgen, where the Knebels have some of their best parcels. Yet, much of the Lower Mosel (also known as the Terrassenmosel) have terraced sites, like the Mittelrhein nearby. Sadly, many vineyards in both regions are being left abandoned and bramble grows there instead of vines.

On the Saar, the Lauers saved an old-vine, terraced plot at Schonfels, which slopes precipitously above a high cliff and down towards the river.

Before Flurbereingung (remodeling of vineyards), the Middle Mosel, Saar, and Ruwer had more terraced hillsides than today. Fortunately, several of our winegrowers, including Clemens Busch and Stefan Steinmetz (Weingut Günther Steinmetz), have been instrumental in saving old Riesling vines or re-cultivating steep slate slopes in their respective communes.

It’s not about the brunette, whom Lyu Hanabusa shot for Mark Williamson’s Willi’s Wine Bar vintage 1993 poster, but rather an observation about skin contact (or, pre-fermentation maceration) for Mosel Riesling. Admittedly, this is another geek posting about a technique (Maischestandzeit) that has so many facets and will only be covered here on a superficial level, but deserves a closer look.

It’s common practice in the region, especially for sweet wines, with botrytis-affected grape bunches, to be pressed without any maceration. Many producers in their sixties or seventies always did it this way. Some critics argue that skin contact (click on our glossary and scroll down for the definition) has become à la mode on the Mosel. And surely, they’re right that some wine-makers are following a trend here. Yet, macerating Mosel Riesling before pressing is a traditional method of handling the grapes before fermentation begins in order to extract from the grape skins aromas, phenols, and potassium, the latter helping to buffer acidity. Obviously, many wine-makers, especially those focusing on high-residual-sugar wines, handle their grapes differently, that is but putting them directly in the press with or without crushing the grapes beforehand, and if crushed, then without maceration.

Looking at some old archive photos of the Mosel Valley in Karl-Josef Gilles’s Das Moseltal Zwischen Koblenz und Trier 1920-1950, crushers are shown placed on top of open-wooden vats that were carried on horse- or ox-drawn wagons at the foot of steep hillside vineyards and then the crushed grapes were brought back to the winery for pressing. The grapes often macerated an entire day or even longer on their skins, pips, and juice. The winegrowers would then fork the grapes into a wooden-basket press. These old-style presses gave fine, clear juice, which was further exposed to air before running down into the barrel cellar below. Today’s pre-fermentation maceration with must oxidation, as practiced by Clemens Busch, reproduces these time-honored methods. Certainly, in the old days some winegrowers crushed and macerated purely as a means to get more grapes into the wooden vats and to avoid having to go back to the winery. Others consciously sought out to extract from the skins more aromas and phenols.

Just as skin contact is used to increase phenolics, whole-bunch pressing has become popular among producers in other regions to decrease them. Both Olivier Zind-Humbrecht and Jean-Marie Deiss told us on our visit to Alsace last summer that they prefer to handle their grapes as gently as possible by direct (pneumatic) pressing, no crushing or macerating beforehand. This probably has some to do with the climate being warmer and the wines naturally more opulent.

At Markus Molitor and Van Volxem (two large, flagship estates on the Mosel and Saar, respectively) extended hang times and skin contact are preferred and both have invested in modern Swiss-made, stainless-steel basket presses. Van Volxem also likes to offset any bitterness resulting from phenols extracted during prolonged skin contact by micro-oxygenating the must, but not the wine. The results at both estates speak for themselves.

Ulli Stein explained that maceration is a complex theme that needs to take into account different factors such as wine style, grape variety, climate, health of the grapes, ripeness levels, acidity, and so on. Generally speaking, he feels that skin contact on the Mosel increases the complexity of the later wine, but decreases its elegance. It’s a fine balancing act and only pertains to healthy, high-quality grapes. Less healthy grapes, in his opinion, should either be crushed and pressed or direct-pressed. For healthy grapes to be macerated, he considers three main factors: grape acidity and quality as well as the sought-after wine style.

In a high-acid vintage, and for progressively higher ripeness levels, he does longer macerations. For example, his 2008 Palmberg Spätlese trocken was 14 hours on the skins; whereas, the less ripe 2008 Himmelreicht Kabinett trocken only 4 hours. And the opposite is true for riper years and lower quality wines, i.e., less maceration. He also feels it’s better to macerate at cooler temperatures to avoid excessive extraction of phenols. As a rough guideline, he points out that one hour of maceration reduces acidity by 0.1 grams per liter and increases the danger of the wine later going through malolactic fermentation either during or after the end of the alcoholic fermentation. For ripe grapes, he recommends macerating with the stems. Otherwise, it makes sense to destem. In Alsace or Chablis, he feels the wines already have enough opulence, but less acidity and delicacy. That’s why they often avoid doing skin contact, instead preferring more elegance at the cost of fullness, which is in their wines already plentiful to begin with. They don’t need extra oxidation measures to reduce it.

Last November I tasted and compared Weingut Günther Steinmetz’s 2008 Riesling (a special Triage Wines’ bottling) and 2008 Mülheimer Sonnenlay Riesling Spätlese trocken “Alte Reben.” Although the latter showed more grip and substance from “old vines,” the extended 36-hour skin contact didn’t make it—as some might presume—rich, oxidized, or overly extracted. And both held up beautifully over several days in the fridge and are excellent examples of naturally low-alcohol, dry-tasting Middle Mosel Riesling. Even if the grapes for the 2008 Riesling were crushed and then direct pressed without skin contact, it still has a good depth of flavor and clocks in at a mere 10% alcohol by volume. The old-vine Spätlese is only a degree higher, at 11% alcohol, and also has a light color and bright acidity despite the long skin contact.

Why does Stefan Steinmetz then choose to do skin contact on the one wine, but not for the other? For his 2008 Estate Riesling (Triage Wines), the grape bunches were harvested en bloc and included grapes that were affected with botrytis. He wants to avoid macerating these grapes, which could give off-flavors. His old-vine Spätlese from the Sonnenlay vineyard consists, on the other hand, only of healthy and ripe grapes, because the botrytis-affected bunches were harvested beforehand. In other words, there was a pre-selection in this site.

Stefan has several reasons for doing skin contact for his top dry-tasting wines: (1) reducing acidity with higher mineral components; (2) lessening the danger of atypical aging taint by extracting Caffeic acidity; (3) increasing the aromatics; (4) extracting more flavor, glaze (schmelz), and volume; (5) getting the ripe tannins; and (6) following a tradition on the Mosel, because the pH levels are low, i.e., the wines have higher acidity and more resistance to microbiological spoilage.

Direct-pressed grapes on the Mosel will rarely result in a wine having the same structure than ones that have had some maceration. Many producers avoid pre-fermentation maceration, even for dry Riesling. Erich Weber at Hofgut Falkenstein exclusively ferments with wild yeasts in Fuder, and the wines, mostly dry, are slowly squeezed without crushing in a spindle press. Even though he’s less in favor of skin contact, the wines are gently pressed for three to five hours that includes some maceration. With his richer soils and crisp, taut style, he’s less keen on breadth in his wines.

At Weingut Peter Lauer on the Saar, Florian Lauer has, as most producers, a pneumatic press. His is an Italian-made Defrancheschi, and he likes to do whole-bunch pressing, as well, with some maceration inside the press, depending on the wine in question. He also treads the harvested grapes before pressing. Ulli Stein, whose style is for dry, light-bodied Mosel Riesling, does after gentle crushing a cool maceration before pneumatic pressing. In a throwback style, Martin Müllen, in Traben-Trarbach, likes to do a gentle crushing—without destalking—followed by putting the grapes into an old basket press and then into barrels. Each winegrower has their own approach.

As with all aspects of wine-growing and -making, it depends on the producer and the style of wine to be made. Many factors play a role in determining if it makes sense to do skin contact and what the end results will be.

Sorry for the long delay since our last post; we’ve been remiss.

In early March, Matthias Knebel, Florian Lauer, and I traveled to NYC to visit clients and pour wines with our colleague Dan. I stayed the next week, as well, because Clemens Busch joined Dan and me for another round of tastings and visits. It was a great trip going around the different neighborhoods in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and I followed this with a week in Central Texas.

After my three-plus-week stay in the States, a friend and I drove on Easter to the Middle Mosel and visited Später-Veit and Günther Steinmetz. We tasted some of the newly bottled 2009s. I was impressed by the quality at both estates. (By the way, see link for an excellent write-up on Günther Steinmetz by Uwe Kristen.)

Along with his splendid Brauneberger, Mülheimer, and Kestener wines, Stefan Steinmetz made for the first time bottlings (all adorned with the new retro label) from his recently acquired 1.2-hectare parcel of 50-year-old Riesling vines in Wintricher Geierslay, a stony south-facing site tucked in a side valley. I loved his 2009 Riesling Spätlese “sur lie” from this vineyard, and it’s my “Wine of the Week.” This wild-yeast-fermented Riesling—sponti aromas on the nose—has about 12 g/l residual sugar (RS), so technically not “dry.” But it has real character to go along with wonderful acidity, grip, and balance. As with almost all of Steinmetz’s wines, it was vinified sur lie (on lees), though in steel rather than in Fuder. His 2009 feinherb (ca. 22 g/l RS) from this site might even be better. These are reminiscent of Florian Lauer’s Ayler Kupp Riesling in style and substance.

Heinz Welter at Später-Veit made arguably his best collection of Riesling. In particular, I loved his ’09 Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Spätlese “Jupp,” from a well-situated plot of vines named after his uncle. This has amazing finesse and breed and measures up against the great wines of his friend and neighbor Theo Haart. All of Heinz’s wines, except for his liter, were fermented this vintage with wild yeasts. He made some slight changes in the vinification and the style has become more linear, less opulent than in past vintages. I also liked his 2009 Piesporter Grafenberg Kabinett feinherb (from red slate), 2009 Piesporter Domherr Kabinett trocken (perhaps a step up from the ’08), and 2009 Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Spätlese trocken (worthy of GG status, if non-VDP members could do so and supposedly some have asked for permission).

Harvesters at Schonfels on the Saar. Photograph from Florian Lauer.

Florian Lauer of Weingut Peter Lauer had some additional 2009 harvest facts that I’ve translated below:

• Must weights mostly between 90° and under 100° Oechsle.
• Acidities pleasantly stable at higher ripeness levels (9.5 to 11.0 g/l); we don’t need to acidify, as in other wine regions (e.g., the Pfalz).
• Grapes very healthy; little botrytis, when then clean and dry.
• Ripe, dried raisins and berries, ideal for BA and TBA.
• Young vines inferior because of a lack of water in September.
• Old vines very good—since longer roots, enough water.
• Oct. 20 frost of minus 4.5 °C froze the leaves in less well-situated vineyards.
• “Saarfeilser” one of the only sites on the Saar that had green leaves, hence great ripeness.
• Early frost could result in a lack of reserves in the coming vintage, because vines assimilate nutrients from the leaves. Already one day after the frost, there were no more leaves on the vines this year.
• We’re not producing any Eiswein! I don’t like Eiswein and prefer a fine BA instead.

After pointing out Weingut Peter Lauer’s harvest report to the wine critic David Schildknecht, he kindly translated the text himself and let me post it on our blog:

FLORIAN & PETER LAUER (WEINGUT PETER LAUER, AYL) WRITE: [and you can see their photos and the original, version of this report here]

The Saar Brings in a Fantastic 2009 Harvest

Since mid-September, our Riesling grapes in the steep slate slopes have been ripening under absolutely ideal conditions. The weather during the late months of ripening (September and October) was a critical determinant of the health, concentration, and aromas of the grapes, which are being harvested now in October, and into November.

The berries are very tiny and the clusters loose—thanks to our having divided them in summer. (This consists of cutting the individual bunch in the middle, precisely at the spot where otherwise unfavorable early botrytis appears and leads to unripe rot.)

The dry first half of October gave us top cuvées of quality comparable to the 1999s or 2005s. In the upper levels [of ripeness] this vintage leaves no wish unfulfilled: From Spät- and Auslese through BA and TBA (Trockenbeerenauslese with well over 200 degrees Oechsle) with terrific interplay [of flavors] and endless nervosité [Spannung—never have found an English word to convey this, literally meaning tension] between fruit and mineral-crystalline Saar acidty, everything is present that makes up [great] Riesling.

The dry September made it difficult for our newly-planted and young vines, and led to premature ripeness. By contrast, our many parcels with old vines—with their long, deep roots—were ideally suited for the dry autumn. Here, one tastes in the fresh must the energy and expressivity of the vintage [:] tension [English in original].

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 diverse plots with a good portion of 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 8.0 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. (Formerly, the east-facing hillside was called Biebelhausener Berg, later Biebelhausener Kupp, which was next to the south-facing Ayler Kupp.)
• 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, 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 old vines from “Senior” come from many different parcels within 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 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 Braune Kupp.)

Up until the Golden Twenties, the hillside was simply divided into Neuberg (or, later named Neuenberg) and Kupp. (See below old postcard sent on June 13, 1916 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, Rauberg, and Schonfels as well as Biebelhausener Sonnenberg and Saarfeils.

The weather had been perfect over the last few weeks: cool, dry, and sunny; now the forecast is for rain. Stefan Steinmetz of Weingut Günther Steinmetz told me that there is good ripeness in his various plots around Brauneberg in the Middle Mosel and the main Riesling harvest should commence towards late October depending, of course, on the weather conditions. He has botrytis, too. Gray mold, however, is affecting a number of his Pinot Noir bunches.

Florian Lauer of Weingut Peter Lauer wrote me that his Riesling grapes look fine in his parcels around Ayl on the Saar, but he wishes it were warmer and drier this week. His harvest will begin around mid-October.

Florian Lauer, who studied oenology in Montpellier, is the fifth-generation hands-on owner/winemaker of this 6.5-hectare (16.1 acre) Saar domaine. In addition to his studies in the south of France, he learned from his father Peter’s experience and skills. Florian tends to the vines and raises the wines himself, and he follows his father and grandfather’s procedure of bottling the wines according to individual Faß (barrel) numbers. Today, Florian perpetuates this tradition of keeping the cask numbers on the label, but often blending among the barrels to achieve a specific style.

Since the family owns a hotel-restaurant, most of their production is sold locally and rarely exported. In fact, their wines are sold out every year. In the past, the well-respected wine writer David Schildknecht imported Lauer Saar Riesling for his retail clientele.

Many of the famous Saar estates produce their Riesling with higher amounts of residual sugar from blocked fermentations; Florian focuses on dry-tasting wines. He prefers to ferment with wild yeasts on the fine lees for a longer upbringing in the traditional old oak casks (Fuders).

The majority of their holdings are in the grand cru single-vineyard Ayler Kupp, a steep south- to southwest-facing site with predominantly gray slate. As with many other famous sites, including the renowned Scharzhofberg, its boundaries have expanded beyond the core area. Before 1973, the original Kupp hillside had site-specific names that the Lauers still use today on their labels: “Unterstenbersch” (patois for Untersten  Berg, or “at the foot of the hill”), “Stirn” (a site directly above), and “Kern” (a parcel that includes a cross-section of the hillside further to the west). The Lauers have additional plots in surrounding vineyards, among them the steep Schonfels and Saarfeilser, the latter a top site with an alluvial soil consisting of large round stones and slate.

The wine style at Lauer reflects the Saar: bright acidity with good minerality.

Yesterday evening, I returned from a two-day tour of the Saar and came away impressed with the overall quality and dynamism in the region. In spite of different styles and philosophies, Saar Riesling has a unique character, namely bracing acidity that gives the wines balance, bite, and long-aging potential.

Among the more established estates, Egon Müller and Geltz-Zilliken had excellent collections in the so-called “classic” style, namely from stopped fermentations resulting in higher residual sugar. Müller feels it’s a Kabinett vintage and after tasting through his 2007s, he asked us to join him in his study and kindly poured us a half-bottle of his 1997 Scharzhofberger Kabinett, which tasted like a fresh (Hunsrück) hill-country stream. Many years ago, I had the fortune once to taste a 1971 Kabinett, my birth year, with his late father. Zilliken proudly poured us a 2003 TBA after going through samples of his 2007 collection, mostly from Saarburger Rausch. Afterward he showed us the construction being done at the moment for new tasting and vat rooms. As with so many estates in the Mosel-Saar, his daughter will be taking over. We also went down into his deep underground cellar, formerly an air-raid shelter during the Second World War.

Before Zilliken, we tasted at Dr. Wagner, an old-family estate in Saarburg whose daughter will also take over duties in a few years. (I missed David Schildknecht’s early appointment at Dr. Siemens.) The style here is conservative both in the dry and sweet categories with aging only in old barrels.  The last trip on the second day was a visit to Hofgut Falkenstein, a low-key domaine run by Erich Weber making very traditional dry-fermented Riesling and an excellent Pinot Noir under 12% alcohol. (Moritz Gogrewe in Oberemmel also made a lovely unfiltered Pinot with low alcohol.)

Although I was invited to their recent annual vintage presentations and failed to go, we tasted on Friday both at von Othegraven and Van Volxem with their respective wine-makers. Both visits had very good wines in their line-ups. Andreas Barth of Lubentiushof (a winegrower in our MWM portfolio) took over wine-making from Stefan Kraml (now at Maximin Grünhaus) in the 2004 vintage at von Othegraven, which has vines in the core section of the famous Kanzemer Altenberg. Roman Niewodniczanski, who was out of town during our visit, has been a driving force since his first vintage in 2000 by helping to put the Saar back on the map. His estate has grown from ca. less than 12 to over 40 hectares, all in top sites. The style in 2007 here is for more opulent dry-tasting wines, but less sharp in acidity than a typical dry Saar Riesling such as Dr. Wagner or Hofgut Falkenstein.

Manfred Loch of Weinhof Herrenberg, an organic winegrower in Schoden, had a top collection of dry-tasting wines from his sites in the Schodener Herrenberg and Wiltinger Schlangengraben. The style here is special, more reductive with pronounced Saar acidity, which the crown caps accentuate. At Schloss Saarstein, we tasted good racy, mineral wines from the Eberts’ monopole site.

Admittedly, I’m biased when it comes to Weingut Peter Lauer, and I was pleased from top to bottom with Florian Lauer’s collection of 2007s.  I told him that these are the style of wines that MWM wants to represent; that is traditional barrel-aged, dry-tasting Saar Riesling. In particular, his top feinherb wines stood out from the Ayler Kupp:  “Stirn” and “Kern” in addition to the single-vineyard Saarfeilser. I liked his “trocken-labeled” wines too, namely from the Kupp place-name “Unterstenbersch”  and the old-vine cuvée called “Senior,” as well as the even drier entry-level wines.

Besides von Kesslestatt and St. Urbanhof’s holdings on the Saar, I missed tasting two significant collections on my tour: von Hövel and Dr. Siemens. The latter supposedly making very good wines in only their second vintage since purchasing the former Bert Simon estate in Serrig.

In the Ruwer Valley, I was able to taste at Maximin Grünhaus, Karlsmühle, von Beulwitz, and Karthäuserhof. The wines at Maximin Grünhaus/von Schubert are back and consistent from dry to sweet.  I also felt that von Beulwitz had a very fine Kaseler Nies’chen Riesling Spätlese Alte Reben, once again, in addition to a GG from the same site. Christoph Tyrell’s Karthäuserhof had a fine collection as well. Peter Geiben at Karlsmühle had some good wines, and like so many winegrowers provided us with insight about the history of the domaine, style of wine-making, and sites, often showing us old photos, books, and maps. I feel this last week was instructive in so many ways.

Florian Lauer, who studied oenology in Montpellier, is the fifth-generation hands-on owner/winemaker of this 6.5-hectare (16.1-acre) Saar domaine. Besides his studies in the south of France, he also learned from the experience and skills of his father, Peter. Florian tends to the vines and raises the wines himself. His father and grandfather before him made the wines bottled according to individual Faß (barrel) numbers. Today, Florian continues on with this tradition of keeping the barrel numbers on the label, albeit blending among the barrels to achieve the style he wants for the specific number in question.

Since the family owns a hotel-restaurant, most of their production is sold locally. In fact, their wines are sold out every year. The Lauers have little export. In the past, the well-respected wine writer David Schildknecht imported Florian’s father’s wines for his retail clientele in Washington D.C. and later in Kentucky.

Many of the famous Saar estates prefer their Riesling with higher amounts of residual sugar from blocked fermentations; Florian’s focus is on dry-tasting and off-dry wines. He likes to ferment with wild yeasts on the fine lees for a longer upbringing in the traditional old oak barrels, called Fuder.

The majority of their holdings are in the single-vineyard Ayler Kupp, a steep south- to southwest-facing site with predominantly gray slate. As with many other famous sites, including the renowned Scharzhofberg, its boundaries were expanded beyond the core area. In the case of Kupp, it was well beyond the original site. Before 1973, the Kupp hillside had former place names that the Lauers still use today on their labels: “Unterstenbersch” (patois for “at the foot of the hill”), “Stirn” (a site higher up), and “Kern” (a parcel further to the west). The Lauers have additional plots in the original Kupp as well as in surrounding sites that Florian could legally label as “Ayler Kupp,” among them the top Schonfels and Saarfeilser.

The wine style at Lauer reflects the Saar: brisk acidity and minerality combined with finesse and low alcohol, even for the drier wines.