[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.”)

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.

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.

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 winegrowers on the Saar, he also has no real interest in the sweeter styles. 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 enzymes here. Thanks to David Schildknecht for introducing me to Weber a few years ago. He sensed I might like these wines based on the winegrowers we have in our book.

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.

In Joachim Krieger’s detailed book titled Terrassenkultur an der Untermosel, he writes in depth about the Lower Mosel and later describes and classifies the predominantly terraced-vineyard sites from the city of Koblenz upstream to the village of Hatzenport. One of the many topics he delves into are the complex soil types to be found along this stretch of the terraced Lower Mosel and the myth that has been perpetuated over the years by geologists, geographers, winegrowers, and wine writers alike (often by copying from one another) that the soil here consists mainly of a gray, earthy rock called graywacke (Grauwacke). Not only is this an oversimplification of the diverse soils found on the Lower Mosel, but it is also false, for no graywacke exists on either the Mittelrhein  or Mosel-Saar.

Krieger writes that the use of the term graywacke as a broad generalization of the region’s geology failed to take into account that graywacke has minerals called feldspar, which are not present in the stones of the Lower Mosel much less the Saar, for example. In regard to the latter, wine consultant/cellar-master Gernot Kollmann, who worked at Van Volxem, explained to me that certain sites on the Saar such as Kanzemer Altenberg and Wiltinger Braunfels (in particular, the top site of Volz) consist of hard gray slate and sandstone that have no feldspar, hence no graywacke; whereas, other sites such as Scharzhofberg have a deep-draining weathered slate.

The complex soils found on the Lower Mosel include quartzite, quartzite-sandstone, silty sandstone, sandy and silty slate, as well as slate with quartzite. Krieger also describes the Middle Mosel, Ruwer, and Saar as relatively more uniform with its influential rock formation coming from the clayey Hunsrück slate.

For an introduction to the Mosel and, more importantly, a better understanding of the Lower Mosel, Krieger’s book gives great insight, and avoids name-dropping and ranking producers.

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.

The Stein brothers, Ulrich (Ulli) and Peter (Piet), like delicate, low-alcohol Riesling wines with good acidity. In Germany, they have a strong following among the artist and musicians in cities likes Cologne, Hamburg, and Berlin. Some of the best German contemporary painters have made special edition Stein labels. And Ulli’s wife, Ruth, is a cabaret artist, who has performances at the domaine.

Curiously, Ulli and Piet don’t submit samples to Gault Millau anymore and also had a falling out with a well-known English wine critic. So you won’t see their name hyped in the German press. Ulli gives his honest opinion and has a laid-back style while experimenting over the years with various methods, both in the vineyard and cellar.

He was one of the first to replant Pinot Noir before the ban was lifted in the late 1980s. Moreover, he makes a unique Riesling Auslese from tiny, seedless shot berries, unaffected by noble rot, which have an intense flavor. From these grapes he also hand-crafted in 2001 an Auslese fermented and aged on its lees for over two years in a new Allier cask with minimal handling. In addition, he has fought for the rights of small winegrowers being paid a pittance for their grapes in steep slate sites such as Bremmer Calmont and has been battling the authorities in Germany to bring back vin de paille taking this all the way up to the highest courts of the European Union.

I would define his style as racy and linear Riesling wines, whether dry, off-dry, or sweet. From his dry, easy-drinking liter, called “Der Traubenflüsterer” (grape whisperer), to his top Auslesen, one finds a common thread throughout his collection, namely finesse and acidity. He wants to avoid plump wines. When the hand-picked grapes arrive in the winery, he usually destems and does a short pre-fermentation maceration followed by a gentle pressing and a cool fermentation.

He seeks lower alcohol and higher acidity by harvesting at optimal ripeness rather than over-ripeness. Except for early-drinking summer wines aged in stainless-steel tanks, almost all his Riesling age at their own pace on their fine lees in large old-oak barrels (Fuder) with no enzymes or additives. The top single-vineyard wines ferment for the most part spontaneously, though he might add neutral cultured yeasts to a barrel if need be. Moreover, his vineyard care is close to organic. (Neither insecticides nor herbicides are used.) Stein’s yields are low. He leaves only one cane versus the heart-shaped two canes per vine. These are trained in the old manner on wooden stakes and tied down with willow by skilled women.

One of most idyllic sites along the Mosel Valley is the blue-slate, steep-terraced St. Aldegunder Palmberg-Terrassen, which is located in a small side valley, behind the village of St. Aldegund. His 86-year-old father still drinks his daily bottle of Stein-Wein and continues to nurture the ungrafted 50- to 100-year-old vines on this site.

Stein’s wines are reminiscent of Maximin Grünhaus (Carl von Schubert is a customer of his), namely more crisp, dry and off-dry selections rather than creamy and opulent in style. In the States, importers have shied away from bringing the dry Mosel Riesling to their clientele. Yet, these are some of my favorite wines for day-to-day drinking.

Also, keep an eye out for Hofgut Falkenstein, an unpretentious Saar domaine from Erich Weber, whom David Schildknecht introduced to me a couple years ago. Weber particularly likes to make steely down-home, dry-fermented Riesling aged in Fuder.

For our portfolio we have a first-class Saar domaine in mind…