“De Ultieme Hallucinatie”: Peter Kupers doet verslag van een unieke proeverij

Tags

Duitse wijn, Langbeen

Op zijn lezens- en volgenswaardige blog The Wine Analyst deed Peter Kupers zopas verslag van de unieke degustatie die tweejaarlijks door Hilde en Francois van Langbeen Duitse Topwijn wordt ingericht. Het evenement krijgt de intrigerende naam “Ultieme Hallucinatie “. Ik kon er zelf nog niet aan kon deelnemen: zin genoeg, tijd en gelegenheid ontbreekt.

Daarom heel blij dat Peter ons doet watertanden bij het lezen van zijn verhaal. In prachtig Engels, trouwens. Bedankt dat ik dit mocht delen, Peter !

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A UNIQUE TASTING OF AGED GERMAN WINES

German wine is gaining ground on the Belgian wine market, which is of course fantastic. There where however darker times, when Germany was eschewed by many as a proper wine country and considered a mere ocean of flabby, sweet swill. Luckily there were a couple of wine merchants who remained convinced by the quality of German wines.

Among them François Langbeen can be considered as one of the most significant contributors to the image of German wine we have today. For almost thirty years he has focused only on German wines, having built a fantastic portfolio, but even a more impressive treasury of some of Germany’s greatest producers. Every two years, François and Hilde De Jonckheere, who joined the company a couple of years ago, organize “The Ultimate Hallucination”, a presentation of rare or exceptional aged wines. I had seen the lineup presented in previous editions, so I jumped on the invitation. Needless to say, I was not disappointed.

Sektwise I was floored by the starter, Georg Breuer’s 1990 brut from magnum (disgorged in 2015). Composed of the three Burgunder varieties (pinot gris, blanc and noir), and topped up with a Riesling-based liqueur de dosage, it was stunningly rich in the nose with blossom honey and candied fruit. It showed none of the richness on the palate, lean yet intense, clean, and nothing of the usual autolysis impressions you would expect from a wine that had spent such a long time on the lies. An absolutely stunning wine.

German Spätburgunder is on the up, there is no doubt about that. It is not just because Burgundian prices are increasing exponentially, but also because Spätburgunder often offers a different interpretation of what pinot noir can be. There is however a misconception that I come across in a lot of tasting notes, both by amateurs and revered professionals, stating that Spätburgunder does not have the ability to age. I have little experience, but the two wines served here certainly confirmed my gut feeling that there is a lot of untapped potential.

August Kesseler’s Assmannshausen Höllenberg 1999 had aged beautifully. Höllenberg is a legendary vineyard and has been the home of outstanding Spätburgunder for centuries. Partially ungrafted vines from clones taken at Clos Vougeot almost 100 years ago, picked quite late in October and aged in Burgundian oak. Aromas of wild strawberries, sweet, succulent cherries and a hint of roasted spices. Very soft on the palate, with acidity only showing near the end, it is exemplary. Elegant, feminine but with a decidedly Germany concentration.

Bernd Philippi’s Pinot Noir R 2003 stands in stark contrast, showing absolutely no hint of evolution, going instead on ripe, fleshy black and red fruit on the nose, leaving a serious impression on the palate with a tannic structure that could easily need another decade to soften. It is less my style of aged pinot noir, but it is impressive in its balance. Interestingly enough, the wine is labelled as Tafelwein. In the eighties Philippi was met with resistance as his pinot noir, matured in small barriques, was labelled atypical and thus denied an appellation. Nowadays his style has become broadly accepted, but the Tafelwein labelling stuck.

Moving on to the Rieslings, palates where reset with a pleasant but not exceptional Karthauserhofberg Spätlese Trocken 2006 followed by Breuer’s Rüdesheum Berg Schlossberg 2001, a wine that was not in the best of places. You could sense that it was coming together slowly with marked ripe fruit, but that it was still a bit unhinged and unfocused. We then moved on to what would turn out to be one of Germany’s iconic wines: Koehler-Ruprecht’s Kallstadt Saumagen Auslese Trocken R 1997.

It is a wine made to last, spending already six years at the estate before being released (a rarity in Germany where the vast majority of wines is drunk far too young), and only beginning to come together at 20 years of age. This one had been on my bucket list for quite some time, and going in blind certainly helped in appreciating its power and quality. Reductive at first, chalk dust, even something left of sponti aromas. Linear and tangy in approach, only to flesh out gradually on the palate, ending juicy with notes of lemon curd, liquorice and succulence, filled with joyfulness and life throughout. A defining wine, already the highlight of the wines tasted this year, and one that will stick with me for a very long time.

Schloss Reinhartshausen used to be one of the leading estates in the Rheingau, but it has gone a bit sideways these days, with scathing scores in Germany’s leading wine guides. In the nineties however, it was a different story, and the role August Kesseler played in the winemaking may have been a great contributor. The 1999 Erbach Marcobrunn Spätlese is at its peak I believe, delivering a nice fruit-driven impression with peaches and apricots. It will never be excelling, but it is pretty good. Moving on to Auslese: Dr. Crusius. Longtime fans will remember me raving about this producer’s Schlossbockelheimer Felsenberg 1995 Auslese a while back, and the 1998 Millenium Auslese, sourced from the Traisen Bastei Lage did not fail to deliver. Very clean, fresh fruit jelly but with the sugar fully integrated as a structural element, not showing overt sweetness. A wine that still has a long way to go, and I would confidently stock up on it (alas, impossible to find as this was auctioned off at the time of release in minute quantities).

Karthauserhof has never stuck to me as a top producer. I find them more interesting for their location in the Ruwer valley with an actual monopol vineyard, than for their wines. Even so, the Karthauserhofberg Beerenausslese 1999 auction edition is a memorable wine. Lemon curd, Napoleon sweets, honey and lime jelly are all very nicely countered by freshness. It is not an overt wine, more on nuance than on blockbusting, the type of drink that you will enjoy with every sip, emptying the (tiny) bottle before you realize it. I am curious to see what they will put up for auction in September.

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Burgundian Riesling at Von Winning: The Wine Analyst

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Pfalz, riesling, Von Winning

Het moet een memorabele avond geweest zijn, de overzichtsdegustatie van de wijnen van Von Winning bij Vinikus en Lazarus begin februari. En wij waren daar dus niet bij… We hebben jullie hiervan toch al kunnen laten meegenieten door het artikel op de blog van Stijn van der Beken (365dagenwijn) te mogen delen.

Zopas heeft ook Peter Kupers een artikel over deze degustatie-avond op zijn blog “The Wine Analyst” geplaatst .
Peter is recent begonnen met deze wijnblog, en heeft op korte tijd een aantal artikels van indrukwekkend hoog niveau bijeengeschreven. Temeer “impressive” omdat hij hiervoor een schitterend Engels gebruikt.
We kregen van hem toelating om ook zijn relaas over Von Winning hier te publiceren. Waarvoor dank, welgemeend.

Von Winning is unquestionably the rising star on the German wine scene. This is all the more surprising as the real “start” of the estate was only in 2008 when Stephan Attmann was appointed managing director. For the history of the vineyards we have to go back a bit further. The Von Winning we know today was actually part of a single estate until the middle of the nineteenth century, together with Reichsrat Von Buhl and Bassermann-Jordan. At the time the estate already had a stellar reputation, being one of the first to distinguish vintages, terroir and varietal characteristics. Following the death of its owner, the estate was split in three and the part that we will discuss today was renamed Dr. Deinhard. It wasn’t until Leopold Von Winning took over at the beginning of the twentieth century that the foundations for the estate’s philosophy were established. Recently passed away Achim Niederberger, an entrepreneur in the region had already acquired Reichsrat Von Buhl and Bassermann-Jordan for his estate portfolio and the addition of Von Winning would be one of his crowning achievements.

Stephan Attmann is a slightly controversial figure in Germany as he is a major advocate of a more Burgundian Riesling. It is rare that Riesling will be aged in oak barrels as it falls ill with the minerality and freshness that is so typical for the variety. The winemakers who do use oak have a preference for huge barrels, 500l+ in order to avoid an overly oaky sensation on the wine. At Eva Clusserath for example, the barrels are 50 to 60 years old so the direct effect of the oak on the wine is negligible and the point of the elevage here is a controlled interaction with oxygen to enhance the depth of a wine. At Von Winning they have radically opted for a completely new course, fermenting and aging wine in new oak. While the average size of a barrel is still larger than the ones used in Bordeaux for example, the wood will have a much larger effect on the structure and sensation of the wine.

Of course, if you are venturing into uncharted territory, you need to be absolutely convinced you can work with the best grapes possible. Luckily Von Winning is blessed with parcels in the best Lagen in the Pfalz as roughly 25% of their holdings are classified Grosses Gewächs. We will discuss several of their single vineyard wines further on, so for now let us look at the groundwork, i.e. what goes on in the vineyard? The entire estate is governed by a strict quality charter. You can check out the full list on the estate’s website but there are a couple of specific points that deserve highlighting.

High density of the vineyard plantings, up to 9500 per ha. This used to be pretty common in the past and it ensures that only the strongest vines will survive, as you create competition for the sparse amounts of water present in the soil. A vine will also produce fewer clusters, depending on the resources it can extract, leading to a more even ripening process.

A second point of interest is that the domain is already following biodynamic principles but that it is going the extra mile by banning the use of copper, something still widely accepted by natural or organic estates. The use of copper against mildew, a fungal disease, is controversial as it is a heavy metal with side effects for soil health and water supply. Careful pruning and a good aeration of the foliage are more suitable as natural preventative measures but these are so labour-intensive that you would need significant scale in order to make this workable. Even then, two weeks of rain will make it highly unlikely that you can stop a full-on mildew attack, so major respect to Von Winning for sticking with their ideals!

At a recent tasting organized by Vinikus en Lazarus, the Belgian importer of Von Winning, I had the chance to taste 15 wines of the estate, ranging from their entry wines to some of the best wines Germany has to offer. A discussion of all of them would take too long of course, so let’s focus on a couple of them that I feel are most representative for the style the winemaker is looking for.

The entry level cuvee Win Win 2012 is a blend of different vineyards including the lesser grapes of GG parcels like, Reiterpfad, Kalkofen and Kieselberg. This is by no means a small wine, open with sunny fruit accompanied by a slightly subdued minerality on the nose. The juiciness and intensity remains present in the mouth showing ample richness countered by citrusy hints in the finish that help to keep the wine fresh and lively. Other Pfalz wines around this pricepoint (12 euro) are often too overly fruity, showing a bit too much warmth, but here you are much more on the sunny side packed with summer fruit and freshness. I did get a hint of residual sugar giving the wine a rounder character but it is perfectly complementary with the acidity present.

Von Winning is a founding member of the VDP, the leading association of German winemakers and as such they follow their quality structure implemented and promoted over the past years. At the bottom of the pyramid you have Gutswein made from grapes sourced from all the holdings of an estate in a region (e.g. Win Win). Ortswein is a step up in a sense that you are already starting with a distinction based on terroir. In Burgundy terms, this would be Village wines. Erste Lage is the equivalent of Premier Cru in Burgundy, and here we come to sites that have distinguished themselves for some time already. Yields are restricted here, and only traditional varieties (riesling, weissburgunder, etc) can be used. At the very top we will find the Grosses Gewächs. These sites often have historic merit and are sparse and tiny on purpose in order to mark the difference with Erste Lage wines. Some readers may recall my profile of Am Stein were I mentioned that the Wurzburger Stein is in its entirety worthy of GG status, but was downgraded to Erste Lage in order to emphasize the almost elitist character of Grosses Gewächs.

When it comes to Erste Lage there are two cuvées that really stand out. The first one is Ölberg 2012 for which the grapes are sourced from the southernmost parcel of the estate, in Köningsbach, home to Steffen Christmann, the other leading winemaker in the Pfalz. Warmer in style with more voluptuous and ripe fruit that only just started showing itself. I got a slight sensation of the aging in wood with a specific spiciness on the nose. The mouth is much more elegant though and has a lovely nervousness that helps to accentuate the riper fruit.

Up next we move back home to the parcel closest to the estate, Grainhübel 2011. Whereas Ölberg is more characterized by red sandstone and marl, Grainhübel is practically on top of an ancient coral reef which immediately shows itself in the nose as a more flinty sensation. As with the Ölberg, the influence of the barrel is clear but supportive, this one was the first of the tasting that I would really label as Burgundian. The acidity in the mouth is more present here but you get the same nervousness that takes over towards the finish. Given time, I think that this one will be terrific.

If we skip on a bit further we end up at Kalkofen 2013, sourced from one of the best sites in the region granted GG status. We are on the same coral reef as the Grainhübel but a bit higher up. It is an ancient site, completely walled and traceable to the sixteenth century, so GG status isn’t awarded to just any parcel of land! This was my personal favourite of the tasting, incredibly mineral on the nose and delicate delicate fruit. It really opened up in the mouth, titillating acidity on the tongue really driving home the mineral character that overtook the fruit without destroying it. It is a different kind of liquid minerality than the one I described with PJ Kühn as this ones comes with more depth and an incredible length in the finish.

Forst is the heart and soul of Von Winning and home to their greatest wines. Their “entry level” GG is created here from the Ungeheuer parcel. We have now tipped over the coral reef were we found Grainhübel and Kalkofen moving on to a mix of fossils, loam and volcanic basalt. This type of soil often leads to wines that require a bit more time to open up as evidenced by Ungeheuer 2011. It starts of subtle and takes a bit of time. I found very little fruit at first, mostly minerality and a noticeable saltiness. It was only after a while that it started showing hints of tropical fruits but overall it stayed very subtle yet intense, sneaking up on you when you realize after a minute that you can still feel it. Ungeheuer 500 2011 is a special cuvée as it is a selection of the best 500l barrels, bottled after one year. As expected, the oak is more present but serves as an opener for the wine as you immediately get tropical fruit on the nose, more so than with the normal cuvée. It is a different kind of complex, a play on structure and presence instead of minerality and subtlety. I would give this at least 4 to 5 years, hoping that the oak settles and gets off the stage for a bit.

The three greatest GG vineyards, often referred to as the Puligny Montrachet of Germany, are Kirchenstück, Jesuitengarten and Pechstein. These wines are incredibly rare, only six bottles of Kirchenstück make it to Belgium each year for example and I have been buying a couple of bottles of Pechstein each year to tuck away, confident that it would be worth the money and patience. This was the first time I would taste it and of course I was a bit nervous, would it be as good as I had hyped it up to be or would it end up just another “what the hell was I thinking” wine? Only one way to find out with Pechstein 2010! At first, nothing. After a while hints of minerality, sensing something that is getting ready to show itself accompanied by tones of citrus and mandarins. Incredible depth in the mouth, minerality dominated by a unique acidity that feels like tiny daggers full of flavour tickling your tongue. Juicy, tangy mandarin that goes hand in hand with the ethereal lightness of true minerality, simply amazing. The finish is there but cut short, not going as deep as you would assume it could be based on the palate. I rarely make guesses on a wine’s future but the potential here is incredible, one of the finest Rieslings I have ever tasted!

Before the tasting I realized that I had always thought highly of the Von Winning wines but that the only one I actually owned was Pechstein, a wine I had never drunk. It became clear that it was too difficult to choose, that nearly all wines offered such a unique sensation and were so representative of their terroir that you would rather have them all. I could still go on for some time as the estate also produces sauvignon blanc and an amazing pinot noir, but seeing as this is already the longest article written up to this point, I limited myself to my personal picks, out with objectivity and in with blatantly favouring what I like and love!

Credits photography – Von Winning

Feinherb or halbtrocken? (article in English)

Tags

feinherb, German wine, halbtrocken, riesling, trocken

(Original article in Dutch here )

Trocken, halbtrocken, lieblich and süss are the most common flavors of German wines. These terms can be translated as “dry”, “off-dry” or “medium dry”, “medium sweet” and “sweet”.

To provide a solution for the poor image of the semi-dry wines the denomination “Feinherb” was created, and now it is more and more used as an alternative for the term halbtrocken.

The term “Feinherb” was first used by winery Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt (Mosel). After a lengthy court battle, because this name was nowhere defined in the German law, the debate finally ended in 2002 in favor of the domain, and since then the term has become especially prevalent in Mosel wines.
Nowadays, it is gaining importance in other German wine making regions as well.

Although “Feinherb” is not exactly the same as “Halbtrocken”, both are very closely related.
Feinherb is a vaguely defined term for wines with roughly 10-20 grams of residual sugar per liter, where the maximum permitted residual sugar for halbtrocken is 18 grams per liter. Hence feinherb wines are generally slightly sweeter than halbtrocken wines, without being sweet as honey.

The sugar content of halbtrocken wines is determined by law.
There must be 10 g/L residual sugar more than the acid content, with a maximum of 18 g/l.
Dry (trocken) wines, by the way, are also determined by these regulations: 2g/l residual sugar more than the acidity content, with a maximum of 9 g/l residual sugar.

NAME	Difference between acidity and residual sugar content	Max. residual sugar	Formula: (AC=Acidity; RS=Residual sugar)
TROCKEN	2 g/l	9 g/l	RS = AC + 2 g/l (max RS = 9)
HALBTROCKEN	10 g/l	18 g/l	RS = AC + 10 g/l (max RS = 18)
LIEBLICH		45 g/l

As an example: a halbtrocken wine with 6 g/l acidity, can have op to 16 g/l residual sugar. A halbtrocken wine with 9 g/l acidity can have max. 18 g/l res. sugar, but not 9+10=19.
As the limit to dry (trocken) wine is acidity plus 2, with a max. of 9 g/l residual sugar, a wine with more than 9 g/l sugar, but max 18 g/l has to be called halbtrocken.

Generally speaking, halbtrocken wines have 10-18 g/l residual sugar, and one can state that feinherb wines contains around 10-20 g/l residual sugar, but this remains vaguely defined.
Feinherb is more of a marketing term, because halbtrocken has become unfashionable abroad.

This is a translation of the original article in Dutch on our blog, here 

Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 11: Pictures! Uitstap naar de Saar – deel 11: Foto’s!!

A lot of pictures to give you an idea about our trip..  
Een aantal foto’s die een idee geven van onze uitstap..

Klik om een slideshow te sarten – Click to start a slideshow

All photo’s: © Vrienden van de Riesling

The Ayler Kupp and surroundings
De Ayler Kupp en omgeving

Saar Riesling

Reben

Alte Reben

Boven op de Ayler Kupp: het Ayler Wald

Foto maken…

At Weingut Lauer
Bij Weingut Peter Lauer

Vinothek van Wgt Peter Lauer

Florian Lauer presenting some wines

Concentration during the tasting

Some of the wines, some of the soils

Serious business

Ockfener Bockstein

Ockfener Bockstein is an amphitheatre

Vines in Ockfen

Cutting and pruning

Pruning

Detail

Looking at the Saar as tourists
Tourisme in de Saar vallei 

Saarburger Rausch

Saar Valley

Saarburg

Saarburg center

The Saar in Saarburg

Lan,dscape

Saarschleife near Cloef

Tasting at Weingut Zilliken
Proeven bij Wgt Zilliken

Oude flessen in de schatkamer

Treasure cove

Proefzaal / Tasting room

Tasting samples

Hanno Zilliken is relaxed

Serious stuff

Proeven

Vrienden van de Riesling

Rudi en Marc

“Onze bestelling” 😉

Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 10: the wines of Wgt. Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken (2)

The tasting with Hanno Zilliken proceeds in a friendly atmosphere, the host speaks motivated and passionate about his wines and his domain.
The next wine he offers us still belongs to the series of the “vertical” that started in previous article with the Rausch Riesling Spätlese 2012, 2011 and 2009.

Rausch  Riesling Spätlese 2010 comes from the difficult year 2010. Zilliken harvested very late this year, after the cold and wet period. When a dry period started, in which the fruit became very concentrated, everything had to go very quickly while bringing in the grapes. Where other winemakers have cursed the year 2010, this has become one of the best in recent years for Zilliken. The quality was very high, so high that almost no basic wines were made​, everything was suitable for producing top wines. Especially the Spätlesen are at high level.
Raisins, dried fruits (figs, dates) and pepper, spices on the nose. Fresh acidity in the attaque, juicy fruit and dried fruit in the middle, with minerality and length. A lot of concentration. In the long finish lots of juicy fruit acidity. Elegant.

The grapes used to make the Rausch Riesling Auslese 2012 are harvested individually. So it is literally an Auslese, a selective harvest, where they search for dried grapes so that the sugar content is high.
Complex fruit in the nose with lots of primary fruit (exotic, like pineapple), a delicate spiciness but also a lot of dried fruit (date, figs). After a powerful start follows an almost refreshing lightness by the precise balance between sweet and acid. The finish, with fine citric acidity, is very long.

Then Hanno, with a sparkle in the eyes, comes with a surprise. We get the same Auslese, but … from 1995.
Rausch Riesling Auslese 1995, almost 19 years old, is being sold for the first time this year. The huge cellars at Zilliken are a treasure trove of older vintages. In years when there is little wine – 2012 is almost sold out, the 2013 harvest is barely half of normal – that stock can be addressed to be still of service to the clients.

Photo © Vrienden van de Riesling

The Rausch Riesling Auslese 1995 is a golden yellow wine with a complex nose that tends to be smoky. Wax, Schiefer, firne (underwood, mushrooms, forest soil) with meanwhile a lot of dried fruits (dried apricots…). This has become a complex wine with lots of flavour components. A dense minerality, a multitude of ripe fruit, saltiness, smokiness, all vying for attention in this glass of top wine. The finish is lingering, with great concentration full of juiciness and sweetness.

We have barely recovered from the surprise, when Hanno announces an “experiment”. In order to experience how Riesling can mature… Not that we did not know already (read here and here), but still we’re curious.
The Riesling Rausch “Qualitätswein” 1984 is a matured Riesling from a “lesser” year. The grapes remained relatively green, they were not fully mature at harvest, and as a result many herbal tones in the juice. This Qualitätswein 1984, with 35 grams of residual sugar, would now be labelled as VDP.Ortswein.
In the nose impressions of forestland, animal, like an old closet or basement. On the palate a lot of evolution, its sweetness completely merged, complex, tertiary, dry to very dry.
This wine is no longer in top shape, but is not yet faulty, and shows that even a simple basic wine here can last a long time – in this case almost 30 years.

The sparkling in the eyes of Hanno Zilliken continues. Opposite the basic wine of a lesser year, he proudly puts an Auslese from a great year. The contrast could not be greater.
The Riesling Auslese 1997 Saarburger Rausch is very fine in the nose, complex, tropical fruit, beeswax, mineral. Versatile impressions on the palate, honey, exotic juicy fruits, with some creaminess. Great length.

We arrive at the absolute top of the range of Weingut Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken. The Goldkapsel (gold capsule) and Long Goldkapsel (long gold capsule) are Auslese wines where the dried grapes are picked separately from the bunches with afterwards a selection on maturity and quality on the triage. Herr Zilliken speaks of “Einzelbeerenselection”: the selection of the individual berries.

The Rausch  Auslese 2010 GK has 7.5% ABV and 150 g/l residual sugar, with 12.7 g l acidity. The acidity produced in 2010 gives this Auslese the almost refreshing character of an Eiswein. This wine was rewarded top ratings from various wine writers: 97/100 Robert Parker, 95/100 Gault Millau, 96/100 WineSpectator.
We smell honey, acacia, dried fruit. After a very sweet start with hints of dried fruit, a light-hearted acidity makes a very balanced wine. Lots of body and concentration. Exceptionally long finish with juicy pineapple and citrus.

We end in absolute beauty with Saarburger Rausch Riesling Auslese 2005 LGK. The grapes were very mature in 2005. This Auslese can technically be considered as Beerenauslese and by its concentration it has almost the character of a Trockenbeerenauslese. Gault Millau awarded 96/100 .
Gold and viscous in the glass, almost oily. The nose is completely open and wide, with ripe and dried fruit, honey, raisins and a multitude of impressions like wax, orange, blood orange … Launching with remarkable freshness, lots of juiciness in the middle with again impressions of orange, honey and ripe fruit. A concentrated, wine, to be enjoyed sip by sip.
However, says Hanno Zilliken, this wine is now in its resting phase. The openness and fruit impressions come from his great concentration. This wine will be at its peak after 20 to 25 years.

After this great tasting experience we get to meet with with Mrs. Zilliken. Ruth is very interested in our Riesling blog, and if we tell you that we only write in Dutch, she is obviously disappointed.
This inducement we just needed to make our articles also available in English. After all, we already played some time with this idea.
So our thanks go not only to Herr Hanno Zilliken for the phenomenal experience of this tasting, but also to Frau Ruth Zilliken to urging us to publish in English.

Hanno Zilliken – Photo © Vrienden van de Riesling

Read also:
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 1
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 2
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 3
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 4
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 5
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 6
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 7
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 8
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 9

 

 

Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 9: the wines of Wgt. Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken (1)

Hanno Zilliken takes us to the large tasting room, which is completely newly built atop of the ancient cellars of the domain.
Warm wood, subtle works of art, it all expresses class and elegance. Just as the wines, as will become apparent.

Herr Zilliken first introduces us to the domain and the philosophy of winemaking, in short the summary is: only Riesling here, raised and matured in old wood barrels, VDP since 2009. We wrote about this in the previous article.

Photo © Vrienden van de Riesling

Because there is only limited availability on sale of the 2012 wines, the trip here will take us through some less recent vintages.

We begin in style, with the Saarburger Riesling trocken Alte Reben 2011.
This wine comes from Alte Reben (old vines), but of course these are the least old of the old vines planted on the Saarburger Rausch. In general, the vines are around 40 years for this wine, whereas the vineyard is planted with plants that are up to 142 years old. The grapes are a variant with small berries, which bring more aroma and taste to the wine.
Yes, we understand it right: the grapes used for this wine come from the Saarburger Rausch, Grosse Lage VDP. The specific mention of the famous slope on the label is only used by Zilliken for the top wines.
However, one can, according to Zilliken, regard this wine as a little brother of the GG.
The wine is pale in the glass, white and yellow fruit dashes in the nose, surmounted by a fruity and mineral character. Sprightly citrus acidity, sleek and straight, with a very dry and fresh finish.

The second wine of this tasting is already a GG …
Rausch  Grosses Gewächs 2011 also comes from Alte Reben of the Rausch slope, but here of course the older vines are used.
Spicier than the previous wine, with also white flowers and stone. Sleek, sophisticated and delicate fruit. Filigree acidity with a certain amount of salinity. The acids are very precise, giving this wine an elegant finesse. At the same time this is a powerful wine.

After two dry wines we switch already to the wines with residual sugar. Hanno Zilliken: “We will not eager to follow trends, we like to stay with our traditional style of winemaking. The “Trocken-weine Diktat”: we’re not going to get involved…“ Of all the wines that Zilliken produces, 25% are Feinherb and 50 % are sweet and noble sweet wines.

The Rausch Riesling 2012 Diabass is a Feinherb wine, and is (obviously) from the Saarburger Rausch. The wine is named after the volcanic rock that is so characteristic of the slope. No GG on the label, as this is only reserved in the VDP regulations for dry wines.
More fruit expression here: exotic fruit, pineapple, yet also mineral. Elegant and powerful ripe fruit (peach ,pineapple, green apple). Fine acidity makes the backbone, where the fruit plays around. Long pure finish. 12 % ABV , Residual sugar 18.2 g/l, acidity 7.3 g/l.
Hanno Zilliken continues: “The goal in winemaking here is aimed at “slenderness”. It starts in the vineyard, where brown grapes are removed, so that only perfect fruit ends up in the cellar.  Everything will be done in the vineyard to avoid “Maceration pelliculaire”, so the juice can ferment directly in wooden barrels. We only use  spontaneous fermentation for our wines. True: there can be a few exceptions: our basic wines we ferment cool, so the risk exists that the fermentation freezes. Therefore, we have neutral yeasts available, which do not add aromas or flavors. These neutral yeasts may also be used for our Beerenauslesen or Trockenbeerenauslese, which are sometimes difficult  to get in the initial fermentation phase because of the high sugar content.”

Photo © Vrienden van de Riesling

We switch to the sweet wines, starting with the Saarburger Riesling Kabinett 2011.
This wine is labeled as Ortswein, village wine, even though all the grapes originate from the Saarburger Rausch. Due to the higher residual sugar it has a lower alcohol content: 50 g/l residual sugar, 7.5 to 8 ABV. Technically, this wine is already in the Spätlese range.
In the philosophy of winemaking at Zilliken, much effort is taken to search for the expression of what Hanno calls the “fresh components”. Citrus acidity to start with, but especially hints of mint and chamomile. It is not strange that we will find  these impressions several times in the wines we taste.
The Kabinett 2011 is floral, delicately fruity but mainly subtle spicy with a nice minerality. After a fresh start on the palate with at first no noticeable acidity, the acidity appears a bit later to give the wine balance. The 50 grams of residual sugars are barely notable due to the freshness of the wine. Filigree mouth feel, frisky, with an aftertaste full of juicy fruit .

The Rausch  Riesling Kabinett 2011, selected in 2013 as “bester Kabinett des Jahres” (best Kabinett of the year) by Gault Millau, got 92 points .
With 65 g/l residual sugar, it is a classic for the style of wines here. An almost “weightless” impression, while the wine is still powerful.
We find ripe exotic fruit (mango), a fine minerality and spiciness like curry, mint, spice. After a sweet start with fine acidity there is a delicate mouth feel, with exotic fruit, and a long, fruit-driven finish. The residual sweetness is always beautiful countered by the acids .

There is still another 2012 on the test table. But only as part of a small “vertical” series.
The Rausch Riesling Spätlese 2012 was made of fully matured grapes, the maximum possible that the plant can reach, and was harvested just before the brown-coloring of the grapes.
Ripe tropical fruit in the glass, pineapple, litchi, mango . A very powerful nose. This is an example of a light-hearted wine, almost weightless, with a lot of finesse and precision. A lot of juicy ripe fruits (green apple, pineapple, white currants, red currants …) on the palate, filigree, with a playful suppleness and fine minerality.

Rausch  Riesling Spätlese 2011 is a year older than the previous wine. The primary aromas have given way to something spicier, mineral impressions. Still some tropical fruit, and a light hint of petrol in the background. A nice onset with fine ripe fruit, surmounted by an extra layer of spiciness. Velvety mouth feel, with a long persistence. The wine is a bit more closed than the 2012, but has already a very fine, long and varied aftertaste.

Rausch  Riesling Spätlese 2009, some more years more mature.
The wine has a fascinating, complex nose. Tropical, torrefaction, red fruits. The palate is full and powerful, with a clear expression of nice acidity. Very long finish. An elegant wine, which, according to Hanno Zilliken, will be at its best after 15-20 years.
This wine is, by the way, used by daughter Dorothee to produce an exclusive Gin. More about this on www.saar-gin.de.

We are about halfway through this wonderful tasting. In the next article we will continue, with a surprise and an interesting experiment.

Read also:
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 1
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 2
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 3
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 4
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 5
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 6
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 7
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 8

 

Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 8: Wgt Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken

We don’t get much rest… After a delicious dinner in our wine hotel and a quiet night, we are expected the next day at 10 am in Saarburg, at Weingut Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken .

Riesling wie Schmetterlinge… Riesling like butterflies. With this cathword, taken from Stuart Pigott, Wgt. characterizes Zilliken itself… The well-known British wine writer and riesling fanatic Pigott continues: “… Despite their splendor, so light that they float..”

The Zilliken family is for over 250 years active in viticulture in the Saar valley. The status and reputation of the domain are mainly the work of the Prussian district forester (Forstmeister) Geltz Ferdinand (1851-1925). As a tribute to his work the house still bears its name. Despite the Second World War, in which the estate, the buildings and the cellar were destroyed and the vineyards severely damaged, the family endured and the company continued to exist. It is since Hans- Joachim Zilliken and his wife Ruth took over the company, that winery Zilliken could move up to the top.
In 1972, Hans-Joachim (called Hanno) finishes his studies at Geisenheim, in 1976 he takes over the responsibility for the cellar from his father, and in 1981 he takes over the business. In 2007 their daughter Dorothee comes along in the winery, after she has completed her studies in Geisenheim. She is the eleventh generation of winemakers in the family…

Wgt. Zilliken grows exclusively Riesling. Besides a small plot of 1 ha on the Ockfener Bockberg, all grapes come from the Saarburger Rausch. This vineyard, classified as Grosse Lage by the VDP, measures 26 hectares, is south to southwest facing and is situated just north of the city Saarburg. The slope is 60 %. 10 ha of Saarburger Rausch belongs to Zilliken.
The composition of the soil is unique here: fine weathered gray Devonian slate with a significant proportion of Diabas, a green-colored volcanic rock.

Slate ( back) and Diabas ( front) – Photo © Vrienden van de Riesling

According to Hanno and daughter Dorothee the presence of Diabas is important for the wines of Zilliken. “The Diabas lends the Rausch wines a particular elegance, finesse, precision, and marked acidity“, says Dorothee .

Winemaking is done in the traditional way here. All the wines are aged in old wooden barrels, which are stored in the deepest underground cellars of the region. Because of the proximity of a subterranean well, the humidity here is always 100%, whereas the temperature is constant at 10 ° C. According to Stephan Reinhardt the atmosphere in the cellar contributes to the style of wines at Zilliken. “There is something special in the wines, something ethereal, a cool flavour of a dark and humid forest. It was only when Hanno took me three storeys below ground to his cellar, that I recognized the volatile flavours at once.”
Of course the meticulous way of winemaking is also responsible for the unique style of wines. Fermentation is always spontaneous; wines are fermented in old oak barrels in which the wine are also elevated until time of bottling.

The damp cellars at Zilliken – photo © Vrienden van de Riesling

Some entries in the press:
Gault Millau: 4 grapes, in the 2013 edition the Saarburger Rausch Kabinett 2011 was rewarded as best Kabinett from Germany, and the Saarburger Rausch -1- Auslese as best Auslese from Germany. They did this over in 2014…
This year also, the Saarburger Rausch Spätlese “06 04” 2003 was proclaimed best noble sweet wine of Germany.
The 2011 Saarburg Rausch Riesling Grosses Gewächs was elected in the Feinschmecker Riesling Cup 2012 in Munich into the TOP 15 of dry Rieslings.
The Eichelmann guide allots Wgt. Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken year after year with honorable mentions.

We arrive promptly at 10 am at the new tasting rooms, built atop the ancient cellar. The acquaintance with Hanno Zilliken is warm and friendly. He will entertain us for more than three hours with his wines and stories …

Read also:
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 1
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 2
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 3
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 4
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 5
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 6
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 7

Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 7: the wines of Wgt. Peter Lauer (2)

The wines of Lauer ferment until February, sometimes until April, and remain 2 to 4 months on their fine lees.
The dry wines are raised in old oak barrels of 1000 l, wines with  residual sugar is kept in stainless steel or fiberglass tanks.

With Faß 4 we started with the “Feinherb bis Fruchtige” wines, and there are still a lot to follow.

The next two wines come from parcels on the Ayler Kupp.
Faß 15 “Stirn” 2012: Stirn means forehead, so this wine comes from the upper part of the vineyard, just above the section on the Ayler Kupp that is categorized as Grosse Lage by VDP.
Despite optimal exposure to the south it is relatively cool here, with often a bit of wind. The soil consists of large slabs of slate, on which the water flows straight downhill. The vines have to root deep in the stone ground to produce extract for the “Alte Reben” berries.
Fine yellow fruit , mineral, creamy. Juicy, mineral, straightforward. Medium and dry finish. 9.5% ABV, 40 g of residual sugar, 8.8 g acidity.

Faß 9 “Kern” 2012 gets its name from the family Kern, former tobacco manufacturers who bought this parcel of vines as an investment when wines from the Saar belonged to the top of the world, and were very expensive. The plot runs from the top to the bottom of the slope, at some distance from the water, so there is more difference between day and night here. The warmth of daytime heats the dark soil, the coolness of the night descends from the mountain and lowers the temperature. This interaction creates intense flavors and maintains a delicate and concentrated minerality in the wine.
Discrete, complex nose of citrus to torrefaction, seems to have more sweetness then Stirn, acidity come into the middle part with a pleasant citrus feeling, nice concentration, great length. Fine complex wine. 10.5% ABV, 34 g of residual sugar, 8.5 g acidity.

Florian disappears from the tasting room, and returns with a large glass full of cloudy, yellow-green, still slightly sparkling liquid. With some effort the wine is distributed into our glasses…
Faß 8 Ayler Kupp Kabinett we get to taste straight from the barrel, 2013, not yet bottled .
Kabinett wines, according to our host, are in Germany often uninteresting wines made ​​from overripe grapes that were in fact destined for something else. Not so in the philosophy of Weingut Peter Lauer: here Kabinett wines get their own character, and the grapes are not picked overripe, but at optimum ripeness so the fresh aromas are retained.
Fresh apple in this barrel sample, with some spiciness and slightly reductive, apple on the palate, complex with great length, finesse and precision. Delicious wine-to-be.

Faß 23 ** Spätlese 2011 was produced before het Weingut joined VDP. The two stars refer to the previously used addition “Feinste” (Finest), which is the highest Spätlese ranking. The golden, perfectly ripe grapes are picked just before the onset of botrytis. The grapes from the different plots of Ayler Kupp are selected on maturity, not to their geographical origin. The fermentation is always spontaneous.
Passion fruit, mineral, spicy (pepper and curry). Nice dessert wine with filigree delicate feeling. Beautiful harmonious aftertaste, signed with fruit and length. 7.5% ABV, 90 grams of residual sugar, 10.3 grams of residual acidity.

Faß 10 is regarded as the best barrel of the winery. We get to taste two vintages, to show how good the wine can be. The 2012 was rewarded 96 points by Gault Millau and selected in the top 10 of the best Auslese from Germany.
For these wines there is always some botrytis, harvest is scheduled when the grapes are starting to dry.
Faß 10 Ayler Kupp Riesling Auslese 2007 has about 10 % botrytis .
The wine has a beautiful nose of almonds, raisins, marzipan, with slight hint of petrol. An unctuous mouth feel with lots of ripe fruit, grapes, pineapple, marzipan, almost breathtakingly beautiful, with great concentration.
Faß 10 Ayler Kupp Riesling Auslese 2005 had more  botrytis than in 2007, about 20 %. Both wines have about 100 grams of residual sugar and 8 % ABV.
Fine complex nose , slighty petrol, pineapple, almonds, dried fruit. Spicy on the palate, complex and delicate at the same time, with ripe fruit and pineapple.

We notice that Florian Lauer tastes all the wines before he offers them to us. The reason becomes clear now. Some sample bottles are open for a longer period and Florian is curious about the evolution in the bottle. The next wine he serves was opened… half a year ago. Now we are at BA level (Beerenauslese), wines with a high amount of residual sugar, able to mature for years.

Rau 2010 Riesling Beerenauslese comes from the Rauberg. Typical of this vineyard in the cool year 2010 is that the grapes started to dry and concentrate while still in immature stage. That gives this Beerenauslesen a very special style, with ferm acids and simultaneously fresh and green flavors.
Complex spicy nose with some coffee, mocha and rhubarb. Complex and long on the palate, with pure lingering aftertaste. Great wine with great aging potential. 140° Oechsle, 250 g of residual sugar, 14 g acidity, 6,5% ABV.

We end in absolute beauty with Trockenbeerenauslese Schönfels 2011. Harvested at 230° Oechsle, 421 grams of residual sugar, 17 grams of acidity and 5.5 % ABV. It needed about 250 kilograms of dried grapes for 10 liters of this wine .
Schönfels Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese 2011 has a bright golden color, raisins on alcohol on the nose, with a multitude of impressions: grassy, tobacco, honey. Stunning glass of wine, with a subtle balance and perfect acidity and honey. Long finish. Excellent glass of top wine. Obviously too young now.

With appropriate words of thanks we conclude, this was one of the most memorable tastings we have ever experienced.

 

Florian Lauer, enthusiastic and passionate

 Read also:
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 1
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 2
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 3
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 4
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 5
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 6

Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 6: the wines of Wgt. Peter Lauer (1)

Because we stayed in the “WEINhotel Ayler Kupp” during our stay in the Saar region, it was not difficult to make an appointment with Florian Lauer.
He will guide us for over two hours on a journey through its wine portfolio.

From the basic wines, Florian first let us try the Saar Riesling Trocken Faß 16.
He calls this wine a “Gebietscuvee”. The grapes come for 50% from Ayl, the remaining 50 % from the villages around Ayl, where Lauer buys grapes from tenants to make this wine.
Jancis Robinson called this wine the “Saar Sancerre”…
Sparkling fresh in the nose, a slight hint of reduction, fresh acidity with quite some juiciness, medium light aftertaste. With 11° Alc this is a thirst quencher.

 Faß 2 Ayler Riesling “extra trocken” 2012 is a VDP.Ortswein.
The grapes come from all the 6 Weinbergen around Ayl: Kupp , Rauberg , Scheidt Mountain , Schönfels , Sonnenberg and Saarfeilser. The soil mostly consists of weathered blue-gray slate.
In the German Wine Law of 1971 all these vineyards were grouped into a single “Einzellage”, which was also called the “Ayler Kupp”. In the family tradition of Lauers this was unacceptable. They never wanted to compromise, and still fighting the principle of  Einzellages”, also in practice, by producing wines originating from specific micro-parcels.
Faß 2 is slightly darker than Faß 16, pure white fruit and a slight minerality on the nose. Again a very slight hint of reduction. The wine is dry, mineral, with a reasonable amount of salinity. The finish, at first appearing to be brief, expands later with quite some strength. With only 3.3 grams of residual sugar this is a very dry wine.

 Faß 6 Ayler Kupp Riesling “Senior” 2012 is a “Trocken bis Feinherb” wine. So it is inbetween dry and semi-sweet. This is also indicated on the label. The dry wines carry a small “T” the bottom of the label, Feinherb wines have a small “F”, and the combination of both is also possible, “TF”, as in this wine.
The wine is named Senior because it is made in the preference of grandfather Peter Lauer Sr. It is regarded that this is the wine that typifies winery Peter Lauer.
Yellow fruit, peach, agrum, slightly spicy. Slightly reductive again. Harmonious interplay between sweetness and acidity. The sweet component contributes to the elegance and power. Nice length, with fairly complex finish.

Rudi, Florian Lauer, Marc

After three wines from basic and middle range we have already arrived to the golden labels, the wines from the best parcels of Ayler Kupp and the Grosse Gewächse.

  Faß 12 ” Unterstenberg ” 2012 is coming from grapes grown into deeper soil at the foot of the slope of the Ayler Kupp. The vines were planted in 1958 in a fine eroded soil.
According to Florian Lauer, this wine needs at least six years to fully flourish, and then it will still have a long life ahead. This wine can be drunk either young or old, according to the winemaker .
The label says also TF: Trocken bis Feinherb.
White, pure fruit, salty . Elegant. Something creamy in the nose. Fairly complex. A nice balance on the palate, drier than the “Senior”, but more complex. In the aftertaste, we recognize the salinity we already discovered earlier.

 Faß 11 “Schonfels” GG 2012 comes from the windy, sunny “Fels terraces” of the Schonfels Lage. The interaction of sunshine and wind, the reflection of the water on the vineyard, the southeast orientation and the fact that there is no protective forest at the top of the slope, creates a unique microclimate. As a result, over-ripe grapes may be obtained, while the chance of botrytis is minimal due to the influence of the wind. The vines were planted in 1912.
Discrete nose with spices and curry. Less fruit, clear minerality. Complex spiciness on the palate, a nice big wine. 6.2 grams of residual sugar.

 Faß 17 “Neuenberg” 2012 is another TF wine. The Neuenberg is a part of the Ayler Kupp which always produces around ten percent of botrytis. The small parcel is situated halfway along the foot of the slope, southwest facing, and gets plenty of evening sun.
Spicy, pepper, ripe apple. Mouth feel with roundness, a beautiful harmony with yellow fruit and salinity in the second part. Medium to long finish, with clear aftertaste.

We go one step up in level of sweetness, and therefore we need to go back to a wine with a green logo on the label:
Faß 4 Ayler Riesling is a Feinherb wine, with already 27.5 grams of residual sugar. This is again a “village” wine, an Ortswein, the grapes come from the Scheidterberg and Rauberg vineyards.
Liquid honey in the nose and mouth, a little less concentrated. Apple, citrus acidity. Medium finish.

In the next article the other Feinherb and the noble sweet wines…

 

Click to enlarge

 

Read also:
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 1
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 2
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 3
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 4
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 5

 

Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 5: Weingut Peter Lauer

“Lauer has gone cult …”
“This small Saar traditional wine producer in Ayl bottles some of the finest , most classic Rieslings in Germany : pure, precise, piquant, racy, mineral, and chiseled, but usefull ripe, concentrated, compact and complex.”
Gault Millau : 3 stars
Feinsmecker : 4 FFFF
Robert Parker : “Outstanding”
The recent praises regarding Weingut Peter Lauer are quite impressive .

Photo: © Vrienden van de Riesling

You can find the “Vinothek” of Weingut Peter Lauer in the center of the small town of Ayl. There’s a big chance that you will find Florian Lauer inside, who took over the winery from his father Peter in 2005. Ths family business was founded in 1830 .
Since January 2013, the Weingut Peter Lauer has joined the VDP (Grosser Ring Mosel Saar-Ruwer).
Florian Lauer  (“M. Sc. Agr.” is printed on his business card) studied oenology in Montpellier (France).
Already his second harvest was awarded by Gault Millau for the best Riesling Feinherb of Germany. Many other awards have followed since. The continuous high quality of the wines here was the reason for the Grosser Ring (VDP) to adhere the Weingut last year.

Weingut Peter Lauer produces around 40,000 bottles per year. The grapes originate from plots in seven steep vineyards around Ayl. The best known is the Ayler Kupp, an undisputed Grosse Lage of the Saar.
Lauers vineyards are planted with Riesling only, sometimes the vines are over a century old. The grapes from these old vines are vinified separately in the spirit of the tradition before the introduction of the wine law in 1971. The resulting wines are “wines for advanced Riesling lovers”, as is stated on their website.

Photo: © Vrienden van de Riesling

Because the Saar valley has a cool climate, the winemakers have to struggle to achieve the full maturity of the grapes.
Florian is very knowledgeable about various trellising techniques and de-leafs to a greater degree than you might see in other regions.
Of course, the terroir is important to his style of winemaking.

Instead of following the pradikat system (Kabinett, Spatlese, Auslese etc), Florian chooses to preserve the character of the micro-parcels in the Kupp and label each wine with a unique fass number. Each parcel is fermented in its own barrel.
A site like Ayler Kupp is for Florian Lauer, following the family tradition, not simply a Einzellage with only one single terroir character. Factors such as soil composition, sun exposure, altitude, slope and microclimate of the vineyards combined with the age of the vines and the time of harvest are crucial elements that define the unique character of each wine. Therefore, the small plots (0.25 to 0.5 ha) harvested and fermented separately. The resulting wines are labelled with the name of the parcel and the “Faß” (barrel) number. This leads to an almost confusing array of wines, although that number has already been reduced since Florian took over the weingut .
“Nature does not care about foreign wine laws , so we don’t force our wines in the straitjacket of imposed flavors”, says Lauer. During our tasting, he will repeatedly argue against the antique German wine legislation.

Florian Lauer does everything to preserve what nature provides. He farms traditionally avoiding chemicals almost wholly, but when challenged may use a non-organic fungicide since the organic alternative of copper can be cumulatively toxic to the soil. All hand-harvested, the grapes go through gentle whole-cluster pressing and ferment naturally with wild yeast until either dry or off-dry. The wines are aged on their lees in old fuder or fiberglass and may experience some bâtonnage.

Weingut Peter Lauer commercializes the Riesling wines in three lines , each with its own nuance on the label.
Grey corresponds to “Saar Riesling”, the simpler Gutsweine from  the Saar, green is “Ayler riesling”, from slate soil and the vineyards around Ayl, the wines with the gold label are from the best plots and the Grosse Lagen.

In the next article we will finally do some tasting …

Read also:
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 1
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 2
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 3
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 4

Sources : René van Heusden , Perswijn – http://flatiron-wines.com/blog/rieslingfeier – Stephan Reinhart : ” The Finest Wines of Germany”

Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 4: why the Ayler Kupp is a top ranking vineyard

When you exit the wine village Ayl by the K130 in direction of Biebelhausen, suddenly you see right in front of the impressive Ayler Kupp . At the foot of the Kurvenstück the view of the slope is overwhelming. It looks like the Kupp is placed as a monument on a pedestal above the valley. This rise above the plain is caused by the Saar itself. In the beginning of the Würm (Ice Age), the meander of the Saar broke between Schoden and Biebelhausen, as a consequence the plain around the Kupp dried out and bogged.

Photo: © Friends of the Riesling

The Saar is a quite northerly wine region, at about 50°N.  It is a cold wine-growing region in the west of Germany, close to the border of France and Luxembourg. It is not surprising that the best vineyards are all southern slopes. More than elsewhere the intensity of sunlight plays a crucial role in the production of sugar in the grapes.

The Saar valley has a temperate climate, which is pretty normal for western Germany. The climate is mainly determined by the influence of the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Therefore, weather extremes are rare.

Photo: © Friends of the Riesling

The Ayler Kupp is mainly oriented south to southwest, has an area of ​​49.2 hectares, whereof 30 hectares are vineyards which are planted almost exclusively with Riesling .
Its summit, at 250 m above sea level and is covered with the “Aylerwald”, a forest that offers protection from the cold wind from the North.

The soil consists mainly of weathered Devonschiefer, which is a blue-gray slate; and in some parts we find gray, red and brown clayey slate with a high portion of less weathered, hard rock. The dark-colored slate heats up quickly and releases the warmth slowly during the night. Slate is also a poor soil with little water retention. As a result, the roots have to penetrate deep into the soil to search for minerals and water.

The steep slopes, which vary from 20% to 70%, give an excellent sun exposure and therefore higher temperatures.

http://www.bockstein.de

Indeed, one of the most important factors influencing the quality of the grapes is the intensity of the sunlight.
The optimal insolation of the vineyard grape is 109 kcal/cm² . At 50° N, this level of insolation can only be reached at ideal facing slopes. The illustration above shows that this level of intensity (zone I) is only achieved on the south-facing slope of the Kupp, which has also the ideal slope of 30°. The second irradiation level (zone II), between 100 and 105 kcal/cm², is only accessible on the slopes that approach the ideal regarding orientation and slope. On Levels III and IV, we see limited cultivation of vines, this land is mainly used for agriculture in arid areas and grasslands in damp parts.
The difference in insolation over a distance of 800 m (from flatland to slope) is huge. The intensity of sunlight at the ideal slope corresponds to the solar power present at 40° N , such as around the city of Naples (Italy).

A cool wind in the valley provides for a gentle cooling. This allows the grapes to ripen over a longer period of time and thus develop more flavors.
Finally, the proximity of the river Saar offers an additional positive, moderating influence .

These climatic and geological conditions make the Ayler Kupp a top ranking vineyard or “Spitzenlage”.

Final Note : Although we write about the conditions of Ayler Kupp in this article, other “Spitzenlagen” benefit from their own unique factors, that play an important role in determining the quality of the wines.

 

Uitstap naar de Saar – deel 3: foto’s Ayler Kupp

Klik op een foto om een slideshow te zien…
Click on a photo to start a slideshow…

Ayler Kupp

Naar de top

Helling

Schiefer bodem

Leisteen

Peter Lauer

Ranken

Binden

Werk in de wijngaard

Halverwege de Kupp

Bloeden

Hartvorm

Dieptezicht

 

Lees ook
Uitstap naar de Saar – deel 1
Uitstap naar de Saar – deel 2: Ayl en Ayler Kupp
Uitstap naar de Saar – deel 4
Uitstap naar de Saar – deel 5

Read also:
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 1
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 2
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 4
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 5

Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 2: Ayl and Ayler Kupp

March 10. The seasons are a bit muddled, because the day announces itself as if it was high summer. Under a bright blue sky and accompanied by brilliant sunshine we drive towards Germany. Our destination is Ayl, a small wine village on the banks of the Saar.
The traffic is smooth, and soon we arrive at Weinhotel Ayler Kupp, which is located just behind Weingut Peter Lauer.
We are to discover the Saar wine region, one of the coolest wine regions of Germany. The Saar is known for its very specific style of Riesling wines, as we will find out later.

But first we want to stretch our legs, and we climb to the top of the Ayler Kupp , an undisputed Grosse Lage of the Saar. In German it is regarded as a “Spitsenlage”, a top-level vineyard.

© Vrienden van de Riesling

The Ayler Kupp is located just north of the village of Ayl. The vineyard is mainly facing south to southwest. The arc or “Kurvenstück” near Biebelhausen is oriented towards the southeast.

weinlagen-info.de

The Ayler Kupp measures ​​49.2 hectares, of which 30 hectares are vineyards, planted almost exclusively with Riesling. The summit, 240 m above sea level, is covered with the “Aylerwald”, a forest that offers protection from the cold wind from the north.

The soil consists mainly of weathered Devonschiefer, which is a blue – gray slate; and in some parts we find gray, red and brown clayey slate with a high portion of less weathered, hard rock. The steep slopes, which vary from 20 % to 70 %, give an excellent sun exposure and therefore higher temperatures.
Because of these favorable geological and climatic conditions exceptional wines are produced at various plots of this Lage.

saar-riesling.com

This is an English translation of the original post that you can read here…

Read also:
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 1
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 3: pictures Ayler Kupp

Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 1

In 2012 we went on our first wine trip and wrote about it on this blog.
Memories of the Middle Moselle, with its steep slopes and elegant mineral Riesling wines made us decide to return to the Moselle valley.
This time we move further west, upstream direction Trier, to one of the cooler districts (Bereiche) of the wine region Mosel , namely the Saar valley. The “Bereich Saar” has a concentration of excellent wine producers. It is a beautiful area where outstanding Riesling wines are produced. The most famous vineyard of the Saar is undoubtedly the Scharzhofberg, near Wiltingen.
The other famous vineyards lie between the villages of Serrig and Konz.
Downstream from Serrig these are:
Saarburger Rausch,
Ayler Kupp,
Ockfener Bockstein,
Scharzhofberg,
Wiltinger Gottesfuss,
Wiltinger Braune Kupp and
Kanzemer Altenberg.

Read all about our adventures soon …

This inviting card of the Saar region we will take along on our trip…

This is an English translation of the original post that you can read here…

Read also:
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 2
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 3
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 4
Wine trip to the Saar valley – part 5