dabhand
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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/wine/8681659/Rieslings-from-the-Mosel-valley.html
Rieslings from the Mosel valley
The rieslings of the Mosel valley are delicate but stout-hearted: the perfect summer apéritif .
Not long ago I took a train out of St Pancras International early in the morning and by late afternoon had joined a protest on a hillside above a river in Germany. Not just any hillside or any river: we were assembled – a motley crew of winegrowers, wine writers, local activists, journalists and politicians – at the top of the vineyard called Uerziger Würzgarten, looking down at the most spectacular snake-loop in the entire, bucolically beautiful Mosel river valley.
We were protesting about the plan to drive a motorway on an immense bridge slap through and over this loop, potentially damaging some of the world’s greatest vineyards, with names as evocative as Bernkasteler Doctor, Wehlener Sonnenuhr, and Graacher Himmelreich. As far as we were concerned, it was like building an elevated section of motorway over the Acropolis in Athens – “a folly and a desecration”, as our spokesman, the wine writer Hugh Johnson, put it.
Quite a lot of Mosel winegrowers and residents (not just English wine writers) are strongly opposed to the Hochmoselübergang, which sadly seems destined to go ahead. Present and correct were Manfred Prüm and his daughter Bettina, Ernie Loosen and Rudi Trossen, all of whom have campaigned against it vigorously – but you can’t help feeling that Germans in general do not value their 1,700-year-old wine heritage. The disastrous post-war experiment with Liebfraumilch did not help. Düsseldorfers and Hamburgers would rather quaff Macon or Chianti than the produce of Germany’s own great wine-hills.
There is something medieval, in the best sense, about these vineyards. The sheer work invested in them over generations, the effort of planting, tending and harvesting vines, each attached to a stake, all by hand, on 60-degree slopes, beggars belief; but the effect is of a communal work of art, a glowing tapestry of vines. And the visual beauty is matched by the spiritual beauty of the wines, which have the delicacy of lace and the strength of steel, blossomy fragrance and mineral depth. The unique transparency of the riesling grape gives these wines an unrivalled ability to reflect the particular character of the vineyard. They are the stained glass windows of the wine world.
You may think I am getting carried away, and perhaps I am, because Mosel-Saar-Ruwer rieslings were the first wines I got to know and love. My father thought that their alcohol level of around 8% made them fairly innocuous, and used to quote a man who claimed to have no truck with water; what do you do when you clean your teeth, he was asked, and responded, “For my teeth, I use a little light mosel.”
Whether or not you use Mosel riesling for cleaning your teeth, it makes the most perfect summer lunchtime or evening apéritif. Our family custom for many years has been to gather on sunny weekend days and sip a Mosel kabinett or spätlese.
The pleasure begins with the sight of the pale green wine glinting in Treveris crystal; then there is that waft of green apple, white peach, apricot, honey; and then the crisp tingling as the wine meets the tongue, the piquancy of riesling acidity balanced by ripeness, minerality, a touch of sweetness.
The traditional off-dry Mosel-Saar-Ruwer riesling kabinetts and spätleses still make the best aperitifs, I think, but the drier styles (look out for the word “Trocken”), which started to appear in the Eighties and are now made with much more skill, have a particular affinity with spicy oriental food. The purity, delicacy and nuance of riesling is unmatched by any other variety and nothing goes so well with the finest Japanese and Chinese cuisine.
Really the only thing to put you off these wines is the complexity of the nomenclature. (Someone, I think it was Hugh Johnson, once wrote that there should be a faculty of wine philosophy at one of Germany’s universities.) Some producers simplify things by producing a standard estate wine. Rudi Trossen, who practises organic viticulture, offers an excellent entry level Mosel riesling in the form of his frankly fruity, expressive and moreish landwein, which is dry enough to go well with food.
But if you want to go a little deeper – and the rewards are immense – you simply have to start exploring individual vineyard sites. Try comparing two excellent off-dry kabinetts from Ernie Loosen, the most dynamic producer of his generation: Uerziger Würzgarten, with its red slate soil, produces one of the most distinctive of all Mosel wines, with a smoky, explosive power and richness. Graacher Himmelreich (another vineyard likely to be affected by the Hochmoselübergang) is much firmer and crisper, with a different kind of minerality. Two steep south-facing slopes rising above the winding river, 1.9 miles (3km) apart: two completely different wines.
And then you can branch out to the Saar, the tributary of the Mosel which produces the world’s most superfine, highly strung rieslings. Everything is on a knife edge here; these are wines on the verge of a nervous breakdown, with a harsh acidity that can make you grimace. But compared with the delicate breed and raciness of a wine like Florian-Peter Lauer’s dry-style Ayler Kupp Fass 2 2009, almost all other wines seem coarse and crude.
In top years the Mosel produces intense botrytis-affected wines, balanced by a crisp acidity which means that they never cloy. There is no greater master of these than Manfred Prüm: his Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese Goldkapsel 2006, rich and unctuous yet pure and fresh, seems almost too good for this fallen world: a wine to make the angels weep.
Mosel masterpieces
Trossen Mosel Riesling Landwein Trocken 2009 (organic),www.thewineryuk.com, £12.99 per litre
Uerziger Würzgarten Riesling Kabinett 2009, Dr Loosen, Waitrose, £13.29
Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett 2010, Dr Loosen, Sainsbury’s, £11.99
Ayler Kupp Fass 2 Trocken 2009 Florian-Peter Lauer, www.thewineryuk.com, £18.99
Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese 2006 Goldkapsel JJ Prüm, Majestic, £40
Rieslings from the Mosel valley
The rieslings of the Mosel valley are delicate but stout-hearted: the perfect summer apéritif .
Not long ago I took a train out of St Pancras International early in the morning and by late afternoon had joined a protest on a hillside above a river in Germany. Not just any hillside or any river: we were assembled – a motley crew of winegrowers, wine writers, local activists, journalists and politicians – at the top of the vineyard called Uerziger Würzgarten, looking down at the most spectacular snake-loop in the entire, bucolically beautiful Mosel river valley.
We were protesting about the plan to drive a motorway on an immense bridge slap through and over this loop, potentially damaging some of the world’s greatest vineyards, with names as evocative as Bernkasteler Doctor, Wehlener Sonnenuhr, and Graacher Himmelreich. As far as we were concerned, it was like building an elevated section of motorway over the Acropolis in Athens – “a folly and a desecration”, as our spokesman, the wine writer Hugh Johnson, put it.
Quite a lot of Mosel winegrowers and residents (not just English wine writers) are strongly opposed to the Hochmoselübergang, which sadly seems destined to go ahead. Present and correct were Manfred Prüm and his daughter Bettina, Ernie Loosen and Rudi Trossen, all of whom have campaigned against it vigorously – but you can’t help feeling that Germans in general do not value their 1,700-year-old wine heritage. The disastrous post-war experiment with Liebfraumilch did not help. Düsseldorfers and Hamburgers would rather quaff Macon or Chianti than the produce of Germany’s own great wine-hills.
There is something medieval, in the best sense, about these vineyards. The sheer work invested in them over generations, the effort of planting, tending and harvesting vines, each attached to a stake, all by hand, on 60-degree slopes, beggars belief; but the effect is of a communal work of art, a glowing tapestry of vines. And the visual beauty is matched by the spiritual beauty of the wines, which have the delicacy of lace and the strength of steel, blossomy fragrance and mineral depth. The unique transparency of the riesling grape gives these wines an unrivalled ability to reflect the particular character of the vineyard. They are the stained glass windows of the wine world.
You may think I am getting carried away, and perhaps I am, because Mosel-Saar-Ruwer rieslings were the first wines I got to know and love. My father thought that their alcohol level of around 8% made them fairly innocuous, and used to quote a man who claimed to have no truck with water; what do you do when you clean your teeth, he was asked, and responded, “For my teeth, I use a little light mosel.”
Whether or not you use Mosel riesling for cleaning your teeth, it makes the most perfect summer lunchtime or evening apéritif. Our family custom for many years has been to gather on sunny weekend days and sip a Mosel kabinett or spätlese.
The pleasure begins with the sight of the pale green wine glinting in Treveris crystal; then there is that waft of green apple, white peach, apricot, honey; and then the crisp tingling as the wine meets the tongue, the piquancy of riesling acidity balanced by ripeness, minerality, a touch of sweetness.
The traditional off-dry Mosel-Saar-Ruwer riesling kabinetts and spätleses still make the best aperitifs, I think, but the drier styles (look out for the word “Trocken”), which started to appear in the Eighties and are now made with much more skill, have a particular affinity with spicy oriental food. The purity, delicacy and nuance of riesling is unmatched by any other variety and nothing goes so well with the finest Japanese and Chinese cuisine.
Really the only thing to put you off these wines is the complexity of the nomenclature. (Someone, I think it was Hugh Johnson, once wrote that there should be a faculty of wine philosophy at one of Germany’s universities.) Some producers simplify things by producing a standard estate wine. Rudi Trossen, who practises organic viticulture, offers an excellent entry level Mosel riesling in the form of his frankly fruity, expressive and moreish landwein, which is dry enough to go well with food.
But if you want to go a little deeper – and the rewards are immense – you simply have to start exploring individual vineyard sites. Try comparing two excellent off-dry kabinetts from Ernie Loosen, the most dynamic producer of his generation: Uerziger Würzgarten, with its red slate soil, produces one of the most distinctive of all Mosel wines, with a smoky, explosive power and richness. Graacher Himmelreich (another vineyard likely to be affected by the Hochmoselübergang) is much firmer and crisper, with a different kind of minerality. Two steep south-facing slopes rising above the winding river, 1.9 miles (3km) apart: two completely different wines.
And then you can branch out to the Saar, the tributary of the Mosel which produces the world’s most superfine, highly strung rieslings. Everything is on a knife edge here; these are wines on the verge of a nervous breakdown, with a harsh acidity that can make you grimace. But compared with the delicate breed and raciness of a wine like Florian-Peter Lauer’s dry-style Ayler Kupp Fass 2 2009, almost all other wines seem coarse and crude.
In top years the Mosel produces intense botrytis-affected wines, balanced by a crisp acidity which means that they never cloy. There is no greater master of these than Manfred Prüm: his Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese Goldkapsel 2006, rich and unctuous yet pure and fresh, seems almost too good for this fallen world: a wine to make the angels weep.
Mosel masterpieces
Trossen Mosel Riesling Landwein Trocken 2009 (organic),www.thewineryuk.com, £12.99 per litre
Uerziger Würzgarten Riesling Kabinett 2009, Dr Loosen, Waitrose, £13.29
Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett 2010, Dr Loosen, Sainsbury’s, £11.99
Ayler Kupp Fass 2 Trocken 2009 Florian-Peter Lauer, www.thewineryuk.com, £18.99
Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese 2006 Goldkapsel JJ Prüm, Majestic, £40
Thanks for your company on Monday night. It was good to meet you both.
