Dr. Fischer Ockfener Bockstein Spatlese 1999
Winemaker Notes
The vineyards of the estate are located in Ockfen, Saarburg and Wawern. The "Wawerner Herrenberger" site is a monopole site to the Dr. Fischer estate. While the wines of the "Ockfener Bockstein" are characterized by racy, well structured fruit, the wines of the "Wawerner Herrenberger" present themselves more filigrane and elegant. This is due to the soil of the first being mostly slate and the soil of the later consisting of more clay. This provides our customers with a fine variety of wines. In the cellar the wines undergo spontaneous fermentation with natural yeast. It is our goal, to display the characteristics of the single vineyard sites in the individual wine. This reductive concept is carried out in our cellar, which naturally maintains a stable cool temperature and therefore provides optimal conditions. Wines from the Saar region naturally need a little more time to mature. With bottle age they will become more elegant and expressive as well as rounder in their appearance. The wines are astonishingly low in alcohol, but high in mineral contents. The fine acidity harmonizes well with the sweetness, giving a crisp finish. The Dr. Fischer estate belongs to the elite of the best 300 estates of Germany (member of the VDP association), and most of the production is exported, mainly to the USA.
Although not certified organic, great care is taken with respect to sustainable viticulture, as well as selective handpicking and gentle processing of the grapes, followed by a cool, naturally slow fermentation in the old oak Fuder casks (1000 litres). Since the 2007 vintage, we have been bottling our wines with the new stelvin closure.
Following the Mosel River as it slithers and weaves dramatically through the Eifel Mountains in Germany’s far west, the Mosel wine region is considered by many as the source of the world’s finest and longest-lived Rieslings.
Mosel’s unique and unsurpassed combination of geography, geology and climate all combine together to make this true. Many of the Mosel’s best vineyard sites are on the steep south or southwest facing slopes, where vines receive up to ten times more sunlight, a very desirable condition in this cold climate region. Given how many twists and turns the Mosel River makes, it is not had to find a vineyard with this exposure. In fact, the Mosel’s breathtakingly steep slopes of rocky, slate-based soils straddle the riverbanks along its entire length. These rocky slate soils, as well as the river, retain and reflect heat back to the vineyards, a phenomenon that aids in the complete ripening of its grapes.
Riesling is by far the most important and prestigious grape of the Mosel, grown on approximately 60% of the region’s vineyard land—typically on the desirable sites that provide the best combination of sunlight, soil type and altitude. The best Mosel Rieslings—dry or sweet—express marked acidity, low alcohol, great purity and intensity with aromas and flavors of wet slate, citrus and stone fruit. With age, the wine’s color will become more golden and pleasing aromas of honey, dried apricot and sometimes petrol develop.
Other varieties planted in the Mosel include Müller-Thurgau, Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) and Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), all performing quite well here.
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.