Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Creamed anise, acacia, honeysuckle blossoms, and baby powder are found in the luxuriant aromatics of the 2001 Riesling Auslese Veldenzer Elisenberg.. A succulent, concentrated, broad, huge wine, it conquers the palate with its penetrating flavors of spiced apples, juicy candied limes, and poached pears. Medium-bodied and satin-textured, this beauty has the density of a Beerenauslese yet the charm of an Auslese. In addition, its hugely expressive, prodigious finish reveals even more waves of mineral-laced fruit.
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Wine Enthusiast
Dirk Richter makes wonderful, pure wines at this estate, which has been in his family for 300 years. Aromas of sweet honey and botrytis lead to an intensely flavored wine, filled with vibrant tastes of wild fruits and sweet apricots.
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Wine Spectator
Rich and succulent, this '01 Riesling is a bundle of energy, full of personality and lime, peach, spice and mineral aromas and flavors.
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.
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.