Winemaker Notes
Designated Grosse Gewächs (Great Growth) by the VDP wines from Erste Lage vineyard sites must meet specific vineyard yield limits, attain sugar content of at least Auslese level, complete fermentation to dryness, and undergo vineyard inspection and taste testing. Grapes are hand harvested in October and de-stemmed before 6-12 hours of skin contact, then allowed long, slow, cool fermentation in stainless steel tanks.
Golden color. On the nose, apricot and minerals, clean and good balance with the notes characteristic of a dry Riesling. A dry, full bodied palate, and structured wine with depth, concentrated stone fruit and minerality. Perfect to enjoy as an aperitif or with grilled salmon, chicken, scallops in cream sauce, and with oysters. This is a special wine that can be enjoyed with complex, flavorful, and unique dishes.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This late-release GG is a stunning showcase of how just a few years of bottle age impact a dry, richly concentrated Riesling. Yellow peach and grapefruit tones shine brightly still, but are glazed by layers of slick, penetrating minerals. While moderate in alcohol, it feels dense and creamy on the palate. The finish meanders almost endlessly, punctuated playfully by strikes of lemon-lime acidity. It's singing now, but should improve till at least 2020.
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.