“Barrel X” is winemaker Florian Lauer’s Platonic ideal of what a slightly off-dry (feinherb) Saar Riesling should be. If we were in Burgundy, this would be the equivalent of a “Bourgogne Blanc.” As an appellation-level wine, it is sourced from multiple vineyards in four different villages of the Saar: Ayl (Lauer’s home village), Saarburg, Wawern and Wiltingen. Florian says, “From Ayl and Wawern, the wine gains the fruit and power, from Saarburg the racy acidity, and from Wiltingen, the spice.”
Regardless of what comes from where, this much is certain: dollar for dollar, I’m not sure there is a 750ml bottle that delivers as much joy and zing. This is the gateway drug to Lauer, to the Saar, to Riesling… be careful. Very addictive.
The 2024 Schlosskellerei Gobelsburg Kamptal Grüner Veltliner opens with an intense and vinous bouquet of yellow seed fruits intermingled with saline notes of crushed rocks and green leaves. The wine is round and charming on the textural palate and more su...
The 2022 Grüner Veltliner Ried Lamm is a loess site on sandstone at the foot of Heiligenstein. It was fermented and aged in large, 5,000 and 6,000-liter oak, one of them new. A touch of honey on the nose insinuates itself on a creamy nose. More air add...
The ‘Tradition’ wines are an ode to the winemaking style being employed at Gobelsburg in the early 19th century – specifically the years between 1800 and 1850. This period is characterized by the era of baroque, where intense aromatics in vinfication was being practiced.
The grapes are pressed with a basket press for low sediment content, without further sedimentation the wines are fermented without temperature control in 25 hl Manhartsberg oak casks (double foudre). After the fermentation the wines are racked every 3 to 4 months to let the wine ‘breathe’ on one side, but on the other side to go off the lees. This process lasts for about two years until the wine is ready to be bottled.