Germany
2024 Lauer, Peter - Ayler Kupp Riesling Fass 9 Kern (750ml)
“Kern” is named after the 19th century industrialist that cleared this more-western part of the Kupp; it is a small parcel that spans the entire top-to-bottom reach of the Kupp. Thus, for me, the wine always has something of the lift and rigor of “Stirn” and something of the depth of wines like “Neuenberg” and “Unterstenberg.” After the sun has finished its work on the hot stones during the day, the coolness pulls up the mountain and noticeably lowers the temperature. The vines are old here, well over 70-years-old, so the wine has some stuffing. It is most often well in that off-dry style, yet, with Lauer, it’s always about the balance.
-Importer notes (Vom Boden)
2024 Lauer, Peter - Riesling Kabinett Schonfels (750ml)
Here we present the rare Kabinett from the Schonfels vineyard, he only made this for the first time in 2021. Always, always – no matter if this is dry of off dry – you taste the site. Always, always, one of my favorite wines of the vintage.
The Schonfels is one of the most daunting sites of the Saar; under Florian Lauer’s care, it is also becoming one of the most famous sites. While the vineyard has always had a huge reputation, Florian’s father let the site go fallow in the 1980s. The reason? It’s too damn expensive and too difficult and dangerous to farm. The vines here are over 100 years old and ungrafted. Thus, even in good years, the yield is paltry. In addition, because the site is so steep, it is very difficult and very dangerous to farm. In fact, as the site “ends” in a rock face that drops a few hundred feet to a street below, harvesters must be harnessed in, via a carabiner, to a tractor parked at the top of the vineyard. There can be no slipping here; it is truly a matter of life and death.
And while it’s all very easy and dramatic for me to write about this, and while the wine has gone on to become one of the legendary wines of the Saar and of Germany, Florian’s decision, in the late 2000s, to rehabilitate this site was equal parts daring, brilliant, insane, and potentially financially crippling to the estate. The site had been fallow for well over a decade, so it essentially looked like a young forest. Months of (dangerous) work were required to rip out, by hand, most of the wild vegetation, in the hopes that the vines would still be alive. Luckily, they were. And luckily, the reputation of the site has proven itself. But this was a serious, serious gamble. Florian is a boss
-Importer notes (Vom Boden)
2024 Lauer, Peter - Ayler Kupp Riesling Fass 7 Spatlese (750ml)
The same culture, the same fashion and vogue, that has given us treasures like ultra-processed food, congress, social media, and paddle ball is also pushing against wines like Spätlese. Honestly, fuck fashion and vogue. Spätlese as an act of social rebellion? Yes. This is so damn crisp it’ll shut the haters up – just under seventy grams of beautiful, beautiful fructose (that’s less than many Kabinett) and damn near 10 grams of acid to make your palate reverberate.
-Importer notes (Vom Boden)
2024 Lauer, Peter - Riesling Barrel X Feinherb (750ml)
“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.
-Importer notes (Vom Boden)
2023 Maximin Grunhauser Abtsberg Kabinett Riesling (750ml)
The 2023 Riesling Maximin Grünhäuser Abstberg Kabinett presents wet slate on the nose, followed by lemon and a tropical hint of passionfruit. The palate bursts with vivid juiciness, featuring ripe melon, juicy mandarin and yellow peach, all heightened ...
2022 Meyer-Nakel Pfarrwingert Pinot Noir GG
The 2022 Spätburgunder Dernau Pfarrwingert GG pleases with perfect fruit ripeness and nuances of licorice, very fine slate notes and floral aromas in an elegant, fresh, wonderfully balanced and delicate bouquet. Dense, fresh, very elegant and stimulatingl...
2020 Muller, Egon - Scharzhofberger Spatlese
The 2020 Riesling Scharzhofberger Spätlese A.P. #6 reflects numerous parcels and pickings with largely healthy fruit but slight botrytis influence. Quince and white peach hover between fresh and jellied, overlain with heady, musky perfume of peony and ...
2020 Muller, Egon - Scharzhofberger Qba
An off-dry riesling beauty with very attractive white-flower and white-fruit aromas, a hint of green-apple freshness lifting the medium-bodied palate. Precise balance at the long, clean finish. Drink or hold.
2024 Prum, JJ - Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett (750ml
The 2024 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett opens with subtle hints of creamy woodruff, candied angelica and wet slate. The palate is lightness itself, like a veil of scented fruit referencing green apple, supple, sweet but tart citrus, like juicy, p...
2024 Prum, JJ - Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett (750ml)
The 2024 Riesling Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett is still a little flinty but tender green apple shows through. The palate stays on this beautifully bright side where fruitiness is juicy and tart, but its freshness is absolutely subsumed and intertwined...
