Mavericks in Fine Wine

Germany’s reputation abroad has been sculpted by names like Egon Müller, Joh. Jos. Prüm and Schloss Johannisberg. Few question the quintessential style of Riesling produced by these estates, which have certainly set a benchmark for quality, but theirs is not the only reflection of reality. Other vintners have found their own individual idiom. Interestingly enough, many of these erstwhile mavericks, once rising stars from provincial backwaters, now have a large domestic following and may well be setting the tone for the next generation.

Germany’s Mavericks Take the High Ground
- A new generation is changing the rules of the game -

Reinhard Löwenstein is as much a philosopher as a vintner, but with a polemical vein that has not always endeared him to those that do not share his point of view. Still, much like his wines, he has matured with age. Once a revolutionary, who started with almost nothing and produced only utterly dry wines - a heresy for estates like Egon Müller, who make none at all - he first came to his senses, not like Saul on the road to Damascus, but by sheer accident when a 1993 Auslese refused to complete its fermentation. Fortunately little insurance money was needed to cover the damage.

Little by little he abandoned cultured yeast, stopped fining his wines and began a pilgrimage through his vineyards on the once little known and even less appreciated Lower Mosel. Although not an admirer of the anthropomorphic swagger of Nicolas Joly, who he finds too esoteric, too lost in the stars to appreciate what he calls lust for life, he has nonetheless become a proponent of biodynamic viticulture and an avid supporter of the concept of terroir, on which he has written several provocative articles in some of Germany’s most influential magazines and newspapers.

He has even gone so far as resurrecting old names given to individual subparcels of land such as Blaufüsser Lay, Laubach and Roth Lay within a single site in order to draw attention to the different types of soils found in his Winninger Uhlen vineyard near the confluent of the Mosel and the Rhine in Koblenz. This is what the Germans call the Terrassenmosel, where the vines grow on ecological niches, terraced vineyards that appear stuck like swallows’ nests to the rock cliffs well above the river valley below.

Although many feel that he has taken things too far in marketing such subplots, every tasting bears out his point. Within what he calls the “precision” of the 2004 vintage, the Blaufüsser Lay is a cool, calculated aristocrat; the Laubach is warmer, creamier and nuttier in character, with a hint of Rubenesque flesh that few would think possible on slate soils; the Roth Lay is deep, distant and unfathomable. “The 2005s will be subtler, and show more finesse,” he assures, “but the traits will be the same.”

His cellar, which during major floods can only be visited by rubber dinghy, is more a tribute to the New Age than to Rudolf Steiner. Much as the Greeks thought that they could hear the gods stirring in the music of their Aeolian chimes, he has chosen an Apollonic hexachord to soothe his Rieslings during their long fermentations…and has water continually flowing through stainless steel rivulets in the cellar floor to appease the Dionysian elements.

These whims would all be of only marginal interest to many if Reinhard Löwenstein were not also the president of the local chapter of the Verband der Prädikatsweingüter, the association of Germany’s leading producers. While the all of the other regions are trying to pin the use of “Grosses Gewächs” to dry wines with less that 9 grams of residual sugar, he has remained resolute in his defense of the Mosel’s individual, if perhaps not manifest destiny. “Our wines taste dry with 15, 18 or even 22 grams of residual sugar,” he proclaims. “Why should we wear the Pfalz’s corset?” His proposal, quite Burgundian in nature, is to classify only the vineyard, with the dryish style wines from those choice sites bearing no prädikat. The use of terms like spätlese and auslese, he maintains, should be reserved for only naturally sweet wines.

Although from the opposite end of the valley, his brother in arms in this endeavor is the equally iconoclastic Roman Niewodniczanski from the Saar, whose ambitions are as tall as the man himself. Albeit in a very unorthodox fashion he has taken - long hair, brash style and all - the van Volxem estate in Wiltingen to unprecedented heights since his family purchased the winery in 1999. At the same time he has aroused the ire of some of his colleagues in the valley by making little or no use of classical terms like kabinett, which he considers too light to be taken seriously, or spätlese, preferring instead to favor a hedonistic, some would say off-dry style that is at once rich and dense with a spicy character…and seen almost nowhere else in the region. Indeed, in a blind tasting you might think some of them were from the Mittelhaardt in the Pfalz.

Like Reinhard Löwenstein he has also resurrected subplots within his vineyards to designate his finest wines and uses, instead of nonspecific markers such as *** or gold capsule, terms with historical precedence such as the site Pergentsknopp within the world renown Scharzhofberg vineyard or Alte Reben, that is old vines - and his are often over a hundred years in age - to distinguish between them. As he continues to buy all of the old vines that he can find in the finest sites, even his simplest offerings are now often from fifty year old plots. Of course, his family has the money to do this, but as he says, he expects the consumer to pay for the unbelievably labor intensive work in the old vineyards and the subsequent drastically low yields.

Van Volxem’s 2004s were a touch drier, better balanced and more spiked in their minerality than the 2003s and confirmed the definitive emergence of this estate, which must now be counted as one of the finest, albeit the most unusual of the producers on the Saar. 2005 will be, according to “Niewo”, as he is often called, even better. “The grapes were all so unbelievably ripe,” he relates, “and with such a fine acidic structure, that we harvested nothing below 95 Oechsle must weight”, which for most estates would be an excellent Auslese. In addition, every batch was fermented using only wild yeasts and with extended time on the lees. The downside of the vintage was that he brought in only 27 hectoliters per hectare. “A financial disaster,” he whines, “that I can not patch with higher pricing.”

Although Niewo will produce several gold capsule auslese in 2005, many criticize that his ostensibly dry wines are not dry at all; but he is quick to retort that instead the spätlese and auslese produced today are too sweet. “If you look at the spätlese that Egon Müller produced in the fifties they often had no more residual sugar than my dry wines do today. Residual sugar is only a crutch; the most important thing is the balance between that component, alcohol and acidity.”

He has a point. Indeed, the only people who consistently find his wines too sweet are the professionals. Wine, however, is more than the first impression in a blind tasting. His style may be only a niche market today, but his wines have a richness, depth and structure that deserve more serious attention. He prefers drinking them three to eight years after crush, but trusts that they will mature well. Only time will tell, though, whether he will ever be able to turn back the clock on the concept of what wines from Saar should be.

Much closer to Reinhard Löwenstein geographically, in fact just around the corner, but much further in terms of style, is the estate of Florian Gartner on the Mittelrhein. As I came in out of the rain in early January his two little girls stared out of the kitchen waiting for their father to come back from the cellar. I had just driven up from Rüdesheim towards Koblenz, all the while admiring the dizzying slopes above the bend in the Rhine around Boppard. The classification by the UNESCO of the Mittelrhein as a world heritage site presents an enormous opportunity for small producers such as Florian Gartner, whose vineyards today cover little more than ten hectares on the slate and quartzite slopes above the river. Although his estate is flourishing, the region is dying. Many of the finest vineyards have been abandoned, not for lack of love, but because it is seldom worth the financial investment to cultivate the steep slopes for the meager sums that most producers receive for wines that they sell to the local taverns catering to the gawkers on holiday to see the Lorelei. Few of the local estates have achieved a foothold in Hamburg or Berlin, much less an export market, but Florian Gartner is on a roll. Even the Norwegians have discovered this little pearl.

Shy would not be the right word to describe Florian Weingart. Nor perhaps modest either. An intellectual type, he nonetheless appears self-conscious about the attention the German press has paid to him in recent years. Thoughtful and driven, he seeks to improve the quality of his wines for quality’ sake. Praise is nice, but it distracts him from the essentials.

Having towered above his colleagues on the Mittelrhein for the past three vintages, he crushed his 2004s with the highest average must weight in the history of the estate, higher even than the extremely ripe 2003s. This was not the back-to-reality vintage that many had expected. Nothing was harvested below 90 Oechsle. “It was my spätlese vintage,” he said. He produced twelve of them, four each in dry, off dry and classical style. Actually, even the kabinett is a spätlese. Of particular interest was the off dry spätlese that he named “Anarchie” because it stopped fermenting with an awkward 35 grams of residual sugar. This is a style of wine that is, although similar to what Reinhard Löwenstein and Roman Niewodniczanski are doing today, unfortunately not much made on the Mittelrhein anymore.

Florian Gartner was relieved in 2004 to see that the high physiological ripeness went hand in hand with the fresh, crisp acidities, which his father might have removed, but that he considers so crucial to the style of the local wines. Although botrytis brought the yields down to disastrous levels, 2005, which is still in cask, appears to be even better. “I think it will be the best vintage I have ever made,” said Florian awkwardly, as if uneasy predicting the future

To provide his Rieslings with more expression Florian Gartner has turned to wild yeasts and colder fermentations, which give them a more pure slated character, but he has also extended the lees contact to insure that the wines have enough depth and body. The tropical flavors that ooze from his wines are written into the soil, a vein of volcanic residue from eruptions in the nearby Eifel Mountains. The spätlese from the Ohlenberg vineyard tend to be denser, more full bodied, which is why he prefers bottling them in a dry to off dry style. The Feuerlay tends to be sleeker, showing a true mineral character, and generally gives better results in a sweeter style. Florian has thought about using warmer fermentations and longer skin contact on the Ohlenberg to accentuate its character, much as he has considered a more reductive style for the Feuerlay, but to date has preferred to let nature do her own thing. “I believe that I would have to be rather cocky to think that I could improve what the vineyards have given me,” he adds. Fortunately, in spite of his growing fame he has not lost his head in terms of pricing and still delivers a wide range of excellent Rieslings at very consumer friendly rates. If anyone can put the Mittelrhein back on the map, this is the man who will do it.

 

The Nahe River flows into the Rhine from the west just south of Boppard. It is hard today to believe that only 25 years ago few wine lovers had ever even heard of this tributary, much less Helmut Dönnhoff, who is now the grand old man of the region. Once classified as part of the Rhine, the current borders were only set in 1971. Certainly because of that the Nahe is the least known of Germany’s major Riesling growing areas, but it sports a touch of the character of each of the others in its own style. Almost nowhere else in Germany is the convergence of geological currents so intricate, creating a dizzying variety of soils…and with each producer putting his own stamp on his wines you have a cornucopia of stellar Rieslings, but no single lode star.

Bockenau on the upper and until recently relatively unknown reaches of the Nahe was long considered acceptable at best; but since Tim Fröhlich joined his father Hans in 1995 the Schäfer-Fröhlich estate has gone quietly from strength to strength – and the last three vintages here have been stunning. A cool thinker, and extremely self-critical, Tim’s wines reflect the character of their maker: clear, with no frills and no room for compromise. Although the dry wines are coming of age, his skill has been most poignantly expressed in the brilliant botrytis dessert wines, which each year are among the best produced anywhere in Germany. He attributes the improvement in quality over the past ten years to better vineyard management and lower yields. Even more important, though, has been his willingness to take risks, without which great wines are never made. Late harvests, the use of wild yeasts and the time that he has given his wines to develop in the spring before bottling have certainly added character to the style. Once only squeaky clean, his Rieslings now have true character.

As always, though, access to the finest sites is an undeniable advantage. With fortune smiling, this estate has been able to add several hectares of excellent vineyards to their holdings in the past few years and now sports three that they have chosen to bottle as “Grosses Gewächs”. Both the Monzinger Hallenberg and Bockenauer Felseneck are blue slate with more or less quartzite and basalt depending on the block. In a blind tasting the two are always delicate, steely in their acidities and very precise - and, I might add, often difficult to distinguish from one another. The Monzinger Frühlingsplätzchen is a horse of a different color. Very old vines on red slate soils bring a spicy exuberance to the wine, and a sense of depth, that the two others lack, at least in their youth, pairing intense fruit with distinctive minerality.

After the stunning 2003s, which most producers on the Nahe still flaunt as the finest vintage of their career, 2004 began with a whimper, not a bang. The autumn was cool and rainy, so that were it not for a golden October things here might have gone sour. As it turns out Schäfer-Fröhlich produced a bevy of excellent kabinett and spätlese – and an eiswein - that Tim describes as “classical”, that is to say not so overblown as the 2003s. He was, in fact, even able to harvest clean fruit for his dry wines in late November. 2005 appears to be the best of both worlds, a vintage that Tim describes as the finest that he has ever seen since managing his family’s estate. “We harvested perfectly healthy grapes with extremely high must weights and all of the components are in perfect balance.”

The Nahe flows into the Rhine at Bingen. Across the river is Rüdesheim, where one of the Rheingau’s unassuming stars has made his mark. A man with a passion for aromas, who says that he “almost prefers inhaling to tasting,” Johannes Leitz seldom fails to amaze. Hardly any other Riesling producer in Germany has been so consistent over the past five vintages as this outgoing chap from Rüdesheim, who only recently celebrated his 40th birthday. Still, his 2004s have taken his artistry to a new level. If anything, they are, given the vintage, even better than the stunning 2003s. “Josi”, as friends call him, likes poor vintages, for they show off what he can do, even with dry Rieslings. During the first phase of the dry wine wave, he admits, “a lot of wines were made dry in a way that didn’t suit them”. His dry Rieslings, however, compete with those of Klaus-Peter Keller at the head of the pack and his sweet Berg Schlossberg Spätlese is the finest wine of that ilk produced in 2004. Harvested at very nearly 100 Oechsle must weight, this wine also sports nearly 100 grams of residual sugar. Still, given the refreshing acidity and animated minerality, it tastes sleek, clean and lively. To underscore these inherent qualities of the vineyard, Johannes Leitz purposely employs full cluster pressing.

The more gently sloped Berg Rottland is the other great vineyard site in Rüdesheim. The weathered slate here is chalkier, with hints of gravelly loam, and the wines are more full bodied than in Berg Schlossberg. To intensify this perception Leitz leaves the grapes on their skins overnight to provide the wines even more depth. Often a careful hint of botrytis gives his dry Riesling from this site a more southerly character, more reminiscent of the Palatinate. Less than half of today’s 30 hectares form the core of the original vineyard, of which only about six in a small dell are the choicest. This is where the Josef Leitz produces one of his finest wines, a dry Spätlese that is the quintessence of what a Berg Rottland should be: rich, sensuous and beautifully structured. Apricot pits in the aromatics give way to a backbone of acidity that in a blind tasting might be taken for a Riesling from the Wachau. It is pure exuberance! Unfortunately, he seldom produces more than 3000 bottles.

Johannes Leitz, whose father passed away when he was only a year old, took over the family’s three hectares of vineyards twenty years ago at the tender age of 22 and has turned the estate into an icon of the Rheingau. Today he owns 28 hectares of vines, largely to service the demand for his „Dragonstone“ brand that is a great commercial success abroad. Although he has very good employees, Leitz nurtures all of the vines and wines himself, from pruning to binding, from trimming to canopy thinning and green harvesting.

An unassuming star with unbridled enthusiasm, he always harvests his grapes ”à la minute”, as he says, as if he were a chef choosing ingredients for a succulent dish, and insists on small lot fermentations. Finicky about cleanliness, he tries to disturb the wines as little as possible. Never racked, they are bottled off the gross lees from cask. As do many of his colleagues, Leitz insists that 2005 will be even better than 2004. “Clear, pure and lively, but with very ripe acidities, they have a richness not unlike that of 2003,” he insists. “However it was not due to heat and draught, but came from extremely low yields.”

Bernd Spreitzer, who was only just racking his 2005s off the lees in early March, is equally excited about the new vintage. “We have better quality than in 2004 and more acidity than in 2003. In style they are similar to the 2002s, but I think that they will turn out better.” Since Bernd and his brother Andreas Spritzer, who is responsible for the cellar, leased the property from their father Bernhard in 1997, this estate has gone from second division to the top of the A league. The last three vintages have all been excellent, culminating in 2004. Further, like Johannes Leitz, this family does everything admirably well. The dry Rieslings are nicely balanced, the half-dry Charta a picture book affair and the spätlese and auslese sublime.

Although their Wisselbrunn vineyard in Hattenheim often impresses with a trace of herbal spice, the family’pride are the forty year old vines in the Lenchen vineyard in Oestrich, with their 303 bottling being many customer’s favorite. This wine is made from a subplot called Eiserberg, where the Sprietzer’s great-great-grandfather harvested a Trockenbeerenauslese in 1920 with 303 Oechlse, the highest must weight recorded in the Rheingau until 2003.

Where Rüdesheim oozes minerality, Oestrich is more about fruit. Knowing this, the Spreitzer brothers use mostly stainless steel to add luster and polish to this character. Although the reductive, fruchtose rich style is considered untypical by many purists, their Rieslings are perfectly clean, transparent and imminently elegant, keenly chiseled wines that all love to drink. As this estate is not that well-known the wines are still modestly priced. Not only for that reason, though, do they merit closer attention.

Although Rheinhessen is visible across the Rhine from Oestrich, its most famous vineyards are around a bend in the river a few kilometers upstream in Nierstein. That being said, many of the finest wines produced in the Rheinhessen today come from further south in the Wonnegau, which until recently was considered by many to be little more than a collecting basin for the production of Liebfraumilch. It is here, in Westhofen, that Germany’s largest certified organic wine producer tends its vines. It would be a gross understatement, however, to say that they make only the best organic wines in the country; they make, purely and simply, some of the finest wines in Germany.

It was the 1999 vintage that catapulted this estate to the forefront in Rheinhessen and was followed shortly thereafter by the excellent 2001s. Although the dry 2004 Rieslings may not quite have the depth of that vintage, they lack little else, and the spätlese, auslese and trockenbeerenauslese are some of the finest produced in the vintage. Günter Wittmann is certain that 2005 will be even better.

His family is one of few estates to have not only an almost Mediterranean courtyard adorned with art, but also a treasure chest of wines from the past stored below. The oldest bottles date back to 1921, and there are still stocks of the exceptional 1934 and 1937 vintages. Father Günter Wittmann, who spends most of his time in the vineyard, leaving the cellar to son Philipp, has long shown enthusiasm for organic viticulture practice and began implementing those concepts in 1990, long before it became fashionable. His wife does the sales and marketing, but as always in a family business, everyone does a bit of everything.

Although many consumers abroad rage against the trocken machine, as Wittmann’s American importer Terry Theise calls it, this is what the mavericks are doing best these days…and very few are doing it as consistently well as this estate in Westhofen. Although first mentioned in 1282, their Morstein vineyard was unknown to but a few cognoscenti until recently. The wines from Rheinhessen were not popular and even die-hards who drank dry Riesling from Nierstein turned up their noses when they heard this part of the region mentioned. All that has changed since Wittmann put Westhofen on the map.

The village lies in a side valley that draws warm air up from the Rhine floor. Although the Kirchspiel vineyard also produces elegant, finely herbal wines, the Morstein vineyard has been more consistent in bringing forth great dry Riesling. Of today’s 140 hectares the original vineyard is an amphitheater of less than 50 rising on the slopes of an underground mountain. In its heart Günter and son Philipp Wittmann own almost four hectares with a southerly exposure, well protected from the westerly winds and rains. The limestone outcroppings generate rich wines of intense mineral expression and astonishing length. Although 2002, 2003 and 2004 were also sumptuous, the 2001 Morstein remains the finest dry Riesling made in Germany in that vintage. Wild herbs spice the bouquet and compact fruit pours luscious flesh onto a well-structured backbone.

Like the lower stretches of Rheinhessen, the southern part of the Pfalz near the Alsatian border long took a backseat to the more prestigious Mittelhaardt. However five friends, of whom Hansjürg Rebholz and Karl-Heinz Wehrheim are the most well-known, have done a lot in the last ten years to change that perception. Like Philipp Wittmann in Rheinhessen, Hansjörg Rebholz has succeeded to the point of being elected president of the local chapter of the Verband der Prädikatsweingüter, the association of Germany’s finest wine producers.

Although the Rebholz estate had been a pioneer here for three generations, few in Germany even knew it existed when Hansjörg took over after the early death of his father some 25 years ago. As did his grandfather before both of them, he continued to produce very individualistic, uncompromisingly dry wines, which often appear a little rough in their youth, but develop marvelously. Over the past few years his quality has skyrocketed, so that if you had to pick just one top producer from the Pfalz today, it might well be Rebholz.

The Kastanienbusch vineyard in neighboring Birkweiler has played a significant role in the resurrection of the area’s reputation. Although Rebholz’s Weisser Burgurnder and Spätburgunder are perhaps more popular, that does not diminish the stature of his Rieslings. Kastanienbusch, where he makes his finest, sprawls across some 76 hectares, but only a small part merits the classification “Grosses Gewächs” – and of that only a sliver has the weathered red slate soils on which Riesling thrives. Rebholz’s wines are thus proof of one German hypothesis that you can not classify vineyards, but only wines from high-minded producers. Wild herbs and honey are the hallmarks of this vineyard – and in spite of the density of fruit, the wine literally dances across the palate. The rigid mineral acidic structure of the excellent 2004 will soften with age. According to Hansjörg Rebholz, “the 2005 will be more harmonious, more fruit driven and in that more similar in style to 1999, 1997 or 1992.”

For those that can find it, his Gewürztraminer from the Latt vineyard in Albersweil has become a cult wine. Grown on pergola in a steeply terraced vineyard planted by his grandfather in 1947, everything here must be done by hand…and yields are ridiculously low. 2004 brought little more that ten hectoliter per hectare and only 600 bottles of a spätlese that, with its opulent aromas of rose petal, litchi and sweet smoke, was certainly the finest of the vintage. An unctuously sweet papaya fruit pours over the palate, but is kept light by an understated minerality.

Hansjörg’s friend and neighbor, Karl-Heinz Wehrheim, is better known for his Weissburgunder from the Mandelberg vineyard, not far from the Kastanienbusch, which is regularly one of the finest of its kind produced in Germany. A good ways up the slope, like the Grand Cru on the Côte d’Or, the grapes on these calcareous limestone soils stay healthy well into the season so that a late harvest is almost always possible. Once planted with Riesling that never fared well, the Weissburgunder vineyard is only twenty years old. “My grandfather tried Grauburgunder,” explained Karl-Heinz, “but I find that Weissburgunder does much better, bringing a nutty, spicy character not found elsewhere.”

2005 was a bit dry, but again the Indian Summer allowed Wehrheim to cellar a cornucopia of spätlese with very ripe acidities. “There will not be many of the light wines that my clients enjoy, and most of the wines will be ready to drink early, but with yields quite different from grape to grape and site to site there will be a couple of jewels.” Unusual will also be the crop of naturally sweet spätlese and auslese that he and Hansjörg Rebholz seldom make.

Although the Wehrheim family has long been one of the most respected producers of the southern Pfalz, Karl-Heinz has brought a new dimension to the estate since he took charge in 1990. Building on this father’s foundations, who at over 80 years of age is still active, his trump card has long been Weissburgunder, and not only the one from the Mandelberg vineyard; but his Rieslings have improved markedly over the past few vintages. That is also true of his Spätburgunder, which are generally released quite late. The 2003s, in fact, have not yet even been bottled.

Sitting at the old wooden table in his dining room while tasting the most recent vintage it soon becomes clear that this is not a producer with a marketing agenda. He has a bad back, enjoys quoting classical works that his wife teaches at school and is extremely interested in what his daughters are doing. “An estate is not a machine,” he relates. “If the family doesn’t work, the wines will never be worth much over the years.” As he serves simple local foods from nearby farms it is apparent, that this is man, and you can also hear it in his Pfalz accent, attached to his home. Wines tell stories, but not like that of an actor who demands attention, but of a book that you pull from the shelf and cannot put away.

A similar stoic humility is a trait shown by Reinhold Schneider from Endingen in Baden. Like Karl-Heinz Wehrheim, Weissburgunder and Spätburgunder are also his specialties. Given his loess soils, his wines are seldom as spicy as those from Ihringen or Achkarren, but are marked by their intense richness and inner depth from the low yields and induced malolactique fermentations. He knows that his soils are perhaps not the best on the Kaiserstuhl, but he dislikes hearing that the north end of the region is not of the same class as the volcanic soils with their south westerly exposition nearer the Rhine. “We actually have more sunshine and often less rain than our colleagues,” he opines. That was very important in 2005, for only with enough sun were the producers able to trump the abundant rainfalls. “We had to start removing the rotten grapes in late July. By October I called each berry by its first name.” With less than 40 hectoliters per hectare there will not be a lot to satisfy his growing clientele.

In spite of the beautifully classical kabinett and spätlese known abroad, Germany remains a kaleidoscope of colors. It would be easy for the consumer if every Riesling was shaped with the lofty elegance of a Wehlener Sonnenuhr from Joh. Jos. Prüm; but much as Dr. Manfred Prüm speaks with an accent that is quite different from the wines that he makes, so is the country moving in a myriad of languages, not only in German, but also in its wines. We all applaud the right of each individual to follow his own calling. Isn’t it time that we think in the same way about wines?

 

Ten wines from ten Mavericks

2003 Winninger Uhlen Laubach Riesling Erste Lage, Weingut Heymann-Löwenstein (Mosel): Elegant aromas of apricot, quince and nut oil. Rich and creamy in texture, with succulent peach fruit and insistent spice character. There's a refreshing bite here to balance the wine's residual sugar.  This riesling offers impressive depth.  Expressive and surprisingly long on the aftertaste. 92.

2004 Wiltinger Gottesfuss Riesling Alte Reben, Weingut Van Volxem (Saar): Rich aromas of tropical fruit, persimmon and smoky spices.  Concentrated apricots and compressed minerality animate the palate.  Rich, dense and complex finish that is reminiscent of the Pfalz.  Impressive! 92

2004 Bopparder Hamm Ohlenberg Riesling Spätlese Halbtrocken „Anarchie“, Weingut Weingart (Mittelrhein): Unusual aromas of quince, mint and candle wax. Precise fruit, juicy weight, zingy acidity and uplifting minerality on the palate. Appealing, almost elegant finish. 89.

2004 Monzinger Halenberg Riesling trocken Grosses Gewächs, Weingut Schäfer-Fröhlich (Nahe): Explosive aromas of nectarine, honeysuckle and anise seed. An almost chewy fruit texture and stone licking minerality are nicely interwoven. Superb purity and complex finish. 91.

2004 Hattenheimer Wisselbrunnen Riesling Erstes Gewächs, Weingut Josef Spreitzer (Rheingau): Floral aromas mingle with white peach and a hint of oyster shell. Delicately creamy texture with an almost nutty flavor.  Subtle, but impressively long finish ending on an uplifting salty note. 90.

2004 Rüdesheimer Berg Schlossberg Riesling Spätlese, Weingut Joesef Leitz (Rheingau): Pale golden yellow. Ethereal aromas of papaya, white chocolate and mint leaves waft over the botrytis.  Impressively rich and creamy with honey-glazed exotic fruits and a sublime slate minerality. In spite of its sheer stature this wine is exceptionally well-balanced and unbelievably long.  A show stopper…and certainly the finest Spätlese of the vintage. 95.

2004 Westhofener Morstein Riesling Trocken “Grosses Gewächs”, Weingut Wittmann (Rheinhessen): Massive aroma of wild peach, sweet lime and a touch of cinnamon. The intense depth of fruit and perfectly balanced acidity work like velvet on the palate. The sheer weight and uplifting spice linger lovingly on the finish. This is the more masculine of the two Grands Crus and certainly the long distance runner. 92.

2004 Albersweiler Latt Gewürztraminer Spätlese, Weingut Ökonomierat Rebholz (Pfalz): Opulent aromas of rose petal, litchi and sweet smoke. An unctuously sweet papaya fruit pours over the palate, but is kept light by an understated minerality. Dense, perfectly balanced and incredibly long. 94

2004 Birkweiler Mandelberg Weisser Burgunder Spätlese Trocken Grosses Gewächs, Weingut Dr. Heinz Wehrheim (Pfalz): Opulent aromas of ripe apricots, wild spices and a hint of mineral salts. The succulent tropical fruit and refreshing acidity form an excellent frame.   Dense, but elegant and finely chiselled.   Beautiful length.   One of the finest white Burgundies of the vintage. 93.

2004 Weisser Burgunder Auslese trocken ***, Weingut Reinhold and Cornelia Schneider (Baden). 93

 

How to reach the Mavericks

Weingut Heymann-Löwenstein (Mosel)
Reinhard Löwenstein
Bahnhofstrasse 10
56333 Winningen
+49 (26 06) 19 19
+49 (26 06) 19 09 Fax
Email: weingut@heymann-loewenstein.com
Internet: www.heymann-loewenstein.com

Weingut Josef Leitz (Rheingau)
Johannes Leitz
Theodor-Heuss-Strasse 5
65385 Rüdesheim
+49 (67 22) 4 87 11
+49 (67 22) 4 76 58
Email: johannes.leitz@leitz-wein.de
Internet: www.leitz-wein.de

Weingut Ökonomierat Rebholz (Pfalz)
Hansjörg Rebholz
Weinstrasse 54
76833 Siebeldingen
+49 (63 45) 34 39
+49 (63 45) 79 54
Email: wein@oekonomierat-rebholz.de
Internet: www.oekonomierat-rebholz.de

Weingut Schäfer-Fröhlich (Nahe)
Tim Fröhlich
Schulstrasse 6
55595 Bockenau
+49 (67 58) 65 21
+49 (67 58) 87 95 Fax
Email: info@weingut-schaefer-froehlich.de
Internet: www.weingut-schaefer-froehlich.de

Weingut Reinhold und Cornelia Schneider (Baden)
Reinhold Schneider
Königschaffhauser Strasse 2
79346 Endingen
+49 (76 42) 52 78
+49 (76 42) 20 91 Fax
Email: weingutschneider@aol.com
Internet: www.weingutschneider.com

Weingut Josef Spreitzer (Rheingau)
Bernd and Andreas Spreitzer
Rheingaustrasse 86
65375 Oestrich
+49 (67 23) 26 25
+ 49 (67 23) 46 44 Fax
Email: weingut-spreitzer@t-online.de
Internet: www.weingut-spreitzer.de

Weingut Van Volxem (Saar)
Roman Niewodniczanski
Dehenstrasse 2
54459 Wiltingen
+49 (65 01) 1 65 10
+49 (65 01) 1 31 06 Fax
Email: vanvolxem@t-online.de
Internet: www.vanvolxem.de

Weingut Dr. Wehrheim (Pfalz)
Karl-Heinz Wehrheim
Weinstraße 8
76831 Birkweiler
+49 (63 45) 35 42
+49 (63 45) 38 69 Fax
Email: dr.wehrheim@t-online.de
Internet: www.weingut-wehrheim.de

Weingut Weingart (Mittelrhein)
Florian Weingart
Mainzer Strasse 32
56322 Spay
+49 (26 28) 87 35
+49 (26 28) 28 35 Fax
Email: mail@weingut-weingart.de
Internet: www.weingut-weingart.de

Weingut Wittmann (Rheinhessen)
Philipp Wittmann
Mainzer Strasse 17
67593 Westhofen
+49 (62 44) 90 50 36
+49 (62 44) 55 78 Fax
Email: info@wittmannweingut.com
Internet: www.wittmannweingut.com