Category Archives: Wineries

Aug 09 2012
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1987, 1990, 2003, 2011, Germany, Mosel, Wineries

The Vereinigte Hospitien tasting in June 2012

The line up

Finally, here are the tasting notes for our awesome tasting at Vereinigte Hospitien in June. As you might remember (if not, here is the initial report), we were sitting in Germany’s oldest wine cellar (the walls dating back to the 300s A.D.), soaking in the awesome atmosphere as our host Marc was picking up some bottles to try. And he did not let us down!

Here is the wine list:

1) 1987 Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese

2) 1987 Erdener Prälat Riesling Spätlese

3) 1990 Kanzemer Altenberg Riesling Auslese

4) 2011 Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett

5) 2003 Piesporter Schubertslay Riesling Spätlese

6) 2011 Trierer Augenscheiner Riesling Spätlese

We began with a tasting of two 1987 wines from two of our favorite vineyards: Ürziger Würzgarten and Erdener Prälat. It is Nina’s birth year and Marc had learned that from the blog. We had tried the Erdener Treppchen Spätlese before, so now we were able to compliment this tasting experience that I described here.  Just think about that: we were able to try three similar quality wines from three connected vineyards of a 25 year old vintage. Maybe it is just me, but I get pretty excited about that!!

Both wines were spätlesen and they had remarkably similar profiles. The Ürziger Würzgarten had 10.4 grams of acidity per liter, with 41 grams of residual sugar; the Erdener Prälat was slightly higher in acidity at 10.5 grams and sweeter with 45 grams of residual sugar. At 84 degree Oechsle (a scale to measure the sugar in the harvested grape), it had the highest Oechsle for any of their spätlese in that year.

The Ürziger Würzgarten’s nose was flowery and fresh, one could say a typical nose for this vineyard. On the tongue, it had a sizeable amount of acidity, which gave it an incredibly fresh taste. The acidity persisted throughout the tasting. It was hard for me to discern what fruits I tasted.

The Erdener Prälat was remarkably well preserved. The nose was full of peach and once the wine reached our mouths, it broadened out, fully taking command of our taste buds with peach and apricot. The acidity only appeared more towards the end. It had a long finish.

It was interesting to see how different these two wines tasted. You could definitely tell the terroir in them, but the higher residual sugar in the Prälat probably helps explain why the acidity was less pronounced in it.

Two beauties

Another interesting thing we learned was that Vereinigte Hospitien did a chemical analysis of the Würzgarten and it produced a fascinating result. One thing that you hear over and over again when tasting older rieslings is that they tend to be more balanced, because the sweetness goes down and the acidity stays, so the wines become less fruit-pronounced. However, the chemical analysis showed that the amount of sugar in the wine had not gone down – at all. There was still the same amount of sugar in the wine! We just do not taste it anymore. Apparently, there is no real explanation for that. One guess is that the sugar transforms into longer-chained molecules that our taste buds cannot taste…crazy, right?

We then went for a 1990 Kanzemer Altenberg Auslese. Kanzem is at the river Saar, a small contribuary that meets the Mosel just south of Trier. Saar wines are usually more mineralic and have higher acidity levels than the Mosel, which makes for very interesting wines. Kanzemer Altenberg is one of the top vineyards along that river. The bottle had been recorked. The wine has 52 grams of residual sugar, harvested from fully ripe grapes.

Upon opening and pouring, we saw a dark orange wine, with a salty and sherry like nose. On the tongue it was weirdly metallic, some hints of passion fruit. It then fell flat fast. We decided the bottle was flawed (actually, Marc, who knew how it should taste decided…but it did taste odd). The second bottle we opened was very different: lighter in color, the nose full of gooseberry. On the tongue, it had a fabulous acidity, lively fruit notes and just gave us a great mouth-full of wine. The texture was wonderful. A great wine!

We then tried a 2011 Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett. The Scharzhofberg is the Saar’s most famous vineyard and its wines rank among my favorite. It has a hard to describe terroir note to it that I just find incredibly endearing and comforting. This one did not let us down. At 88 degree Oechsle, this Kabinett is actually a wine that could have been labelled as an Auslese, two spots higher. It has 9.8% ABV. The nose was fruity and flowery. On the tongue I tasted banana and apricot, with a looooong finish. Just a very decent, yummy wine.

Nina’s highlight, and I was pretty impressed, too, was the 2003 Piesporter Schubertslay Riesling Spätlese. Initially a single-owned vineyard by Vereinigte Hospitien, they are now leasing some out to other winemakers. The color was light and fresh. The nose full of strawberry and cream, with vanilla thrown in. On the tongue, the same tastes prevail. The sweetness is wonderfully balanced by a fresh acidity. Later on, we tasted caramel notes creeping in. Long finish, too. It was such a fun wine. We have had another bottle since, and that was just as good. A great wine at a great price ($15).

We finished the tasting with a 2011 Trierer Augenscheiner Riesling Spätlese, a vineyard completely owned by Vereinigte Hospitien. At 72 grams of residual sugar and 92 degree Oechsle, the first thing we noticed was sweet peach in the nose, complimented by perfumy and flowery notes. The taste was floral as well (I am bad with discerning different floral notes), the texture silky. The wine seemed incredibly concentrated, and definitely not yet ready for consumption. I bought a couple of bottles to see where this one is headed to…

As you can see, it was quite the outstanding tasting: old and new, Saar and Mosel. The full variety, even of just the sweeter rieslings, came out beautifully. I am looking forward to many more tastings there…

Bliss…

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Jul 25 2012
16 Comments
Germany, Mosel, Wineries Gallery

Meeting the vintners: Vereinigte Hospitien, Trier (Mosel), Germany

Sometimes, coincidences can be really awesome. Like this one. A friend of mine and former flatmate is now living in Brazil. She checked out my blog when I posted my tasting notes and introduction to the 1987 Vereinigte Hospitien Erdener Treppchen Riesling Spätlese. She then sent the link to the blog entry to her father, who happens to be the director general of the Vereinigte Hospitien (in charge of the whole enterprise, not just wines). He thought it to be nice enough that he forwarded it to his winemakers. And the next day, I found a comment on the entry telling me that I should get in touch next time I was in Germany for a tasting. Coincidence had it, that we were leaving for Germany a few weeks later. In our ensuing email exchange we established that the comment was made by Marc. Turned out, he and I had spent one Saturday morning trying to find a suitable old wine from their cellars to drink at one of Nina’s birthday parties while we were still living in Germany. So, we actually knew each other. And certainly he knows ManSoo and Yutaka…the world is small indeed, and the wine world is even smaller.

Now, the idea of a tasting at Vereinigte Hospitien was exciting us for two reasons: First, I have liked their wines a lot over the last years, especially fond of their Scharzhofberger spätlesen. We have had a great 2002 Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Spätlese in a magnum bottle that converted a friend of ours to sweeter rieslings. And in 2011 (thanks toMarc), we had a fantastic 1990 Erdener Prälat Auslese (I still have one bottle cellared). Second, while they have a modern tasting room where one can freely try most of their wines every day, the Hospitien also are in possession of what is deemed Germany’s oldest wine cellar, the walls of which are dating back to the 300s A.D. We always wanted to have a tasting there, but somehow managed never to be in town when they had their annual vintage presentations or failed to get a group together for an individual tasting there…so now we finally had the chance!

We met with Marc on June 18. It was a sunny day, and we were ready to go to the cellars. I have written about the Hospitien’s history earlier, so I will spare you those stories here. However, some background on Trier is required to understand why they have the oldest wine cellar in Germany. Trier was a pretty big deal for most of its recorded history. It is Germany’s oldest recorded city, founded before 16 B.C. It went on to become the capital for the Roman province of Gallia Belgica, and in the 300s A.D. was the residence of the Western Roman Emperors, among them Constantine the Great. The city is therefore full of Roman ruins, among them a fully preserved Roman city gate from before 200 A.D., the Imperial Baths of around 300 A.D. and Constantine’s Throne Hall of around the same time.

To shorten this: a) Go visit if you have a chance! and b) the city was thriving in Roman times: an imperial household with all its demands.

All this leads us to the wine cellar. The Hospitien are located at the banks of the Mosel. Right in front of them, at the Mosel, is a crane from medieval times and it is very likely that there were cranes already in Roman times to unload ships that would bring all sorts of goods. To house those goods, huge warehouses were built. The current street level is about 4-5 meters (12-15 feet) above what the Roman street level was. That means, that the foundations and walls of these houses, if they are still around, lie underground now.

The cellars of the Hospitien make use of that: The walls are part of two warehouses that were a total of 70 meters (210 feet) long. The cellars stretch the whole length of this, and make for a very impressive structure. You enter through a door that has a medieval architrave. The buildings were used as a “Stift”, which is a sort of convent for aristocratic and rich women, where they lived among each other in a religious way but always had the option to leave and still get married. Their dowries made the convent rich.

The moment we stepped down into the cellar we knew we were in for definitely the coolest (literally and figuratively!) tasting of this trip. Just to be standing on the original Roman floors is incredible. Add the medieval and baroque vaults to that and it was just breathtaking. The barrels you can see are no longer in use. Almost all wines are now made in stainless steel. It was a big burden working with these barrels, because every couple of years, the tax assessor wanted to measure them because wineries are taxed on the amount of liters they can hold in their barrels. We walked almost the whole length, Marc was explaining everything and way more than I could remember, when he made us turn into the tasting room itself. We were startled:

Candles on the barrels were lit, the vaults were lit, and there was an endlessly long wooden table with a candelabra on it. We were stunned. And that just for us! Man, did my blog entry from May pay off big time. It definitely had something magical. Our gracious host wandered off to grab some bottles, and we took the place in some more…

I really do not want to write about the tasting now, because it was so special in its own right. And I know that I do not like to read too long blog posts. So I will write about the wines we tried in a seperate post. Let it be enough here to say that they fully matched the occasion: We tried two different 1987s spätlesen side by side (when does one ever get the chance to try two old wines and compare them straight?!), a 1990 auslese, a 2003 spätlese and two 2011s.

Before we went back up into daylight after an awesome two hours and a half, we had the privilege to take a glimpse at the treasure vault, where the real treasures are locked up and heard a story fitting this ancient place. Apparently, there is a greyish-black fungus living in the cellars that spreads like crazy when the alcoholic fermentation is going on, covering the walls and cobwebs and whatever it can lay hands on. It lives of the alcoholic vapor. When fermentation is over, it recedes and waits for the next harvest. You can still see some of it on the cobwebs and over St. Jacobus, the patron saint of the largest hospice and who can be found on every bottle of wine. The people employed at the Hospitien apparently say that they either want to be born again as a winemaker or as that fungus…

Upstairs, we had a chance to look at a replica of what the Roman wall probably looked like when it was new in the Hospitien’s big hall for receptions and conferences with a gorgeous view over the gardens. It was quite stunning. When Marc told us that he had found the blog through the director general, my friend’s father, I mentioned that I knew him, too. So we went to his office and had a nice chat. Like I said, the world really is pretty small…

While I was busy getting the wines we wanted could afford loaded up and billed, Nina kept imbibing in the modern tasting room. Lucky her. But hey, what an amazing experience!! I am also glad to have had the time with Marc, who was an amazing host and ambassador for the Hospitien and I definitely look forward to many more exchanges and tastings with him.

Their (modern) tasting room is open Monday through Thursday from 8am until 5pm (with a lunch break from 12.30-1.30), and Friday and Saturday in the mornings. It is well worth a visit. Try some amazing wines, and find great bargains on older vintages. Just ask the staff!

Tasting notes will follow soon. Promised.

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Jul 20 2012
5 Comments
Germany, Mosel, Wineries

Meeting the vintners: Weingut Reuscher-Haart, Piesport (Mosel), Germany

I am slowly but surely getting there, catching up with my winery visit notes from the Germany trip. A couple more to go, and I promise I will also be posting more tasting notes and shorter pieces soon…

But back to the story: For June 16, I had made arrangements with Weingut Reuscher-Haart for around 4:30 to 5:00pm, right after the tasting at Weingut Dr. Hermann. We were about 2 1/2 hours into our tasting there when I realized that there was no way we could hold that time frame. I stepped outside and gave Mario Schwang, owner and winemaker at Reuscher-Haart, a call. He was more than relaxed: We should come whenever we were done. If he was not there, then his father Hugo would do the tasting. No problem at all. We are always welcome. This response gives you a really good impression of Mario. He is one of the nicest and coolest winemakers I know. Ever since our first tasting there in 2011 he has let us know that we are always welcome, whenever.

The Reuscher-Haart winery has a long history. The two families date back to 1624 (Reuscher) and 1337 (Haart) respectively, and the coat of arms on their labels bring that home. The winery is still located where the seat of the Haart family was, with a garden adjacent to the Mosel. The merging of the families happened in 1919 when Elisabeth Haart married Matthias Reuscher. Their portraits adorn the tasting room, too. Mario and his father Hugo have a very clear vision: They have cut back on their yields to increase quality in their grapes, and since 1987 they have been using integrated, natural methods of protecting their grapes without inescticides. The vinification also happens in gentle steps: Reuscher-Haart owns temperature controlled stainless steel barrels that lets Mario and Hugo use very low temperatures (5 to 8 C) in fermentation to preserve natural aromas. They clarify their wines without any clarifying agents.

Mario (left) at our wine tasting in 2011

We first came in touch with this winery through my friend ManSoo (whom else?). He suggested stopping by there and our first wine tasting in June 2011 was awesome. First, Mario’s father Hugo took us on a Vineyard Safari in their old Land Rover. We drove through the Piesporter Goldtröpfchen, stopped occasionally and Hugo filled us in on their gentle approach to cultivating vines, and what the work in the vineyards means for the winemaker. After a good hour or so, we headed back to the estate and had a tasting with Mario. Not only did we have a lot of fun, we also liked their wines a lot. The basic Gutsriesling is probably the best price-value bargain you can get at the Mosel (I mentioned it previously here). We had been back for their wine presentation in August 2011, and Nina took some of her visiting friends there and had a great time, too.

The winery is located in Piesport, home of the Goldtröpfchen (Gold droplets). Reuscher-Haart owns vineyards in Goldtröpfchen, Domherr (Canon, as in a priest assigned to the cathedral), and Falkenberg (Mountain of Falcons) as well as the lesser known Günterslay and Grafenberg. Most international readers connect Piesport with “Michelsberg”. That, unfortunately, is the least appealing vineyard in Piesport. Unlike Goldtröpfchen, Domherr and Falkenberg, it is not located on the Northern side of the Mosel, where it would get full sun exposure all day, but on the South bank of the river, in flat terrain that used to be farmland and was not used for growing wines until a couple of decades ago. Another thing one should know is that the Goldtröpfchen used to be much smaller and was extended significantly under the German Wine Act of 1971. Old Piesport wineries were fighting this and got permission to label the core piece of Goldtröpfchen as “Piesporter Domherr”. So Domherr is the heart of Goldtröpfchen. Unfortunately, hardly anyone knows this and Domherr has therefore not been as succesful as the Goldtröpfchen…

During our vineyard safari 2011: Piesport Goldtröpfchen behind us, Piesporter Michelsberg on the other side of the Mosel

By the time we finally made it to the winery, we were already two tastings in and it was approaching 7:00pm. We were also constrained by the European soccer championships, because we wanted to watch the match that night which started at 8:45pm. This did not right by Reuscher-Haart, but given that Mario is a member of the “Weinelf“, Germany’s national soccer team composed of winemakers, he understood. Also, we were just three weeks away from Mario’s wedding, so their level of relaxedness was even more impressive. Another thing that happened was that we completely forgot to take pictures which is why I am using photos of older tastings there…

Member of Germany’s wine soccer team!

Mario had to run some errands, so we tried the first wines with Hugo. It is always interesting to get a glimpse into the relationship in these family businesses. While Hugo is obviously very proud of Mario and his work, he is still very much involved in day to day decision processes. The latest contention they had was about labelling. Mario has tried out a new label design for one of their export bottles to the U.S. and Hugo was not fond of it. The cool thing was that we got to discuss the virtues of both approaches, and that there are no hard feelings involved. It is a dispute about how best to present their products.

Their newest project is the planting of a new grape called cabernet blanc. Hugo explained that it is a new crossing between cabernet sauvignon and resistant grapes. Its main advantage is that it is fungus resistant. The berries are small and leave room for air between the grapes. In taste, it is being compared to a mix of sauvignon blanc and riesling. I am already curious about the results.

We tried a total of nine wines that evening and were very happy with what we got to try. I will write about some in seperate posts. If you are unclear about what some of my designations mean, check out the at a glance sheet on German wine classifications.

The line in 2011

We began with their dry wines. Most of them had not been bottled yet (Mario and his father believe in late bottling, given the wines as much time as they need to ripen), so we just went with the two 2010s they still have available. The 2010 Piesporter Falkenberg Riesling Kabinett had aged quite nicely: good fruit, very fresh still, nicely long in the finish. The acidity was pleasant. The 2010 – Urgestein – (a dry Spätlese from the Domherr) was awesome. Coconut in the nose it was a powerhouse on the tongue with a forceful acidity. Very impressive.

The two semi-sweets were both Spätlesen from the Goldtröpfchen. The 2010 Spätlese RZ 13 had nicely aged, but was not really my taste. I would have wished for some more sweetness in the wine. The 2011 “Überschwang” was a beautiful delivery of a classical Mosel riesling with a fruity nose with a not overbearing sweetness.

I compared their dry and sweet gutsriesling in a seperate post here.

Their sweet wines of 2011, though, were all very impressive. The Goldtröpfchen Kabinett had apple notes, was very fresh with an awesome amount of acidity and will probably be good for a while. There were two spätlesen from the Goldtröpfchen, one with 9% ABV and the other with 8.5%. The 9% ABV one was incredible: gooseberry and tons of tropical fruit on the nose and with the same notes on the tongue. It was fresh and is well worth storing. The 8.5% in contrast, had hints of sauerkraut on the nose (yes, that was weird!) and seemed a whole lot sweeter on the tongue. I think it needs a bit longer to settle and show its true colors.

We had to rush out to get to see the match, so we did not try their blush and red wine of 2011, but I remember the 2010s as pretty decent, too. It was great seeing Mario and Hugo again, and I wish we had had more time to spend with them. They are both visionaries and it is great to learn from them. I look very much forward to our next encounter and what they will come up with next. Mario speaks great English, so don’t hesitate to go visit! And make sure you ask for the vineyard safari. You can find Reuscher-Haart wines in the U.S. German and European readers can order their wines through the winery website. Pricing is quite reasonable, and the wines are well worth the money.

Steep vineyards in the Goldtröpfchen

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