Tag Archives: Piesport

Sep 12 2013
13 Comments
2011, 2012, Germany, Mosel

Reuscher-Haart Rieslings: Another Perspective

Reuscher-Haart Piesporter Goldtröpfchen

I have not written about Reuscher-Haart wines in a while (mainly because I am out of their wines…which is a shame), an estate led by young and energetic winemaker Mario Schwang. The winery is very much into eco-sensitive wine making and the wines have never failed to impress me. The best thing about them is that they are also still very affordable. I wrote more about the winery here and compared their entry level Riesling here.

A couple of months ago, my fellow blogger Mariusz of Kawa & Vino (he also wrote a guest post for my summer blogging series, see here) asked me for some German wine recommendations. Reuscher-Haart was among the ones I suggested, because they fit a student budget. Over the last weeks, Mariusz has finally (!) gotten around to trying some and I liked his review so much that today I want to invite you to go and check it out. It is a beautiful hommage and gives you a second opinion which can always be helpful.

His article starts:

Although I live in Germany, for a long time our domestic Rieslings only rarely have been guests in my house. Rather I often tried those from Austria, Serbia, Czech Republic, France, and even Poland, with its first wine experiments since the World War II. There was no particular reason for this behavior, or maybe I was just not ready to appreciate the spectrum of expressive sweetness present in German Rieslings.

Continue reading…

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Jan 04 2013
4 Comments
Germany, Mosel

Gorgeous photos from the Mosel valley

A couple of years ago, we were sitting in a tasting room in Trittenheim along the Mosel when the winemaker started bringing out absolutely gorgeous photos of the Mosel valley. Turned out his brother, who is a professional photographer took the shots and was selling them. They really were wonderful, just a tad pricey for our taste at the time. So we just bought a postcard of the village Trittenheim in gorgeous sunlight…but have been talking about the photos ever since on and off.

My friend Yutaka posted a link to the blog of Joachim Clüsserath, that is the photographer’s name, the other day on Facebook and I went through the photos again. So I decided to give you a chance to take a look at the Mosel region through these gorgeous shots and hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

This is the link to the blog.

And this is the link to his professional photographer website with more photos.

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Aug 22 2012
8 Comments
2011, Germany, Mosel

2011 Reuscher-Haart Gutsriesling trocken and 2011 Reuscher-Haart Piesporter Riesling

I have said it before (here and here) but I think one of the best bargains you can make along the Mosel are the Reuscher-Haart QbA wines, their basic rieslings. The wine is filled in a one liter bottle, so you get 25% 33% (oops, thanks for the pointer, Michael!) more than your usual bottle. Both wines are sold for around $5.50 at the winery, which makes them also quite affordable in the United States with the starting price $12.59 at one merchant.

It was interesting to taste the 2011 dry and sweet version of this wine against each other. They proved nicely the difference in a dry and sweet Mosel riesling, and why I like the sweeter rieslings better. Both wines are exceptional quality, and I highly recommend them. If a winemaker puts this much love in their simple estate wine, it speaks volumes about their work ethics.

The classic label (Photo credit: wine-searcher.com)

The 2011 Gutsriesling Trocken (trocken is the word for dry in German) was harvested from Piesporter Falkenberg. The grapes had a sugar level that would have qualified this wine for a spätlese, but Mario decided to make the dry gutsriesling out of them. The wine has 12% ABV and residual sugar of 6.7 grams/liter. It is light in color, with apple notes dominating the nose, exuding a freshness that was very welcome. On the palate, apple persisted strongly. The acidity in the wine was never overbearing and nicely tied to the apple notes. It was a very refreshing wine.

The 2011 Piesporter Riesling was not harvested in a specific vineyard, the grapes come from several lots in Piesport. The wine has 9% ABV, the residual sugar was not listed. The wine looked similar to its dry brother, but the nose showed more fruit aromas: there was gooseberry and kiwi, beside the apple notes that I find often in Mario’s wines. On the palate, the sweetness strengthened these aromas, and made the wine a great mouthful of fruit. The wine’s acidity ensures it is not too sweet on the palate. It is one of the most refreshing, easy drinking wines I know.

What does that comparison show? In my experience, more residual sugar in a wine (up to a certain extent!) brings out more fruit aromas, which is one of the greatest beauties of riesling for me. When I try a dry riesling I often find myself appreciating the wine but thinking: “If there was a bit more sugar here, it would be even better.” But, alas, that is my relationship with riesling…

You can order the wines at the winery here.

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