Some of the most sought-after wines are those from Julian Haart. Growing up in an extremely traditional winemaking family, he has been running his own winery
Feinherb
Racy late harvest from the Saar
The Hofgut Falkenstein, or a Riesling Spätlese from the winery, has already been the subject of this blog, nevertheless here are the most important points about the winery: Erich Weber and his son Johannes are responsible for the winery. Both studied viticulture in Geisenheim and it seems that they have a very similar view of Riesling vines and whose wines. Their philosophy seems to be characterized on the one hand by renunciation: no fertilisers, fungicides, herbicides and pesticides in the vineyard, no pure culture yeasts,
Floral Riesling Kabinett from Wolfer Sonnenlay
Konstantin Weiser and Alexandra Künstler started with leased 1.8 hectares in the Enkircher Ellergrub. Today they cultivate 4.6 hectares, exclusively Riesling, in Enkirch these are Ellergrub, Zeppwingert and Steffensberg sites, and besides the Trabener Gaispfad, Wolfer Sonnenlay and some smaller steep plots
Lightness from Rheinhessen – The Blue Bird Riesling Kabinett
I probably would not have tasted this Riesling Kabinett of Rheinhessen if I had not seen Antonio Galloni‘s YouTube interview with the well-known winemaker Klaus Peter Keller in mid-April this year. Galloni asked him, which other regional Riesling winemakers he woud recommend, and he mentioned Christine Huff. A good recommendation: her Rieslings tasted so far all turned out to be very good.
The Ekkehard Huff Winery, which has been based in Schwabsburg for seven generations, cultivates steep vineyards on the Roter Hang, with stony soils with red clay slate or clay sandstone, such as Schloss Schwabsburg , and the two VDP.Große Lage Orbel and Pettenthal. The nine hectares of the estate also include the VDP.Große Lage Paterberg opposite the red slope, calcareous with loess and clayey, as well as other Schwabsburg vine locations. How Christine Huff cultivates the vineyards and how she is making her wine is to be seen in “Werner, wie geht Wein?” – a recommendable multi-part program of the TV channel SWR.
South Tyrol – feinherb to sweet
Around 70% of South Tyrolean wines are produced by cooperatives, which belong to the pioneers of quality development. At this year’s wine trip to South Tyrol, the Winery Bolzano was on our visit program. The new construction of the winery has not only caused a stir architecturally. With around 40 million €, this is the most expensive investment in the wine sector in South Tyrol so far. 220 members of the cooperative are growing vines around Bolzano and manage … Read more ...
Feinherb showpiece – Molitor’s Zeltinger Himmelreich 2016
There are four different grades of sweetness according to German and EU wine law: dry, semi-dry, semisweet and sweet, in addition, one also finds the term feinherb. A term probably only used in Germany, which should convey to the consumer that the wine has a fine, slightly herb note, even though or just because it is not dry.
In various wine lexica it can be read that a feinherb wine, such as a semi-dry one, has … Read more ...
Melsheimer – Riesling from feinherb to fruity sweet
Around half of the vineyards of the Melsheimer winery in Reil are extremly steep slopes, Mr. Melsheimer senior told us in mid-April this year when he showed us around the winery and brought us closer to history, vineyards and vinification of the Melsheimer winery. There are now many steep slopes on the Moselle, but only 5% of them are among the steepest – with a share of 50% probably a challenge in viticulture. Mr. Melsheimer senior renounced various plant protection products, which his son Thorsten consistently continued, first by converting to ecological, then biodynamic viticulture and then in 2013 finally with the Demeter certification.
Around 3/4 of the slightly more than 11 hectares of vineyards, which all are exclusively planted with Riesling, are in the vineyard Mullay-Hofberg, situated directly above the river Moselle. Their southeast orientation together with the barren slate soil ensure long-lasting, excellent ripening conditions.
Feinherb to sweet Muscat wines
… and all priced below 10 €. We tasted three different muscat wines, two sweet wines: a gold muscatel from the winery Erste + Neue from South Tyrol and a Moscato from Gallo from California, plus a feinherb muscatel from the winery Kesselring from the Palatinate.
All are muscat wines, but of at least two different varieties: Gold Muskateller and Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains, provided that the feinherb wine from Palatinate has been made from yellow muscatel.
For quick … Read more ...
Feinherb Rieslings below 10 €
The term feinherb is used to my knowledge exclusively in Germany and often in connection with Riesling. Good dry Rieslings can be found for less than 10 euros, even in the wine shop.
So I ordered three feinherb Rieslings (tasted wines), feinherb at least according to the seller – all three under 10 €.
The Rieslings have been produced by VDP wineries, so not exactly unknown manufacturers. From the Rheingau came the Riesling 2014 Finesse of the winery … Read more ...