WINE COUNTRY NEWSLETTER
April 2012

 The Premier Napa Auction was a worthwhile event, but I had just one day to pack for Prowein in Düsseldorf, Germany. Prowein has become one of the top trade shows in Europe and is very well organized. It only runs three days, so you have to organize your schedule and hurry. I still couldn’t get everything done I wanted, but I found a few new things. Marie Griffin of our staff went with me.

After three days of wiener schnitzel and the local Alt Beer we left Düsseldorf and headed for the Mosel by car. At that point, the trip became the Magical History Tour. I had always wanted to see Remagen, where the Americans had first crossed the Rhein in World War II. The town is southeast of Bonn where the river cuts a steep gorge. The Ludendorff railway bridge was built during World War I to get troops to the front and was the last bridge across the Rhein when the Americans reached it on March 7, 1945. The German defenders set off charges to drop the bridge into the river, but they were too weak and the bridge still stood. A quick charge across by men of the 9th Armored division captured the bridge. The weakened bridge collapsed into the river ten days later, but American engineers had built treadway bridges across by then and the race to end the war was on. There is a peace memorial museum in the bridge towers today that is worth the time and effort.
 

The towers and museum on the Remagen side of the river.



Looking through the towers on the Remagen side toward the Erpel side and the Erpeler Lay, the ridge above the river.



Picture in the museum of an American soldier on the Erpeler Lay after the capture.

A short drive past the mouth of the Ahr River took us to the Mosel just above Koblenz. I had never followed the lower Mosel up to the famous central part so off we went. The Mosel wanders around bends and cuts a deep gorge through the surrounding landscape. It’s beautiful, but following the river takes time and if you’re in a hurry the autobahn is the way to go.

The first stop was in a place I have seen for years in pictures but never in person: Cochem. Cochem’s castle sits on a steep hill above the town and river and is one of the most stunning sights in Germany. We didn’t have time to visit it so we had a cup of coffee with some pastry in a local tea shop.
 

Cochem and its castle

Farther up the river is another sight often seen in pictures but rarely live. Zell is the home of the famous Zeller Schwarze Katz or black cat. All of the labels for the wine have a picture of a tower with a baroque roof above the town. I had always wanted to see it since my first days in the business in 1974. We stopped long enough for pictures and moved on.

Zell with its iconic tower on the slope on the right

Near the well-known vineyards of the middle Mosel is a town that crawls with tourists in the summer but is cold and quiet in February. Traben-Trarbach is actually twin towns across the river from each other connected by a bridge. The river is lined with the houses of former wealthy shippers of Mosel wine in the 19th century, when the wine was loaded on barges and sent down the river to port.

Traben from the bridge



The gate on the Trarbach side of the bridge



Traben

Another short drive got us to the home of a wine that every Mosel shipper had in the ‘70s and ‘80s but began to disappear in the ‘90s from wine lists: Kröver Nacktarsch. The label explains the name. We had to stop and take pictures. The town’s statue must draw a lot of shutterbugs in the summer.

Kröv’s statue



Kröv, the label

Rounding the bend into the middle Mosel there is the site of a Roman wine press that was discovered while the vineyards were being realigned (flurbereinigung), a process that has taken decades. The site has been preserved and has a museum now.

Roman wine press.

Johannes and Barbara Selbach were our hosts in the Mosel and put us up in their guest house, the Ratsschänke. It’s one of the oldest buildings in Germany. Dinner with the Selbachs that night was in Zeltingen, their hometown. The next morning we went back to work. The first visit was in the Ruwer, one of the tributaries of the Mosel and home to some great estates. Karlsmühle, the estate of Peter and Sylvia Geiben, has a strong reputation and more moderate prices than some of its neighbors. I know I liked the wines, but it wasn’t easy to concentrate while playing with their puppy under the table.

The Ratsschänke in Zeltingen



Karlsmühle in the Ruwer

The next stop was just down the Mosel in Neumagen. Michael and Elisabeth Goerg make wines in Piesport and Neumagen. We have bought and sold their Piesporter Goldtröpfchen wines for several years. Good estate-bottled wines from the Goldtröpfchen are not easy to find and theirs are among the best with ripeness and the minerality of the Mosel.

Michael and Elisabeth Goerg

We stopped in Zeltingen to have lunch with Johannes and Barbara Selbach at their house and taste the Selbach wines. I met Johannes in 1994 and we have had the wines of the estate since then. They always get high reviews in Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate. Johannes is one of the most passionate promoters of Riesling and travels extensively promoting the variety in general in addition to his wines.

A short drive around the bend in the river took us to Ürzig where we did a much anticipated tasting with
Karl-Josef Christoffel, owner of the Josef Christoffel Junior estate. We tasted his newest releases from the Ürziger Würzgarten, Erdener Treppchen and Erdener Prälat vineyards. The wines are stunning as usual. Kajo wasn’t through yet. He brought out an Ürziger Würzgarten Auslese *** from 1971 that was showing some golden color; honeysuckle, a little petroleum and a little apricot in the nose; a velvety texture; moderate sweetness still and great length. You wouldn’t have guessed the age. Just for good measure, he showed his 2005 Ürziger Würzgarten Beerenauslese and 1994 Erdener Prälat Trockenbeerenauslese. The great thing about dessert wines from the Mosel is that the high acidity balances and preserves the wines. There is always a crisp, mineral note behind the sweetness. Kajo summed the tasting with “I just like my wines.” So do I.

Tasting with Kajo

The next stop was at the Wwe. Dr. Hugo Thanisch estate with Sofia Thanisch. We do very well with this historic estate that includes a large part of the Doctor vineyard. The vineyards of the estate are just across the river from the Thanisch house and make a memorable backdrop to the terrace. The 2011 wines are as outstanding as always, with the bright apple, floral / honeysuckle and mineral notes with a richness that only the top wines have consistently. Dinner with the wines and Sofia finished a spectacular day in wine country.

The next morning we headed to the Nahe Valley with Johannes and Barbara’s son, Sebastian, to visit the Dr. Crusius estate of Birgitta and Peter Crusius. The Nahe Valley is not so well known as some of the larger wine regions but there are several top vineyards. Crusius own a part of the Rotenfels vineyard in Traisen, one of the best sites in the valley. This vineyard is at the base of a steep cliff that holds in heat, and the river at the foot of the vineyard reflects light and heat to ripen the grapes fully. Look for these wines soon.

Flanked by Sebastian Selbach and Peter Crusius with the Traiser Rotenfels in the background

We trekked across country to the Rheinhessen next to visit another long-time supplier, Eugen Wehrheim in Nierstein. Klaus and Hildegard Wehrheim always do one of the most unique and enjoyable visits in wine country. We tasted his whole range from dry to sweet and red. These are some of the best values in the region and all of Germany. Mrs. Wehrheim served lunch, as usual, and it was special. Don’t miss the Eugen Wehrheim wines.

Hildegard and Klaus Wehrheim

A relatively short drive south took us to Diehl in the Pfalz. Alexandra–Isabell and Andreas Diehl are a young couple who have dry, semi-dry and sweet wines that are very well-made and solid values. Some of these will be coming soon, too.

Alexandra–Isabell and Andreas Diehl

We drove in the evening to Hattenheim in the Rheingau to stay at a beautiful old hotel, Zum Krug. They have an extensive wine list and top local cuisine. Check their website below. We met Fred Prinz, one of the area’s best young vintners, and his wife, Sabine, for dinner at Zum Krug with some of his wines. It was a great way to end the day.
http://www.hotel-zum-krug.de/

The next morning we went to Hallgarten to visit Fred Prinz. He only has a few hectares, all in Hallgarten, and the wines are clean, minerally expressions of the Rheingau. The vineyards of Hallgarten sit back from the river on a steep hill slope of rocky soil. Fred showed his wines from dry to sweet in multiple vintages and they age well. We finished with a 2003 Hallgartener Jungfer Trockenbeerenauslese that shows the richness of the late harvest with the preserving acidity and mineral notes of the vineyard. We have some 2009s from Prinz in the stores now and they shouldn’t be missed.

Fred and Sabine Prinz

Back down the hill in Hattenheim, we went to an old favorite, Schloss Schönborn. I first visited the estate in 1978 and have had a love affair with the wines of the vineyard just outside the winery ever since. The Pfaffenberg vineyard in Hattenheim stretches along the Rhein on a gentle slope and gets all of the benefits of the sun from the river and the drainage of the slope. The vineyard is one of the few in Germany that belong all tone estate. We met the manager, Marcel von den Benken and had a tasting of the recent vintages and special cuvées that are rarely seen. This is one of the great estates in Germany and I keep the Pfaffenberg wines and others in stock. Down in the cellar I had taken the umpteenth picture of myself next to a cask of the 1949, my birth year, Marcobrunn Beerenauslese since 1978. The barrel still looks the same but I am showing some years.

The barrel of 1949 Marcobrunn Beerenauslese at Schloss Schönborn

Next stop was at Toni Jost in Bacharach in the Mittelrhein. This is one of the most picturesque vineyard areas of the world with steep slopes above the river. The wines were with a U.S. importer until recently and now are available to us. Peter Jost’s daughter, Cecilia, is the winemaker now and the wines are top expressions of the Mittelrhein with some elements of the Rhein and Mosel. Keep an eye out for these Bacharach wines coming soon.

Cecilia and Peter Jost



Main Street Bacharach

One more stop awaited before the airport. The Ahr Valley is the northwestern tip of Germany’s wine regions. The vineyards are on nearly perpendicular cliffs that can only be worked by hand at peril. We stopped at the Winzergenossenschaft Mayschoss, where the winemaker, Herr Stodden, took us on a tour. Pinot Noir is their specialty and we tasted a range of wines. The cold weather in this northern region yields wines that are firm with structure but have powerful aromas and fruit. It was a special way to end the trip. From there we went back to Düsseldorf and flew out the next morning.

The steep vineyards of the Ahr Valley at Mayschoss