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The Obermosel: no story is told, untile someone tells it

The Upper Mosel has nothing to do with Riesling and nothing to do with slate. Instead, we find limestone. The Upper Mosel in fact represents the beginning (or the end?) of the Paris Basin, the geological reality that informs places like Chablis and Sancerre. Instead of Riesling, in the Upper Mosel we find a winemaking culture based on one of Europe’s oldest grapes: Elbling. It’s important to understand that Elbling here feels like something of a religion. It’s a culture, a regional dialect that is spoken through this wine of rigorous purity, of joyous simplicity, of toothsome acidity. The joy of Elbling is the uncompromising vigor and energy, the raucous and super-chalky acidity. Matthias Hild, who farms about six hectares in the sleepy town of Wincheringen, told me that back in the 1980s, when he’d have an Elbling clock in at less than 8.5 grams acid, he’d taste it and question if it was Elbling at all. Which is sort of like saying you’re not sure the music is loud enough because your ears aren’t bleeding.

Vines for the Sekt are from within 4km of Wincheringen.  After harvest the Sekt goes through a 21-day cold fermentation in stainless steel.  After malolactic fermentation the wine is stored on it’s lees for 9-18 months until disgorgment.  Dosage is 10-12g/L.

-Importer notes (Vom Boden)

German wine fans should expect to see more of these “1G” wines going forward. Essentially a “Premier Cru” wine, these can be made from either single-vineyard, “premier cru-designated” sites or, as Lauer does, a blend of premier cru-designated sites from a village. This wine is sourced from top parcels in and around Ayl; in essence a “baby GG” the wine has all the density and texture you’d expect from a top Lauer wine.

Since 2022, the VDP has classified Ayler Scheidterberg as a Erste Lage or “Premier Cru”. This site is very sheltered southern exposure that allows a slow and long ripening deep into autumn. Stony-fresh and dense core that is remarkably playful and relatively open in it’s youth.

-Importer notes (Vom Boden)

Over the 15+ years I’ve been closely following Florian’s wines the Unterstenberg (sourced from the lower part of the Kupp mountain, “unter” the “berg”) has shed sugar, from a bit under 20, to then 15 and even lower. Once again, for 2024, this wine is legally dry at around 5 grams residual sugar. I love it in this dry / drier form, with the schmaltzy, glycerin depth of the mid-palate and the profound, smoky savory quality. This is a serious damn bottle of wine and one of the highlights of the collection.

“Unterstenberg” can be translated, roughly, as “under the mountain” –  the “unter” being “under,” the “berg” translating to “mountain.” And indeed when you click the map to the left, you see the white rectangle denoting the vineyard, there at the base, the bottom, of the Kupp.

The location of this vineyard shapes absolutely everything about the wine; everything runs down the mountain after all. Thus the Unterstenberg is one of the few sites that rarely lacks for water, even in drier years. The vineyard’s location means it is also the final resting place for most of the fine, weathered slate and soil that has been washed down over the centuries. The larger rock, unable to be moved by water, remains up top, while Unterstenberg has a relatively deep, mineral-rich soil. The water and the soil mean that this is a rather vigorous site; the growth here can be explosive. Finally, the site’s location at the bottom, nearing the valley, means that there can be some botrytis down here, though of course Florian will select most of this out.

What does this mean for the wine itself? It tends to be one of the broadest and most powerful of Lauer’s dry wines. Because of the ample water, it has a mineral expression that is multifaceted, complex, deep. Interestingly, Unterstenberg is one of the few Lauer wines that has changed its signature dramatically at times; in the late 2000s the wine tended to be rather “Feinherb” in style. Since 2012, for reasons unknown to Florian, the wine has been fermenting closer to dry, having a “dry tasting” style not dissimilar to “Senior” and has shed sugar, first from a bit under 20, to then 15 and now even lower – it is dry this vintage at under 5 grams residual sugar. I love it in this dry / drier form, with the schmalzy, glycerin depth of the mid-palate emphasized and defined by the acidity’s cut and lift.

For those of you that know Lauer’s Stirn bottling, it is exactly the opposite of Unterstenberg, located only 300 feet up the hill. If you wanna have fun, open these bottles side by side and have a master-class in terroir. Only 300 feet apart, yet the difference between them is night and day.

Importer notes (Vom Boden)

Lauer’s Neuenberg is one of the most curious, most complex wines he makes. As always with Lauer, the terroir is to blame.

Bone dry in 2024 which is wild – this wine is a gut-punch, in the best possible way. The best Neuenberg ever? For me, maybe. The wine is sourced from a cherry parcel in the Grand Cru Kupp, one that sees the cool morning sun as well as the warmer afternoon sun and, situated as it is at the bottom of the slope, it can often have a bit of mist or fog lingering about.

Thus we have in Neuenberg one of Florian’s most dazzling wines. It is luxurious and textural and glycerin-rich and layered. It is the Saar’s response to the generosity and exoticism of a wine like Meursault Genevrieres. A good decant or a few years in the cellar can do a lot bring out the depth of this wine. Pair with a ****ing steak.

-Importer notes (Vom Boden)

“Kern” is named after the 19th century industrialist that cleared this more-western part of the Kupp; it is a small parcel that spans the entire top-to-bottom reach of the Kupp. Thus, for me, the wine always has something of the lift and rigor of “Stirn” and something of the depth of wines like “Neuenberg” and “Unterstenberg.” After the sun has finished its work on the hot stones during the day, the coolness pulls up the mountain and noticeably lowers the temperature. The vines are old here, well over 70-years-old, so the wine has some stuffing. It is most often well in that off-dry style, yet, with Lauer, it’s always about the balance.

-Importer notes (Vom Boden)

Here we present the rare Kabinett from the Schonfels vineyard, he only made this for the first time in 2021. Always, always – no matter if this is dry of off dry – you taste the site. Always, always, one of my favorite wines of the vintage.

The Schonfels is one of the most daunting sites of the Saar; under Florian Lauer’s care, it is also becoming one of the most famous sites. While the vineyard has always had a huge reputation, Florian’s father let the site go fallow in the 1980s. The reason? It’s too damn expensive and too difficult and dangerous to farm. The vines here are over 100 years old and ungrafted. Thus, even in good years, the yield is paltry. In addition, because the site is so steep, it is very difficult and very dangerous to farm. In fact, as the site “ends” in a rock face that drops a few hundred feet to a street below, harvesters must be harnessed in, via a carabiner, to a tractor parked at the top of the vineyard. There can be no slipping here; it is truly a matter of life and death.

And while it’s all very easy and dramatic for me to write about this, and while the wine has gone on to become one of the legendary wines of the Saar and of Germany, Florian’s decision, in the late 2000s, to rehabilitate this site was equal parts daring, brilliant, insane, and potentially financially crippling to the estate. The site had been fallow for well over a decade, so it essentially looked like a young forest. Months of (dangerous) work were required to rip out, by hand, most of the wild vegetation, in the hopes that the vines would still be alive. Luckily, they were. And luckily, the reputation of the site has proven itself. But this was a serious, serious gamble. Florian is a boss

-Importer notes (Vom Boden)

The same culture, the same fashion and vogue, that has given us treasures like ultra-processed food, congress, social media, and paddle ball is also pushing against wines like Spätlese. Honestly, fuck fashion and vogue. Spätlese as an act of social rebellion? Yes. This is so damn crisp it’ll shut the haters up – just under seventy grams of beautiful, beautiful fructose (that’s less than many Kabinett) and damn near 10 grams of acid to make your palate reverberate.

-Importer notes (Vom Boden)

“Barrel X” is winemaker Florian Lauer’s Platonic ideal of what a slightly off-dry (feinherb) Saar Riesling should be. If we were in Burgundy, this would be the equivalent of a “Bourgogne Blanc.” As an appellation-level wine, it is sourced from multiple vineyards in four different villages of the Saar: Ayl (Lauer’s home village), Saarburg, Wawern and Wiltingen. Florian says, “From Ayl and Wawern, the wine gains the fruit and power, from Saarburg the racy acidity, and from Wiltingen, the spice.”

Regardless of what comes from where, this much is certain: dollar for dollar, I’m not sure there is a 750ml bottle that delivers as much joy and zing. This is the gateway drug to Lauer, to the Saar, to Riesling… be careful. Very addictive.

-Importer notes (Vom Boden)

“Weihwasser” meaning Holy Water, from vines in the St. Aldegunder Klosterkammer vineyard near the old church in Alf. Barely off dry with salty lemon, pear and extremely high drinkability. This is a PERFECT old school feinherb as they used to be made, low in alcohol and disappears in the glass before you know it.

Importer notes (Vom Boden)

The Palmberg is Stein’s “Grand Cru” and a vineyard to measure against any other vineyard in the Mosel, period. It is an awesome site, an ancient wall of vines filled with ungrafted plantings that are 90+ years old. The Palmberg is cut on one side by a stream, so the vineyard angles away from the Mosel. In former times this was likely a liability, the cool wind pouring down the valley and the distance from the river keeping optimum ripeness in all but the top vintages just beyond grasp. This is no longer an issue and these cooler vineyards, especially when they have old vines, are a massive asset. This wine is ruthless, cut, mineral, fresh and phenolic. It is quite simply one of my favorite wines of this vintage and it will age, easily, for 10-20+ years.

-Importer notes (Vom Boden)

“Elektrisch” translates to, yup you guessed it, electric – and that’s how we like our Kabinetts. Which is to say, lighter, more delicate, less sweet and more acid-driven than a lot of the Kabinetts on the market, which are really little more than de-classified Spätlese. In our opinion, that’s like taking a stick of butter and calling it mineral water. The “Elektrisch” is made by Florian Fauth of Weingut Seehof and is mostly (about 70%) sourced from the estates’ holdings. While the leaner price might suggest lower quality fruit, that’s really not the case. Most of the fruit comes from the Aulerde, one of the Grand Cru sites of Westhofen. Both Klaus Peter Keller, Florian’s brother-in-law, and Philip Wittmann farm parcels in the Aulerde: this vineyard is the real deal. Roughly 30% of the fruit is not “sourced,” in the generic and dirty-sounding way that word is often used, but rather bought from Florian’s good friends in the village. It is electric with vivid and mouth watering granny smith apple and citrus and a live-wire of minerality and acidity nearly pulsating through it.

-Importer notes (Vom Boden)

The Grand Cru dry wines of Weiser-Künstler are among the most cerebral dry Rieslings made in the Mosel. They are wines of meditation, wines that seem to have something more to do with distillates or teas made from stone, ore and flower. They have very little easy fruit to hang one’s hat on. In other words, they are among the most thrilling wines from this fabled place.

-Importer notes (Vom Boden)