Vinoculation

After the thrill of  JJ Prum yesterday, this also shaped up to be an interesting day, as these three producers have the right ingredients to make up the core f a good German collection – great sites, good winemaking, and wines right across the range from trocken to eiswein.

Willi Schaefer

Willi Schaefer

We’re greeted at 10 by Christoph Schaefer, and his little boy, and his wife, and his father! And once again we are tasting in the dining room. This is strange to me, tasting in family homes, and perhaps a little uncomfortable. But what we have seen so far is that every winemaker we have visited has the family home, cellar, winemaking facilites and tasting facilities integrated into one set of buildings. They all get regular visitors, ranging from 4 to 5 a day down to 4 or 5 a week, so we take some comfort we aren’t doing anything unusual.

I get a sense that Christoph is perhaps less used to working with visitors than some others as we begin to taste, but he lights up when I mention I already have his wines in our cellar. We taste:

09 Trocken

07 Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett

09 Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett

09 Graacher Domprobst Kabinett

09 Graacher Himmelreich Spatlese

09 Graacher Himmelreich Auslese (this is what I wrote down – these may have been Domprobst?)

76 Graacher Himmelreich Auslese

09 Graacher Domprobst Beerenauslese

I didn’t get AP no’s on any of them. Schaefer are focused on the fruity wines, with the only trocken being the estate wine. Fair enough – their overall production is the smallest of all the producers we visit, coming from only 4ha at Graach with a tiny holding in Wehlener Sonnenuhr.

These are lovely wines, taut and elegant across the board. These show a more open floral and citrus set of flavours than say the JJ Prums from the same site which are all about minerality, and will be approachable earlier. This combination of subtly complex fresh flavours, approachability and good structure make these a must for any serious cellar, and I must say 09 has been very kind to this estate.

The 76 shows these wines wil keep for a log time. Christoph poses the question about wines just lasting the distance vs improving. To me the 76 is older than I would want, but this is still full of life and will go another 10 if these are the flavours you want. Christoph has wines back to 1921 in the cellar. He also jokes about bottling Kabinett halves (in a “who’s the idiot that want these kind of way) and some magnums. I laugh and own up that these are for me!

The BA is a great piece of work. The bottle has been open nearly a month and was still fresh and lovely to drink. 180g/l isn’t the sugar monster seen in some BA’sand the 50% botrytis component is supporting rather then defining.

We walk away affirmed that all is good at Schaefer and that we will load up on 09.

Graacher Domprobst

All of Schaefer’s production spends some maturing time in 1000l foudres (I could only count 18 of them!). This oak is old and clearly quite neutral. Schaefer also use wild yeast ferments as does almost everyone else, with the aim of adding interest and complexity to the wines along with the wood treatment. I have to say the effect is subtle and all the better for it, these wines would lose a lot if too much winemaker trickery became evident in the finished product.

Schloss Lieser

At Schloss Lieser

Off to Lieser to visit Thomas Haag. Lieser is a tiny little village, but it does indeed have a Schloss (palace) in it. In fact he Schloss Lieser wine facility and Haag home is in a building that was once part of the schloss. We’ve been told Thomas wont have a lot of time, and we also have an appointment to visit his brother Oliver the same afternoon. When we arrive we find there has been a mistake and Thomas had us in his diary yesterday – I get that instant feeling of dread – did we stuff this up? Are we going to taste?. Thomas’ 16 year old daughter practises her English on us briefly and like almost everyone in Germany she is very good. We are then greeted by Wilhelm Haag, who has driven over from Brauneberg, having an inkling that Thomas’ diary may have been wrong.. Apparently there has been some misunderstanding and Thomas was expecting us yesterday. However Wilhelm is very gracious and shows us through the Lieser range, which I really like.

As we work through these wines I notice that as I spit, Wilhelm drinks!

The QbA’s and trockens are a touch dry and light on fruit flavour for me. The Kabinett and Pradikat wines are a step up. They are very tropical in the flavour spectrum across 08 and 09, and the 09’s have great acids to keep everything in balance. This seems to spread across the Niederberg and Brauneberg wines, and we don’t see this in the Fritz Haag wines from Brauneberg that we see next.

The flavour spectrum here is asuch a contrast to others we’ve seen so far, but it is delicious. I backed up the truck for the 06 Niederberger Helden Auslese Langhe Goldkapsel, and they have made that wine again in 09. Must make sure I get an allocation before it sells out, as it will.

On closures – entry level wines are screwcaps, and higher level wines are cork.

Fritz Haag

Then we follow Wilhelm in the car to Brauneberg to taste the Fritz Haag range.

Juffer Sonnenuhr - complete with sundial

On the way we stop and learn the difference between Juffer and Juffer Sonnenuhr, the two sites that form the backbone of the Fritz Haag portfolio. Apart from the latter having a sundial in it, Juffer Sonnenuhr is the bottom half to 2/3 of the slope, at about the midpoint of Juffer (lookingleft to right along the vineyard.

Again we start with Trockens, which are a big seller in Germany as a by the glass wine. Once again entry level wines in screwcap and higher level wines under cork. I don’t like the trockens, here, the most Austere so far and not to my palate. The auslese Fienherb from Brauneberger Juffer is very good, and everything from Kabinett upwards are great, really showing off the ethereal lifted flower and white peach characters I’ve always found in the Haag wines. Wines we try above Kabinett were the only ones I wrote down:

09 Brauneberger Juffer Spatlese: Pure and light white peach and flowers. Lovely wine.

09 Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Spatlese: Tried side by side with the BJ Spatlese. Wilhel finds the former wine more approachable now. I find this win a touch deeper set, with other flavour nuances creeping in aove flowers and peaches, and suspect this will have more to offer in the long run..

09 Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Auslese: Took some time to reveal the step from Spatlese, and it appears as weight rather than flavour.

09 Brauneberger Juffer Auslese Goldkapsel (The Sonnenuhr version not yet n bottle): Lovely gear, now showing nectarine and orange, retains its feet and dances lithely. I think the Lieser Long Goldkap has it on the day.

Now if only the importer situation for Fritz Haag would sort itself out so we could see these wines in Australia again – the last time these officially came in was in 06.

The whole afternoon between Lieser and Haag has run for 3 hours, and Wilhelm is still drinking everything we pour! Well he doesn’t have far to go home. We briefly pass Oliver Haag who is busy sorting out some final spraying of BJS, which is strictly controlled in the Mosel. We saw the helicopter go over earlier that afternoon.

And that’s all folks. One more chapter to come with observations and conclusions.