Lead capsules were once widely used, but in 1994 the Food and Drug Administration declared lead capsules a food safety hazard; and later in 1996 they declared tin-coated lead capsules a food safety hazard. Tin became the go-to capsule metal, but now, due to the dramatic rise in the cost of tin, most wineries are switching to alternate capsules, or alternate closures. Tin is still used today, but I almost never see it on a new shipment. 

Once in a while, you'll come across some lead or tin capsules on an old bottle. These capsules are weighty, you have to press harder with the corkscrew blade to cut into it, and the capsules are sharp and unforgiving if you cut yourself while opening the bottle. 

Here is a great article on the rising cost of tin capsules. Not only has the price of tin increased, but the weakened American dollar has made it difficult for US wineries to purchase European tin capsules (the price rising 250% in the two year period of 2006-2008), and the weak dollar has tempted export markets in regions such as South America and New Zealand look to US-made screw caps and synthetic capsules for bargains. 

Scheurebe is a grape varietal this is almost a century old. Georg Scheu crossed riesling with an unknown vine in 1916 at a grape breeding nursery in the Rheinhessen. His goal was to breed a disease-resistant variety for winemaking. 

One of the first wineries to plant Scheurebe commercially and make high-quality wine from the grape was Weingut Annaberg in the Pfalz. With their successful plantings and vines, they popularized Scheurebe in the 1940s and 50s. Many of today's major plantings around Germany were originally taking from Annaberg cuttings. Today, Annaberg is a much different winery than it was in the middle of the 20th Century; the building has been turned into a hotel, and they are known for a high-quality restaurant on the premises. They still make some wines, but are no longer known for Scheurebe. 

If you follow auctions closely, sometimes you can find an old bottle of Annaberg Scheurebe Trockenbeerenauslese floating around from the 1950s. 

<-- Here is a photo of the hotel. 









Below are some photos from the current Annaberg vineyards. These aren't Scheurebe vines, but they once were.... 

You drink coffee out of a mug. When drinking wine, stemware is the norm. Beer usually comes in a tumbler of some sort. 
But with sake, there is no codified standard drinking vessel. There are many different forms in play. 

Here are a few examples: 

The masu (the wooden box pictured in the upper right) is a common vessel. This box was originally used to measure rice.  They were common and most everyone carried one on them (for buying and making rice at home); it was natural for people to use them as drinking vessels too. The traditional ones are wood, but some people feel that this interferes with the aromas and prefer lacquered, aroma-less boxes. 

Pottery is popular as well. 

Footed glassware is also widely used. 

Several sake vessels are white with dark blue markings on the bottom. This is for a practical reason: A sake that is meant to be clear (non-nigori) will sometimes turn cloudy if it has slightly spoiled. The white cups with the blue circles are often used by sake judges, and the blue circles help them to detect clarity imperfections in sake, and potentially determine if a sake has begun to spoil. 

Serge Hochar of Chateau Musar recently came to NYC and presented a vertical tasting of his reds and whites at Casellula, a restaurant that revolves around an incredible selection of cheeses. Serge and his family are well known to collectors and wine directors for making interesting, high-quality wines, and also for persevering through wartime to make their wines during conflicts in Lebanon. 

Serge speaks about wine in such a unique way. He has a very interesting perception of wine that I think many people are only able to come to in brief moments of clarity. For him, wine is about experiencing the wine in the moment, and actively engaging with that wine over several moments. To Serge, you cannot fully "get" a wine in a sip. You need to return and return again to actively engage with it to learn more about it, and you may never access all that is there. 

During his talk, I kept thinking back to school studies about performance art and semiotics; how symbolism accretes to form impressions, and how a performance is never isolated from the audience. A book becomes a book in the space between the reader and the pages. A painting becomes art in the space of engagement between the viewer and the painting. A music or drama performance emerges in the exchange between the performers and the audience, each element feeding off the other. A Musar wine becomes wine in the active engagement between the wine and the drinker-- it cannot be separated from the environment in which it is drunk. 

What I love about his perspective on wine is that he includes the drinker. He encourages the drinker to define the wine in multiple ways, and to continue to go back and find new things. Though we may initially bristle at this view of wine, because, as wine professionals or wine lovers we want to understand the wine and define it, I think this is a deep truth that we all secretly admit to ourselves; and this mystery of wine is what has captured our attentions to begin with. I dislike rating systems and point systems because so often they disassociate the drinker with the wine. These systems disregard individual perception and change over time. Point systems place strict boundaries around the wine, around what it can and should be; they attempt to pin down an ever-fleeting target, they wrestle the dynamic aspects of wine into static, dimensionless shells. Serge breaks free of all this, and doesn't try to nail down his wines. He also holds them back until they are ready to start expressing themselves. 

Here is a series of his thoughtful quotes, because he puts it so elegantly himself: 

"Wine is communication... We agree on one word to use, but sometimes the meaning of that word for each of us is different. This is how we can communicate more clearly: through wine."


"Each time I taste my wines I discover a new dimension to my wines. As a wine gets older, each bottle takes its place. I'm at a point where, now, each day, I drink a completely different wine." 

"I make wine because I love wine."



"Winemaking is an act of faith."



"Wine teaches you openness. You should approach things in a more open attitude." 

Serge's son, Marc Hochar, prepared the old wines while his father talked. 

"Wine is away from air for so long. When you open it, it wakes up. As it wakes up, it starts to show its soul... A wine of experience-- an old wine-- has an endless speech. It can talk to you for hours. You have to learn to listen. For me, each wine is an individual and has characteristics. I try to understand, I try to listen. Each wine will tell you something, will give itself to you. The wine will talk to me, will give me an impression, will touch my different feelings. If you feel the wine with emotion, it opens windows in your brain."

Here is a flight of '05, '99, and '81. 




"My red wine is for your tummy. My white wine is for your brain. My white wine is way more complex than you could ever think. These whites mature long after the reds." 

"After one sip, go back. The wine will have something new to show you. You are changing by the minute. So is the wine. You are evolving, aging by the minute, as is the wine. The wine is a companion for you in this." 


"There are one million things you could find in these wines. You have to penetrate the wine, you have to give it time to penetrate. Are these wines difficult or easy to understand? Once a wine has the ability to confuse you, it affects the brain. It begins to work on the brain. Wine has the ability to touch all parts of the brain. The more you know, the more you are confused... I'm happy when I can confuse the brain with my wines." 


"How can you experience charm? How can you explain finesse? ... Finesse is a state of mind." 

<-- Casellula's cheese selections were, as always, great; and they brought out so many nuances in the wines. 

As I cut into this one, Serge walked up to me and asked, "Are you happy?"

"Always," I replied with a smile, and we clinked glasses. 

A friend just had her wedding at Glen Foerd Mansion on the Delaware River in Philadelphia, and I spent the afternoon there. This giant house is tucked in the back of a tiny neighborhood that practically goes unnoticed. It's just a short distance from Highway 95, though you'd never imagine any urban sprawl could lurk near this hamlet. 

This is the view of the Delaware River from the back porch. 

The mansion was built by Charles Macalester circa 1850. In 1893, Robert and Caroline Foerderer bought the mansion and had it renovated. It remained in the family until 1988, and is now run by the Glen Foerd Conservation Corporation and the Fairmount Park Commission.  

How Robert & Caroline Foerderer came to own this mansion is a true love story. When they were teenagers they canoed down the Delaware River. They saw a dog on the bank (the very bank that you see in this photo) and pulled up the canoe to investigate. Once they climbed up the bank, the mansion rose before them, and Robert promised Caroline that one day it would be theirs. He started a company, got rich, and sure enough, he bought that mansion for Caroline in 1893! 

Scroll down to see some of the incredible finds in the house; including a bottle of riesling from the 1800s... 

 


The wrap-around porch is supported by columns. 

This is a shot of the back porch (and husband). Today the mansion is owned by a foundation, but the previous owner collected most of the plants from around the world. 

A magnificent staircase occupies the center of the house. 

Glass and iron ceilings function as natural skylights. 

An organ sits at the top of the staircase-- the pipes line the walls of the adjacent room. 

And a whole room is devoted to this grand piano. 

A collection of old decanters catch the sun. 

I found this cute little Cupid in a room dedicated to sculptures and artwork. 

Urns, figurines, paintings by famous artists, hand-carved chairs.... 

And this....  on display outside of the men's room, of all places. 

I'm pretty sure that this is from the Rheinhessen (though the wine company was based in the Nahe): 

1893 Niersteiner Oelberg
Riesling Auslese
Anheuser & Fehrs Creuznach
*bolded letters are obvious letters from the label, unbolded letters I've filled in based on educated guessing. If anyone has a better guess, please leave it in the comments section! 

There isn't much information out there about this wine, but I did find this pamphlet from 1904. The pamphlet is from a "German Wine & Food Exhibition" in St. Louis. Scroll down to page 135 to see the lists of wine. The first wine producer listed is Anheuser & Fehrs Creuznach. The pamphlet reads: 

Anheuser & Fehrs, Creuznach (Nahe). Established 1869, Rhine-, Nahe-, Palatinate-, Moselle- and Saar-Wines in bottles and casks. Exportation to all parts of the world. Proprietors of large and valuable vineyards. Owners of the registered brand: „Creuz- nacher Steinberg Riesling, own growth". Highest awards at all expositions: Coblenz 1879, Crefeld 1880, Creuznach 1881, Wetzlar 1882, Wesel 1885, London (German Exhibition) 1891, Chicago (World's Exhibition) 1893, Paris (World's Exhibition) 1900. Sole Agency for the United States: New-York & Kentucky Co., 232, Fifth Avenue, New-York.

Anheuser & Fehrs Creuznach appears to have been a very large company with vineyards in several wine regions. 

The pamphlet mentions that Anheuser & Fehrs Creuznach won "highest awards" in 1893 at the World's Exhibition in Chicago, and won more awards in 1900 at the World's Exhibition in Paris. Perhaps the owners of the Glen Foerd Mansion came into contact with these wines at one of those Exhibitions and brought this bottle back to Philadelphia. 

I only recognized a few of the other producers represented in the 1904 pamphlet, including Egon Muller (pg 151) and Vanvolxem (pg 158- though not sure if this is the same Van Volxem of today). I also noticed some riesling listed from Eitelsbacher Karthauserhofberg (pg 153). On page 154 there is an interesting reference to Roederer, which lists them as "original growths of Champagne and Lorraine." 

Why would Robert and Caroline Foerderer have been interested in drinking this bottle of German riesling? And, as they didn't save other empty bottles, why was this one so special to have been on display in their home? 

I can take a guess: In 1893, Robert fulfilled his promise to Caroline and bought her the mansion they had canoed past as teenagers. I'm guessing that on a special anniversary (maybe at the renovation groundbreaking? maybe on a wedding anniversary?) they drank this 1893 riesling to celebrate the year their childhood dream came true. 

Bibliography
Anonymous Pamphlet. (1904) German Food and Wine Exhibition - St. Louis 1904. 

Pfeffingen (Pfalz, Germany)

Pfeffingen is one of the great wineries in the Pfalz. The family has been making wine in this region for over 250 years, and production is currently overseen by Doris and Jan Eymael (mother and son). Jan's grandparents, Karl and Helene Fuhrmann, took over the Pfeffingen estate in 1952. Karl raised the reputation of the winery to be one of the finest in the region, he did great work with Scheurebe, he found ancient Roman artifacts on the property which helped create public interest in the region's history, and he helped to see the winery through the rough Flurbereinigung period (discussed in greater detail below). 

<-- The family Coat of Arms has a unicorn ("Einhorn") perched on top, and this is the inspiration for their current label. 

Flurbereiningung
The Flurbereiningung is perhaps the single most important event of the last century that has shaped German winemaking and guided the Pfeffingen estate to where it is today. The Flurbereiningung was a reaction to the trickle-down effects of what the wine business refers to as the "Napoleonic Laws." Napoleon put a new system into play that ensured by law that property would be split up equally between male children; this was a departure from the previous status quo in which entire property was handed down to the eldest son. The premise of the law is very democratic, yet after several generations of exponential population growth, all of the properties had been split, split again, and split again until individuals owned a few vines here and a few vines there. These laws also affected other wine regions including Burgundy; and the current fractalized ownership of vineyards can be quite problematic there. To combat this frustrating issue, Germany decided to organize a massive land-redistribution called the Flurbereiningung. Essentially, all the vineyard land went into one big pot, and the property ownership was redistributed in larger, more easily workable parcels. 

This was a time of great change. Many owners wanted their new, larger vineyards to be more cohesive, so lots of wineries chose to uproot and replant vines with a fresh start. If they were thinking about working with different varieties, this was the time to replant. The government also took this opportunity to make some much needed improvements to the roads around the vineyards, to vineyard infrastructure, and to agricultural mapping in general. They built bird refugee areas to increase biodiversity. Jan also notes that "In the long run this was better, but it was a difficult transition. We had water problems that were fixed-- we dug ditches so that water flows around the vineyards, not through them," like the one pictured below:  

The Flurbereiningung had been an idea since the early 1900s. Legislature passed going into the 1950s, and the restructuring took place from the 1950s through the 1970s. This long-term scope gave vintners plenty of time to work out the terms of land redistribution, plan any replantings, and plan the changes in phases that would be financially viable for them. For Pfeffingen, most of their changes and replantings occurred in the 1980s. 

The Flurbereiningung was expensive, and many wineries took a hit during this time period. To put this in perspective, it can cost about €30,000 to replant 1 hectare. At Pfeffingen, they replanted 10 hectares within a 2 year period of time. Many carefully planned the replanting of their now-cohesive vineyards in stages so that they could have workable fruit each year, but despite staggered replanting most wineries had to deal with extremely young vines for almost a decade, and lowered their output. Quality took a hit as the new plantings grew to maturity. Three decades later, the Pfalz is full of mature vines and producing stunning wines. 

But the Flurbereiningung also had an unexpected surprise in the Pfalz. As they dug out the new vineyards and refurbished roads and pathways many people started to find ancient Roman artifacts. Karl found several items on the Pfeffingen properties including a Roman coin, a Roman blade, and several sarcophagi. Archeologists excavated what they could. But they couldn't take all of the artifacts, and some are still at Pfeffingen. 

<-- Jan shows us the ancient Roman blade. In the background you see the Roman sarcophagus that was hand-chiseled from local stone. 

Part of these historic findings included a Roman complex that dates to 300AD. In the photo to the left the walls are all authentic Roman stone, but the columns are modern replicas to give a more accurate idea of what it may have looked like.   

The complex came complete with a Roman bath. 
<-- Here is a picture of Jan & I taking a break in the 1,700 year old hot tub! 

Jan is a thoughtful guy with a great sense of humor. His mother, Doris, was one of the first three women to graduate from Geisenheim. Jan is also a Geisenheim graduate, and he and his wife, Karin, apprenticed winemaking in Australia. From speaking with him, you get the idea that he sees the big picture of wine; from his global experience he understands how Pfeffingen fits into the world market, and I'm sure he also came back home with an understanding of the uniqueness of his family winery. 

Pfeffingen owns several parcels, but one is incredibly unique. 

There are two known vineyards with terra rossa soil in Germany: the Steingruber in Westhoffen and this Weilberg vineyard in Ungstein. Pfeffingen's Weilberg vineyard has a strip of terra rossa soil that runs from the top of the hill to the bottom. The terra rossa portion takes up about 4 hectares of the vineyard's 30 hectares. Pfeffingen owns 2 of the 4 terra rossa hectares. They plant riesling on it, the co-op that owns the other half plants it with spatburgunder. 

Jan notes that, "Terra rossa is a very dense soil. It's very thick and extremely difficult to work with. When it's dry, it is as hard as concrete. When it's wet, it's really sticky." 

Here is an interesting comparison: 

Two rieslings, both made from vines approximately the same age, both picked at roughly the same Oeschle (ripeness level when picked), but grown on completely different soils. 

Pfeffingen "Herrenberg" GG Riesling, 2011 (Pfalz, Germany) 
KALKSTEIN soil, 27 year old vines
very savory aromas and flavors like fresh picked herbs, a sizzling mineral texture that lasts quite a long time

Pfeffingen "Weilberg" GG Riesling, 2011 (Pfalz, Germany) 
TERRA ROSSA soil, 30 year old vines
thick and rich, almost a sandy, soil texture that grates against the sides of the tongue. dense, dark, and spicy, with tension and depth. 

Pfeffingen's Scheurebe

Writing about Pfeffingen wouldn't be complete without bringing up Scheurebe. Karl Furhmann was instrumental in popularizing Scheurebe. Pfeffingen's work with the grape is so highly prized that the Pfalz government granted them special permission to produce Scheurebe GG/GL. (By law only riesling, pinot noir, and pinot blanc may be labeled as Grosses Gewachs/Grosse Lagen).  

Jan had plenty of insightful things to say about this grape: 

"Scheurebe can be a tough cookie in the vineyard. You need to have it in the right place on the right soil. It took my grandfather some time to discover that Herrenberg (limestone) was the best place. Unripe Scheurebe is green and herbaceous. As it gets riper the flavor profile becomes more like lime citrus. When it gets close to botrytis cassis, lychee, and mango notes come out. Scheurebe was bred to be disease resistant, so you don't get much botrytis, but it will happen late in the season. We pick twice-- first when it is just ripe to get the lime citrus notes, then later for the tropical notes, and we ferment these together."

Jan showed us this vineyard map of the Pfalz from 1828, which appears to be one of the earliest vineyard classifications of the region.

Here are some tasting notes from the wines that we tried:

Pfeffingen Weissburgunder trocken 2012 
(Pfalz, Germany)
94 Oeschle (combined), 6.1 g/L TA, 5.8g RS, 13% abv
this is a selection from loamy soils to make a smoother wine
rich and tart, like a fresh green pear; mild acidity, subtle mineral finish

Pfeffingen Dry Riesling 2012 "RWS" 
(Pfalz, Germany)
90 Oeschle (combined), 7.5 g/L TA, 6.7g RS, 12.5% abv
this is a selection from two vineyards, Nussriegl (loam & colored sandstone soils) and Herrenberg (limestone)
crisp, dry, and tart. star fruit, yellow stone fruit, tart pineapple, limestone-like minerality in the background.   

Pfeffingen Dry Scheurebe 2012 "RWS" (Pfalz, Germany)
89 Oeschle, 6.6g/L TA, 6.4 RS, 12.5% abv 
lychee, pineapple, yellow plum, white pepper

Pfeffingen Ungstein Gewurztraminer trocken 2012 (Pfalz, Germany)
95 Oeschle, 5.3g/L TA, 7.3 RS, 13% abv
this fruit comes from the Nussriegl vineyard grown on sandy soils from the creek. The grapes are grown on both sides of the creek; they often get poor flowering here. This wine used to be called "Gewurztraminer Spatlese Trocken," but the naming has changed under the new VDP laws, which require higher levels of RS to name wines by Pradikat names like Spatlese. For a comprehensive read about this issue (Pradikat labeling vs. terroir-based labeling), reference this previous post, Dry German Wine & the VDP.
rose petals, candied ginger

Pfeffingen "Herrenberg" GG Riesling, 2011 (Pfalz, Germany) 
KALKSTEIN soil, 27 year old vines
very savory aromas and flavors like fresh picked herbs, a sizzling mineral texture that lasts quite a long time

Pfeffingen "Weilberg" GG Riesling, 2011 (Pfalz, Germany) 
TERRA ROSSA soil, 30 year old vines
thick and rich, almost a sandy, soil texture that grates against the sides of the tongue. dense, dark, and spicy, with tension and depth. 

Hans-Joachim "Hanno" Zilliken stands in front of a portrait of his ancestor. His family has been making wine here since at least the mid-1700s. Today, Zilliken is still a family affair, and Hanno works together with his wife, Ruth, and daughter, Dorothy, to continue the tradition. 

The winery is officially titled "Weingut Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken," and known commonly as "Zilliken." The word "Forstmeister" translates to "Forrest Master," and refers to Hanno's grandfather, who was the forester for the King of Prussia in the late 1800s/early 1900s era.  

<-- Saarburger Rausch is the vineyard where the Zillikens work much of their magic. It lies right on the edge of town. 

The winery is so interesting. It is a juxtaposition of the past and the present. On top of the ground, there is an ultra-modern tasting room with crisp, clean architecture. But if you descend below the house you come to several levels of wine cellar that are anything but "modern."   

When descending to the cellar's first cavern, the first thing you notice is that the crisp, modern, white walls change to old brick that is populated with billowing, cotton-like mold. Sunlight is verboten here. Hanno flicks on a light switch. As you carefully make your way down the staircase the air thickens and dampness envelops you. The smell of moss and life dances around your nose. You must balance your footing on the slippery floor.  

Hanno pushes on a huge door that has turned the colors of aging metal and reveals the barrels. In his own words, he makes "rieslings that float like butterflies." I feel that I am inside the nutrient-laden cocoon where his butterflies are hatched. 

Hanno does everything in 1000L wood barrels. These barrels are bigger than the Burgundian-stle barriques, but they are still on the small side. He doesn't want to ferment in larger containers because "in too large of a container, it almost cooks when it ferments." He wants a long, cool fermentation to draw out aromas. In this cool cellar, it takes several months for a barrel to ferment.   Wood has other charms as well:
"A special amount of oxygen helps the yeast ferment. And contact with the wood gets the acidity more round. The same wine in steel would taste more aggressive. Also, the wood doesn't get hot during a fermentation. So many other growers no longer use the casks-- it is more work, they are harder to clean, and it's more expensive. These are rieslings aged in oak but not oxidized." 

<-- Here is an especially long stalactite clinging to the ceiling. When you touch these stalactites, some of them feel slightly gooey to the touch, like a hard gel. Others looked like liquid drops, but felt hard to the touch. I wonder how much of the hard-matter content in the stalactite is minerals extracted from the wall, and how much finds its way in on airborne dust. 

<-- Within this incredible cellar there is a great library of riesling. 

The bottles rest in the atmosphere and appear to "sweat" with a thin sheen of moisture. 

And yes, the mold finds its way to the bottles as well, enshrouding them. It takes a certain trust-in-nature to allow your bottles to age this way. 

And juxtaposed against a voracious microbiology that grows where it wants is a meticulous order; neatly filed bottles left to rest in this special environment. 

This cellar reminds me of Nature herself: wildly unruly and yet ordered to an infinite degree. 

We taste some of the dry wines. 

Zilliken Saarburg "Alte Reben" Riesling Trocken 2012
There are 3 hectares of old vines in Rausch that are 60, 60, and 100 years of age. This "Alte Reben" is a selection of the 60 year old vines. 
This is dense and dry with an aroma of grunstein (the rock in this part of the vineyard). If you smelled a piece of the wet grunstein and then the wine, you could really pick up elements of aroma. The texture had this elegant filigree aspect to it. Hanno describes this as "liquid minerals."


Zilliken Saarburg Rausch Riesling GG 2012
Dry rieslings like this weren't always in production in the Saar region. It's interesting to see how, over the last decade, the VDP has helped shape and encourage this new wave of incredible dry rieslings. 
Slate & grunstein minerality, subtle intensity, very complex. 

<-- This is a new capsule, regulated by the VDP's new vineyard ranking system. We will start to see many of these with the 2012 vintage. Notice the band around the bottom of the capsule that reads "Grosse Lage"-- this is the VDP's new term for the highest quality vineyards (similar in theory to a Grand Cru site). 

We move away from the dry wines. 

Zilliken "Butterfly" Riesling 2012 (7.5g/L TA; 18g RS; 85-92 Oeschle)
light & elegant riesling that, in Hanno's words "floats like a butterfly."  

Then we delved into the wines with some higher RS levels. Since the VDP regulates that its top quality wines must be dry, this has bifurcated production among producers. VDP member will make a dry wine from their top sites (this may be picked at Kabinett/Spatlese/Auslese levels, but the sugars must be fermented through to dry) and label these wines as "Grosse Lage" or "Erste Lage" (for many producers they once called these GGs, or Grosses Gewachs, before the new system came into play; many have kept the letters "GG" on the label). Some producers are happy with this and focus on dry wine production. Others have traditions and preferences for making wines according to the Pradikat system, and make a second group of wines that can be labeled "Kabinett," "Spatlese," or "Auslese," but these wines eschew the prestigious Grosse Lage or Erste Lage classification.  For bottles from 2012 onward: if the wine says "Grosse Lage" on the capsule, you can assume that it will be dry. If the wine says Kabinett/Spatlese/Auslese and the producer is a member of the VDP, you can assume that it will have some noticeable RS. For non-VDP members, you still don't know because there are no national rules that govern RS (just must weight). 

Hanno poured us a neat comparison: the Rausch Diabas and the Rausch Kabinett. Both are from the same site, but the Diabas is a special selection from vines that are planted on the veins of diabase rock (hard, black, iron-rich stone that formed when lava cooled extremely fast eons ago). The Diabas ended up with too much RS to be labeled as a Grosse Lage (which is regulated to be dry), but Hanno could label it based on soil type (which seems to be a growing trend in Germany). He notes that "There are 18 grams of residual sugar but the diabase  absorbs all of the sweetness." His comment is an interesting observation of flavor perception: sometimes, sugar can be balanced by acidity, other times, it can be balanced by the perceived minerality in a wine. 

We tried a few of his 2012 Kabinette: 

Zilliken, Saarburger Riesling Kabinett 2012 (8.6g/l TA; 56g RS)
rich & balanced, flower petals, white peaches

Zilliken, Bockstein Kabinett 2012 (8.7g/L TA; 61g RS)
pretty & floral, with an interesting minerality

Zilliken, Rausch Kabinett 2012 (9.1g/L TA; 69g RS) 
This was like biting into one of those fresh, sun-warmed peaches at a road side farmer's market in North Carolina. It was so juicy with such lovely fruit; and the minerality that backed it all up drew out the finish for such a long time. What a great wine. 

We moved into the Spatlesen and Auslesen. 

Zilliken, "Saarbug Rausch" 2012 Riesling Spatlese
This Spatlese was picked with about 20% botrytis. 
This had an incredible clean aroma, like fresh coconut meant, mangoes, and peaches. 

Zilliken, "Saarbug Rausch" 2012 Riesling Spatlese - Auction  (9.9g/L TA; 100g RS; 102 Oeschle) 
This was a special Spatlese produced for auction only. 
Similar fruit aromas as the non-auction Spatlese, but with dried qualities: dried coconut meat, dried mangoes, dried peaches, dried pineapple. An intense mouthfeel; thick and rich. About the ageability, Hanno notes "It's made for other decades."  

Zilliken, "Saarbug Rausch" 2012 Riesling Auslese
He also poured some 2012 Rausch Auslese- a truly humbling wine. This was picked at 106 oeschle (that's really ripe!) and had about 40% botrytis. Many of the grapes were frozen when it was picked. 

Zilliken, "Saarbug Rausch" 2010 Riesling Auslese GK 
(12.7 g/L TA; 150g RS; 7.5 abv)

This was a real treat-- a taste of the GK Auslese. This is such a powerful wine. Rudi sips it and says "This wine will outlive all of us!" The acidity is so high, I can't even begin to imagine the agability. 

Evan Springarn and Rudi Wiest contemplate the Auslese that mystifies us all. 

"You see the range of possibilities," Hanno notes. "It's up and down; we are working with nature..." 

Here (photo on right) are the kind of slate soils that you find the Saarburger Rausch. 

Hanno poured the wine pictured to the left from a label-less bottle. We smelled. This was a different animal. It was old; it smelled herbaceous like asparagus, roasted mushrooms, and bacon fat. It was smokey, and really dry-tasting despite the 50g of residual sugar. It had a round creaminess at the end. I was mystified. I knew it was special, but I couldn't even begin to guess what it was. 

What a surprise: it was a 1980 Kabinett Icewine-- doubly  special because they no longer make Eiswein Kabinette anymore, and also because this was my birth year! 1980 was a rough year in most wine-growing regions around the planet, so finding a lovely wine from my birth year is a very unique treat! 1980 wasn't easy at Zilliken though. Hanno notes, "Here is an example of a tough vintage with green, herbal notes." 

I thought, "I'm not sure this family could get any sweeter or more hospitable" as they waved goodbye to us when we drove away... 

On a recent trip to Germany I got to stop by Weingut Schäfer-Fröhlich in the Nahe Anbaugebiete.  



<-- Weingut Schäfer-Fröhlich











<-- The Tasting Room

Schäfer-Fröhlich headquarters are based in Bockenau. 

<--- This is the town you drive through to reach their headquarters. 

Tim Fröhlich
Tim Fröhlich took over from his parents in the 1990s (1995 was his first official vintage) but his mother is still very much involved. They taste every parcel together and confer on the best way to proceed. Tim describes his mother's palate as very similar to his own. He goes on to elaborate that because they have such similar palates, their discussions about the wine always revolve around fine-tuning the tiniest details. These wines are so precise that I can't help but think that these talks with his mom have immensely shaped his direction of winemaking. It's special to find a winemaker so lucky to have a mentor that could guide him along such a narrow path. I imagine most winemakers start off with wild experiments to see what works and what doesn't, and it can take years to narrow down to refinement. Tim has had strong guidance from the beginning and has been able to skip over finding his way, and has jumped into fine-winemaking right from the start.  

I only spent about an hour tasting with Tim, and from that hour I'd describe his personality as intense, focused, and driven. He's a quiet guy, but you can tell that inside there is this glowing, meticulous, fierce intensity. He doesn't talk about sales or brands or the wine market-- he talks about grapes, soils, vintages, and vineyards. He is obsessed with his vineyards, and with coaxing the best from them. His intelligence is focused: he knows exactly what he wants from each vineyard and he mentioned that one of the greatest things he has going for him is a great vineyard management team. "They know what I want," he says, and it means so much to be able to trust them to prune and pick to his specifications.    

Tim on Yeast
Tim feels very strongly about doing wild yeast fermentations. He describes it this way: "When you use cultured yeast, or even domesticated wild local yeast, you end up with a 'Grand Style,' but you hide the year." To him, the most interesting thing about winemaking is how the particular year gives the wine its character. 

To cultivate these yeasts he farms with a philosophy that I'd call lutte raisonnée. He uses salts and biodynamic preparations at times, but this is mixed with other approaches based on weather and site. 

He and his mom choose when to pick by tasting the grapes. He has found that consistently, they end up picking fruit for their spätlese wines from the same parts of the vineyards.  He doesn't usually pass more than once through a site to pick in stages. To him, the later harvest vines express themselves as parcels. He tributes this understanding of the vineyard to meticulous vineyard management. His words of wisdom: "If you must make a lot of selections at the end, you didn't do the work at the beginning." 

Some soil samples from his various vineyards. 

Schafer-Frohlich, Blanc de Noir, Spatburgunder trocken 2012 (Nahe, Germany)

I noticed at the 2013 Weinbörse in Mainz that several producers made 2012 blanc de noir wines from pinot noir. From a linguistic viewpoint, it is interesting to note that everyone in Germany refers to these as "blanc de noir" instead of "Weiss vom Schwarz." 

For Tim, this is a great way to showcase his pinot noir vineyards until he has a larger winery and can start to make dry reds. 

These grapes come from Stromberg-- a very steep vineyard full of volcanic rock and planted with 35-40 year old Spätburgunder vines. 

When describing this wine to me, Tim says "We prefer maximum elegance;" and you can definitely taste this preferment!  The grapes from this site have much color in the skins; Tim wants a light color, so he does no skin contact and uses all free run juice. 

Schäfer-Fröhlich, Bockenauer Weisser Burgunder "R", 2012

This Weisser Burgunder comes from red slate in some steep places in Bockenauer. 
This was picked at 102 Oeschle (that's quite ripe!). 

Schäfer-Fröhlich GGs

These single vineyard Grosses Gewachs are what wine is all about. When I tasted through these side-by-side I had one of those profoundly personal wine experiences. I was awestruck and amazed. My idea of what riesling could be was forever changed. 

I've always appreciated riesling, and even loved it on occasion. I've curiously observed many wine geek friends who are absolutely obsessed with riesling and preach it like religion. I've watched them drool over the riesling section in wineshops. I've met up with them for dinner and seen them wide-eyed, pulling a bottle of riesling out of their bag to pour-- clutching the bottle with two hands as if it were the Holy Grail, meticulously portioning it out as if it were a rationed resource. I've gotten a kick out of their passion, I've been inspired by their undying, unwavering, unfaltering love of this grape. After this Schäfer-Fröhlich side-by-side GG tasting, I became one of them. 

I know the exact moment it happened too: we were on the third one, and I was suddenly overcome with the realization that I was experiencing something profound, unique, and special. 

There is a wide spectrum of what riesling can be; of how it can manifest. Tim's GGs exist within a very thin band of this spectrum, and while they are all similar, each one reveals an infinite inner world of subtle detail, subtle textural differences, über-expressive minerality, and electric energy. Driving energy, focused detail, subtle power: these qualities could describe both Tim and his wines. 

Here is more detailed information about these vineyards: 

Schlossböckelheimer Kupfergrube ("Copper Ditch")
Kupfergrube was originally planted between WWI & WWII on the site of an old copper mine. It is 14 hectares in total, very steep, with complex volcanic soil rich in a wide array of minerals. 

Schlossböckelheimer Felsenberg ("Rock Hill")
volcanic rock 

Monzinger Halenberg
80-90% slate with some white & black quartz deposits. 

Monzinger Frühlingsplätzchen ("Little Place of Spring")
Tim has a special parcel that is very steep and comprised of hard, red slate. 

Bockenauer Stromberg
very rocky & steep vineyard, calcerous soils, over 65 year old vines 

Bockenauer Felseneck
blue Devonian shale with quartzite and basalt 
Wild orchids grow in the rocky places of this vineyard, and a special flower-protection group ensures that these areas are protected. Tim recognized the potential of this vineyard and bought the entire Felseneck when the opportunity arose. He even purchased the steep part that is protected by the orchid group, in hopes that maybe one day, he can plant there. He sees the orchids growing among the vines and thinks that the two plants can coexist. 

And the riesling from this Felseneck vineyard: this is magical wine-- the kind of wine I dream about. 

<-- This is me holding a glass of Felseneck next to a soil sample from the vineyard. 







Tim describes a few past vintages from this vineyard: 

2008- "a very elegant wine, but the acidity is much brighter than in the 2012"

2010- "a special vintage because the harvest came very late"

2012- "The words for me are finesse and elegance."  I concur! 

What are Tim's plans for the future? Right now, he has no room to make red wines, but he wants to. Currently he makes a blanc de noir from some prized pinot noir grapes, but when he builds a larger winery, look out for his pinot noir. If the quality is anything like his rieslings, we can consider ourselves lucky as wine-drinkers!

It was such an honor to be included on Wine Enthusiast's list of 40 Under 40 Tastemakers!

Check out this fun video that we made!