MOSEL REPORT – From East to West & back again

Every week, the restaurant is closed for dinner on Sunday and Monday, so these are usually the days that the evening team kick back at home and refuels for the week to come. Last week, we decided to use our days off to seek out new wines for our menu and learn a little more about what makes German Riesling so delicious.

We drove to a unique part of Germany to visit some of our friends who make wine in the Mosel wine region. The Mosel is a breathtaking place, with Riesling vineyards planted on steep slate slopes, some up to an 80-degree incline on the banks of the Mosel river – making these some of the steepest vineyards in the world.

We set off from the hotel at the crack of dawn on Sunday. Eight hours later, we arrived at Weingut Peter Lauer in Ayl, a town located a mere 3km from Luxembourg. This visit was particularly important for the team as we have been serving the Lauer wines since we re-opened the restaurant doors last year. The visit was guided by Peter Lauer, the father of Florian Lauer who is now taken over the reins (though we do believe that dad is far from retired!), we tasted 15 wines here – all riesling, all from different plots, all incredibly balanced and all farmed organically.

The second day was a busy one, we drove along the Mosel to Bernkastel-Kues to visit a new producer for us, Sybille Kuntz. Markus Kuntz, Sybilles husband was there to greet us in the pouring rain. These wines have a very good reputation around the world and the story behind them is quite interesting. When Sybilles brother did not wish to take over the family vineyards in the 80s, they were passed onto Sybille who at the time had set up her own wine shop to fund her studies. From the beginning, she had the vision to create high-quality German riesling. Sybille’s wines are named after the style as opposed to the vineyard site. One of the highlights of this tasting was our first skin contact riesling from the Mosel – this wine will feature on the menu at our wine dinner event next Monday – Pair.

After a vertigo-inducing vineyard stop with Markus, we set off for Clemens Busch. Again a new winery for us, Clemens and his wife Rita have the majority of their riesling vines in Marienburg and their focus is on the soil. All their vines are farmed organically and have been for decades. Many of their wines are bottled by soil type, in their vineyards alone, they have three different types of slate (blue, red and grey) – all of which bring a different personality to the final wine. The wines here are pure, delicate, and dry for the most part, with great detail.

Our last stop before the long drive back was a rather philosophical one. We met Reinhard Lowenstein of Heymann-Lowenstein. Reinhard had the team’s attention within seconds, he is somewhat of a dreamer, but by no means does that mean he is unrealistic and lacking precision – it’s actually quite the opposite. Reinhard took us through his cellar and showed us a selection of his wines (ten in total), we spoke about soil types (8 different soil types), religion, art, music, philosophy, energy, culture, mythology, farming, flavour and emotion. All of these topics have a clear footprint in Reinhard’s approach to wine and of course life. An inspiring man with incredible warmth.

Stay tuned for the arrival of these wines and more to come…