Germany
Günther Steinmetz
Background
"Steinmetz" in German means stone mason. One could entertain the idea that the ancestors of current custodian Stefan Steinmetz cut stone before they dropped their chisels and started planting vines on the stony Brauneberger Juffer.
A 17-year-old Günther Steinmetz made his first vintage in 1958, having taken over from his deceased father. He was one of the few winegrowers to domaine-bottle his wines in the village of Brauneberg in the 1950s. This was before the advent of cultured yeasts, laboratory analysis, and sterile filters (the latter not readily available to most winegrowers at the time and paramount for making the sweet, so-called “classic style” Mosel Riesling).
His 1958 Brauneberger Hasenläufer Riesling naturrein was fermented and matured naturally dry in Fuder, the traditional 1,000-liter barrels of the Mosel. Back in those days many of the old-vaulted cellars had chimneys to keep temperatures from dipping too low. The wild yeasts didn’t start or keep going if it were too cold. The fear among producers was re-fermentation in bottle, hence wines were usually fermented dry. Bottling occurred around May, and the wines tended to be circa 10-11% in alcohol. Today, Günther’s son, Stefan, bottles from this same plot of vines under the designation Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Devon. (Devon is named after the type of slate soils found along the Mosel from the Devonian Period.)
The majority (85%) of the estate's vineyards are on steep hills with slate soils. The winery has been in the Steinmetz family for several generations and Stefan continues the tradition of sustainable viticulture - no insecticides have been used in the vineyards for more than 25 years. Organic compost is applied to give the vines some nutrients in their meagre slate soils. There have been changes since Stefan took over the weingut, most notably the removal of every other row of vines and the switch to wire training in order to improve air circulation and allow more sunshine to reach the vines, both of which make for healthier grapes. Training the vines along wires also reduces yields, which are kept at less than half of what the law stipulates for the Mosel region
It is also worth mentioning that 95% of the Steinmetz vines are more than 30 years old and some are between 50 and 70 years old and ungrafted. This age of vines is one reason why Steinmetz Rieslings often have concentrated flavors and a strong minerality. After a gentle pneumatic pressing of the grapes the must is left unprotected for a short amount of time to allow must oxidation, which prepares the finished wine for contact with air later on, keeping it from losing its fruit during maturation all too quickly. This may be the reason why the Steinmetz Rieslings are more somber in style, more concentrated and have less of that playful lightness which is often associated with Mosel Rieslings.
Wine
The minerality in the Rieslings of Weingut Günther Steinmetz is pronounced, you can taste it in all their wines. Those stones, present in all the Rieslings of Steinmetz and once you cut through them, the fruit shines. Stefan Steinmetz is quickly turning his estate into one of leading estates on the Mosel by respecting the traditions of generations past
Peter Lauer
Background
Thirty-year-old Florian Lauer, who studied oenology in Montpellier and apprenticed at the side of his father, Peter, is the fifth-generation hands-on owner/winemaker of this 7.5-hectare (18.5-acre) Saar domaine. In addition to tending to the vines and making the wines, Florian maintains the tradition established by his father and grandfather of bottling the wines according to individual “Faß” (barrel) numbers. Each number represents a particular wine, even if certain barrels or tanks are sometimes blended together owing to fluctuations in quantity.
Whereas many of the famous Saar estates produce their Riesling with relatively high amounts of residual sugar from blocked fermentations, Florian focuses on traditional well-balanced, dry and off-dry Saar Riesling with low alcohol. He prefers a slow, gentle whole-bunch pressing, often adding the resulting juice back to the grape pomace for brief maceration. Florian ferments with wild yeasts and employs long aging sur lie (“on lees”) in either traditional old oak Fuder or tank. He also does occasional bâtonnage (lees stirring).
The majority of Lauer’s holdings are in the top single-vineyard Ayler Kupp, a steep south- to southwest-facing site that, like Scharzhofberger, is situated on a hill away from the Saar River, with predominantly stony gray slate. As with many other famous sites, its original boundaries have expanded beyond the core hillside. Before 1971, the Kupp had unofficial site-specific names that Florian once again uses on his labels, rather than Prädikats, for his best dry and off-dry wines: Unterstenbersch (patois for unter dem Berg or “at the foot of the hill”), Stirn (above Unterstenbersch and below the tree-line cover that shields the vines from winds and provides water), and Kern (cross-section of the hillside farther to the west).
Florian has additional plots in surrounding vineyards, among them a forgotten steeply-terraced, old-vine parcel in Schonfels, flush up against the Saar, and Saarfeilser, the latter a prime location with a warm microclimate and an alluvial soil consisting of large gravel stones and slate.
The Lauer family has run for years a small, pleasant hotel-restaurant, highly regarded by guests and Saar wine lovers from around Germany and Luxembourg, where they sell out most of their wines.
Wine
The wines here are deep and meaninful, they make you pay attention. All are concentrated, precise and full of interesting facets and detail. You can forget the fruity and feathery and take note here - this young and passionate winemaker is now among the finest in Germany and his wines are thrilling.
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