Weiser-Kunstler Riesling Spätlese Einkircher Ellergrub 2021

About the wine:

The 2021 Enkircher Ellergrub Riesling Spätlese was made from fruit harvested at 96° Oechsle on largely un-grafted vines still trained on single pole and was fermented down to sweet levels of residual sugar (77 g/l). it offers a subtly exotic nose made of apricot, melon, cassis, passion fruit, smoke, and a hint of almond. The wine develops the smooth yet racy intense presence of an Auslese on the palate and leaves one with a still rather sweet feel in the melon infused finish. This gorgeous subtly apricot-infused and creamy wine now just needs a few years of patience in order to firm up and deliver its goods.

About the producer:

Country: Germany
Appellation: Mosel
Village: Traben-Trarbach
Main vineyards: Enkircher Ellergrub

Summary: Konstantin Weiser and Alexandra Künstler run a tiny, 4-hectare estate. Just downstream from the famous “Hollywood” section of the Middle Mosel, they quietly go about their business of crafting some of the world’s most pristine, detailed, pure Rieslings. The dry Rieslings are razor sharp, more about mineral, salt and flower than about fruit. The Prädikat wines are “old school,” with lower amounts of residual sugar and higher amounts of acidity than most. They shiver with tension and acidity and remain fresh, agile and versatile. In other words, Weiser-Künstler does it all, and does it all beautifully.

Size: Around 4 hectares with a small amount of purchased fruit. All fruit, both estate and purchased, is farmed organically.
Key grape varieties: Riesling
Soil: slate
Vine age: up to and above 100+ years old and largely ungraIed
Vineyard work: Absolutely no use of insecticides/pesticides; demeter-approved spraying for fungus with minimal copper use (1/3 amount as allowed by organic certifications), minimal plowing, excess vegetation is trimmed, otherwise the soil is left alone. All vineyard work and harvesting is done by hand.

Vinification: Depending on the vintage there will be a light crushing and gentle pressing or direct whole bunch pressing in a pneumatic press. Wines are fermented with native yeasts and raised in a combination of stainless steel, old oak Fuders and some used barriques, different wines will see various vessels based on yield and vintage character. Auslese wines are made from only from botrytised, never dried berries.