The day's tasting began at Willi Schaefer where we were met by the charming Christophe Schaefer.
In tasting our way through a beautiful set of wines from the Himmelreich and Domprobst vineyards in the village of Graach we discovered great "ripeness and structure but also fantastic ripe acidity". We came away stuck by their finesse, elegance and purity. An estate doing great things.
On route to Maximin Grunhaus we stopped at Reinhold Haart to taste his wonderful Piesport Goldtropfchens. A vineyard reknowned for producing some of the richest and most opulent wines in the Mosel, the 2009s are exotic but not without refinement, their richness and almost Rheingau-esk power coming from the soft slate soils and sunbaked aspect of the site.
Lunch beckoned but not before we climbed out of the Mosel valley and over to the Ruwer for all 20 wines in Carl von Schubert's stable. Daunted we began, but it wasn't long before we were totally immersed in a thoroughly impressive set of wines. The "dry" Abtsberg Superior (allowed to ferment to its natural conclusion) was powerful, balanced and intense. The top quality sweeter wines that followed were punctuated by the particular highs of the Abtsberg Kabinett, a Herrenerg Auslese of profound minerality and a final pair of incredible, showstopping Eisweins.
The post lunch session was filled by Karthauserhof, a short drive across the village. Christophe Tyrell was on hand, describing the wines as "a little bit of 2007, a little bit of 2005 and a little bit of 2003, maybe 40%, 40% and 20%". We took this to mean as a seriously balanced vintage. Which is exactly what we tasted.
Last but by no means least was our trip to Zilliken, in Saarburg. The great Rausch vineyard showing Wonderful ripeness and good true steely character; a superb trio of Kabinet, Spatlese and Ausleses.
Tomorrow the Nahe...
