We wake up in Franken, it's day four and we have appointments at both Horst Sauer and Rudolph Furst. The first is regarded as one of the finest white producers in Germany, while Furst is regarded as one of the finest Red producers. We arrive at Escherndorf's "Lump" vineyard, a majestic horseshoe sweep of vineyard, on time. Sandra and Horst meet us. After a brief tour of their newly modernised winery we are once again shown the depth of quality in 2009; from the driest of Rieslings to a 300g/l Sylvaner Eiswein. Their wines are the purest and most complex expressions of riesling from the limestone soil.
Appointment number two, Furst. The first time we've been to the estate and our focus is on their much lauded Pinot Noirs. The red sandstone slopes of the Main have had Pinot planted here since the 1600s and today the Furst esate comprises 10ha of Pinot Vines in two separate vineyards; Centgrafenburg and Klingenburger. These are very pure wines with high levels of elegance and clarity, with a quiet intensity to the morello cherry fruit and delicate haunting length.
