20213041_WGDE2021_ENGL

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Once you have tasted wines in the Nahe, you cannot stay away.
A repeat offender reports …
WORDS HEINZ KIRCHHOFF
Some things in life just seem to come
down to sorcery. In this case, of course,
wine has something to do with it.
Because once you have tasted wine in the
Nahe, you cannot stay away. And how does
a wine lover eventually end up in the Nahe?
Well, the roads to wine are intricate. My
version goes like this: In the past the white
wines of Burgundy inspired me. It was only
much later that I started my quest for the
German Riesling equivalent. I visited the
usual regions, tasted, discussed and
compared. In the end I found myself (and the
Riesling) in the Nahe. Why there, exactly?
What makes the Nahe so unique?
GEOLOGICAL PATCHWORK
Soil is the mother of wine and in the Nahe,
the soils shine with a geological speciality.
On the one hand, you could refer to this as
chaotic, on the other, however, it creates a
fantastic diversity of characteristics. No
other German region can boast such a
patchwork. Grey slate, rhyolite, shale and
volcanic soils like porphyry and melaphyr
take turns. While these different strata sit on
top of each other elsewhere, hidden deep
inside the planet, in the Nahe they all just sit
alongside each other on the surface. Jakob
Schneider, winemaker in Niederhausen, can
count up to fifty geological formations
within a few square kilometres. When you
get to taste the Rieslings - Löhrer Berg,
Krone, Königsschild, Karthäuser und Sankt
Remigiusberg made by Martin Tesch in
Langenlonsheim, these differences become
downright exemplary. Riesling is predestined
for “translating” soils. Even if wine does not
contain any active volatile compounds of
the soil itself, it is certain that different soil
types result in different perceptions of taste
and smell. And that is exactly what makes
284 falstaff Wine Guide Germany 2021