VIEW FROM THE CELLAR - Keller Wein

array of dry wines. Like the noble sweet wines, the best examples of dry 2009ers offer up
a purity of fruit expression, an utterly refined and elegant sense of balance, superb depth
and simply breathtaking transparency and precision of soil expression. And this is true in
regions that have been hotbeds of superb dry riesling winemaking such as the
Rheinhessen and Nahe (I did not get to any estates in either the Rheinpfalz or Rheingau
on this visit), but also in more surprising places such as the Saar and the middle Mosel.
There are some simply great dry rieslings on the way from 2009!
I should take a moment at the outset of this article to apologize for only covering
the wines from twelve estates in this vintage report. I would have loved to have visited
more estates on this trip, but I also had tasting trips to Burgundy and Bordeaux booked
for my March circuit, and given the daunting length of time that I was scheduled to be on
the road with a family waiting back in New York, I could just not envision adding more
days to the itinerary. While my visits included a veritable “who’s who” of the best
producers in Germany, given its small number, it invariably left out a great many estates
that are worthy of visiting and tasting “sur place”. I can only send out my sincere
apologies both to subscribers who may not see notes on some of their favorite estates in
the feature and to the very serious winemakers in various regions of Germany that I
could not get to on this trip. Foremost amongst the latter category are the proprietors
and winemakers at two of my absolute favorite estates in the middle Mosel, Weingut
Schloss Lieser in Lieser and Weingut Fritz Haag in Brauneberg. Both domaines are
making simply fantastic wines these days (with many reports circulating that the Schloss
Lieser 2009ers are amongst the greatest wines produced in Germany this year- a rumor I
cannot confirm or deny right now, but which I intend to verify as soon as I can sink my
teeth into some of their wines from this vintage), and it is really a pity that I could not
schedule appointments to taste at either estate this year.
The problem is that my palate simply fatigues far faster each day tasting through
young German wines than it does with any other type of wine, and consequently, I cannot
schedule as many estates each day as I can in a region such as Burgundy for instance. I
know that there are some tasters who can handle more appointments per day in
Germany, and my hat is off to them, but it is simply not possible for me. So rather than try
and fake accurate notes with a blown out palate, I simply had to keep my appointments to
three or four per day- which is already a whole lot of tasting in a high acid vintage such
as 2009! But at least this (slightly) more limited schedule allows me to give the proper
attention to each vigneron’s wines, and this seems to be the only appropriate approach to
my mind, given the amount of work each passionate winemaker and vineyard worker
extends over the entire season in these unbelievably steep vineyards to produce the
magical wines that are to be found in this vintage. These people spend their entire year
completely devoted to the ultimate quality of the grapes of the season (this is at least the
case at Germany’s finest estates), so that they can make the best possible wines that
nature allows in any given year. To disrespect their yearly efforts by only asking to taste
a limited range of their offerings, skipping lower level bottlings or certain varietals,
seems to me to be the ultimate in effrontery. I would much rather cast my net less wide
and try to approach my “métier” with some modicum of the seriousness which they
display sliding around all year in these steep slate hillsides.