German Catalog 2006 USE THIS ONE.qxp - Michael Skurnik Wines

96
nahe wines
It is a joy to labor lovingly on behalf of what I feel to be the loveliest Riesling wines on the face
of the earth.
You know, the Rhineland is really quite compact. You can get to the Nahe in a half-hour from
the Rheingau, a half-hour from the Rhinehessen, an hour from the Pfalz, and an hour from the
Mosel. Yet the Nahe is the forgotten acre just out of view, trilling beyond earshot in its winsome,
lonely corner. Especially after the soaring scenery of the Mosel, the dreamy Nahe is almost narcotically
soothing. It’s still, and intimate, and stirs the soul as it calms the nerves.
Things feel astir on the Nahe these days. Mr. Dönnhoff has brought acclaim to his region, and
a number of excellent growers are in the slipstream of that attention; Schönleber, Hexamer,
Schäfer-Fröhlich, not to mention Mr. Diel, who is in nobody’s slipstream. A case could be made that
no other German wine region has the Nahe’s concentration of outstanding estates in a similarly
small area. The region is also especially lovely for wine
pilgrims because it remains quiet and authentic. In contrast
to the Pfalz, where every weekend from Easter to
harvest is cram-a-lama with gawkers and slug-it-downers.
At least there’s one place on earth wine lovers can go
to get away from it all. There are no billboards here, no
wine trains, no neon “DEGUSTATION-VENTE” or “VIS-
The least of Nahe wines are refined
and delicate, with a feline grace. The
best of them are the beating heart of
Riesling, as fine as it can possibly be.
ITEZ LES CAVES!” signs. You can hear a breeze rustling
through trees in the next orchard before it reaches the one
in which you’re sitting. There’s a constant clamor of
birds. Signs by the side of the road warn of frog crossings.
You wouldn’t drive fast even if you could.
The least of Nahe wines are refined and delicate,
with a feline grace. The best of them are the beating heart
of Riesling, as fine as it can possibly be: intricate, searchingly
complex, with hypnotically shimmering overtones
of flavor that can stir you to a point between perplexity
and awe. Good Nahe Riesling is slim but not scrawny,
with a succulence that seems to magically glaze the
palate, coolly elegant and spectrally multifaceted. If the
pure flavor of wine interests you in and of itself, these
wines will give you as much delight and absorption as
wine ever can.
There are four basic soil types in the Nahe. Each gives
its own kind of wine. Slate does what it always does; the
Nahe variant has more middle, almost like a super rich
Saar wine. Rotliegend, our old friend from Nierstein, gives
smoky, tangy wines along Nierstein lines but more compact,
with an ethereal redcurrant taste and a cool marbeline
feel. Loam and clay are the plebians, mostly planted to the
commoner varieties, though even these varieties are more
fetchingly graceful along the Nahe. Finally the volcanic
soils with the exotic names: porphyry, melaphyre, gneiss,
rhyolite, give the world’s most spellbinding white wine,
Riesling at an impossible pinnacle of fire and grace.
Blackcurrant, honeysuckle, raspberry, a heavenly host of
flavors astonishingly differentiated and an almost prismatically
filigree.
Several years ago, while I was with a group of customers,
we had a nice alfresco lunch along the Nahe with
Helmut Dönnhoff. After we finished eating, people
began rising from the table and stretching. Helmut set
out on a walk between rows of vines. I followed. We were
in the Oberhäuser Brücke, a small, one hectare site along
the river. It is longer than it is wide, and I followed
Helmut as we walked, heads bent, silently. Finally after
Good Nahe Riesling is slim but not
scrawny, with a succulence that seems
to magically glaze the palate, coolly
elegant and spectrally multifaceted.
having walked perhaps a hundred yards, we reached the
end of the row. Helmut stopped, and turned to face me.
He was grinning from ear to ear, and by then, so was I.
We returned to the group and I beckoned them to follow
me. The exercise was repeated, this time with eight of
us walking one behind the other—we looked like a chain-