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

schlossgut diel
nahe • burg layen
This year I want to broaden the offering. Some of the new items are still awkwardly priced in
this weak-Dollar era (can’t Armin Diel use his considerable influence and resourcefulness with
the central banks?? I mean, after all . . .) but I’m showing more of the range as a kind of tribute.
It is very rare indeed to encounter a domain whose work is marked by such consistent intelligence
across a variety of styles. It brings Bründlmayer to mind, actually, and not at all because
Diel’s cellarmaster Christof Friedrich has a voice identical to Willi Bründlmayer’s.
Armin Diel believes 2005 is the greatest vintage in his estate’s history. Yes, he said the same
about 2003. So OK, `03 becomes the 2nd-best vintage in the estate’s history. Ten, fifteen, twenty,
thirty years from now I’ll meet you there and we can see
which one really delivers the goods. Me, I just hope I get
to drink plenty of both. And I sense 2005 will, at every
point of its life, show just a little more vinosity and thickness,
and that 2003 will evolve an even more exquisite,
pure fruit.
I don’t deal in a prioris, and I’m a lousy tactician. I
never sat down and said “I will make a specialty of catching
the rising stars before anyone knows them,” yet in
many cases this is what I’ve done. Dönnhoff, Hexamer,
Rumpf, Weingart, Catoir, Meßmer, Leitz, Spreitzer,
Christoffel, Schaefer, Adam (if he opts to continue!),
Karlsmühle; all were relatively “obscure” when I began
importing their wines, and all are Big Names now. This is
satisfying because I share-at least a tiny part-in the
achievement.
Thus my representing
Schlossgut Diel constitutes
a departure, and
will ramify in unpredictable
ways. For it’s the
first time a superstarestate
has entered this
portfolio with its reputation
already established.
The first thing to tell
you is: the wines are stellar.
That’s not a word I
casually throw around.
Schlossgut Diel belongs
in the class of the elite.
The wines will wow you.
Armin occupies an
unprecedented position
in the wine world. He is
proprietor of his estate
on the Nahe, and he is
perhaps the most influ-
Armin Diel
ential wine writer in
Germany. Imagine if Bob
Parker owned one of the 1st-Growth Bordeaux: just like
that. Needless to say neither Armin nor his colleagues
•Vineyard Area: 17 hectares
•Annual Production: 10,000 cases
•Top Sites: Dorsheimer Goldloch,
Pittermännchen and Burgberg
•Soil Types: loam and gravel over rocky
subsoil, quartzite and slate
•Grape Varieties: 65% Riesling,
20% Grauburgunder, 10% Spätburgunder,
5% Weissburgunder
writing for the same books or magazines review the
wines of Schlossgut Diel, which is why the name doesn’t
appear on the various lists of estate “classifications.” But
of course there’s a meta-message: “The man is such an
expert, imagine how good his own wines must be.” The
ethics of the situation are quite sophisticated to American
sensibilities, yet behind it all are the wines themselves.
The rieslings hail most importantly from a trio of contiguous
Grand Crus: Goldloch on thin loam and gravel
over a rocky subsoil, Burgberg on quartzite, and
Pittermännchen on Hunsrück slate. “The age of the vines
are similar in the three sites, the microclimates are similar
in the three sites, only a few meters separate them from
one another, yet they are entirely different based on terroir,”
say Armin and his cellar-master Christoph Friedrich.
These two have an admirably close working relationship.
Indeed it’s a pleasure to see the penetration and flexibility
of their mutual intelligence. Of course we rapped
about the usual wine stuff, but at one point Armin interrupted
to say “We do this and we do that, but most
important is that all indications are in question every
year, there is no monolithic recipe to ‘make’ wines year
by year. Each vintage asks different questions than the
previous one. I’m really thrilled to have a sensible guy
like Christoph who can play in both major and minor
keys.” Quite so. In effect there is very little in the “hard”
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NAHE WINES