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

erich jakoby-mathy mosel • kinheim
I really want you to meet Stefan Jakoby, but you have to fly over there to do it. He’d gladly come
over here to present his wines; problem is, the lad ain’t old enough to drink in These Unites States.
At the moment he divides his time between the estate, where he works alongside his father
Erich, and a day-job in the Selbach office. But the young man’s absolutely nuts about wine, and
he has that infectious puppy energy some of us might remember from our own distant pasts.
Normally I taste Jakoby’s range in the tasting room at Selbach, but this year I was struck
enough by their ambitiousness that I scheduled a visit to Kinheim. Far too much was made of
this; it was my honor to visit, not theirs to receive me. But I was quite impressed and even roused
by what I tasted.
Long-time readers will know the connection
between Selbachs and Jakobys: Erich was cellarmaster at
Selbach for many years, until his father’s failing health
compelled a full-time return to the family winery. But
even then he stayed on with Selbachs on an ad-hoc basis,
and went on over-achieving in Kinheim.
If you go downstream from Uerzig-Erden you first
come to Lösnich and then to Kinheim. Most commentators
would say Kinheim constitutes a “decline” from the
Grand Cru continuum running from Bernkastel to Erden,
and I agree it does. Immediately behind the village
there’s a crazy-steep hump of hill formerly known as
Eulenlay which was considered first-class land in the
famous 19th-century classification for tax-assessments.
Stefan and Peter Jakoby
Behind it the slope undulates, sometimes steep, sometimes
gentle. The soil is lighter. Yet good Kinheimers are
scrupulously pure Mosel Rieslings on an everyday scale.
Overachievers such as Merkelbach and Jakoby will give
us incredible values.
One almost grows nostalgic. When I started out, my
modus operandi was to unearth just these kinds of
things; values from high-achievers in locales others had
overlooked. A then-competitor referred derisively to
•Vineyard area: 4.3 hectares
•Annual production: 4,000 cases
•Top sites: Kinheimer Rosenberg
•Soil types: Slate
• Grape varieties: 90% Riesling, 10% Spätburgunder
“Theise’s little growers”, many of whom have since
become the superstars of the modern scene. Erich
Jakoby’s wines were already very good — he took Selbach
methods and applied them to wines which seldom
receive such exalted care (much to his father’s consternation)
— but Stefan seems determined to take it even farther.
And why not? Who knows what Kinheim can show
when a young hottie is hellbent on letting it show? Not to
mention what is possible from a great Mosel vintage . . .
The very first wine he gave me was a wackoid Pinot
Noir from `05 with 14% alc (from the frigid little Mosel)
and two months in American oak. He then showed me
two wines that, without exaggeration, amazed me.
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MOSEL WINES