It was the phone call late at night, that I didn’t want. But the one I dreaded could come sooner rather than later. Yet it was an equally hard blow no matter if it would have come now or much later.
My laughter is gone. Memomentarily. Because life must and indeed does go on. But at least for now, I would like to come to a standstill, take a pause and reflect on my loss. Two outstanding winemakers lost their father, so their loss is so much greater and deeper than mine. But I lost a dear friend. An old friend. Wilhelm, I will miss you dearly.
Wilhelm Haag, 1937 - 2020.
You have left such a void in my heart. And as many people might recognise in their own life and similar situations, you have left me with a regret that I didn’t sit down with you even more often, just to explain what your friendship has meant to me. I think we should all reflect on the people we have in our surroundings, that we perhaps haven’t told them what they really mean to you. If not before, please take the chance now while you still have it. That’s my take home message from this.
It’s been some sad days of reflections, thinking about how empty it will feel coming back to Mosel, my home away from home, with you Wilhelm not being there to greet me with your wit and your smile. But I have decided that I will not remember you with only tears but with a smile and joy for the very fact that I had the opportunity to call you my friend. And for the many moments of laughter and sheer happiness I have spent in your company. I’m actually happy for you (once I wipe off my tears). Because you lived a good life, you were surrounded by good people and you experienced both ordinary days of work, moments of success and you’ve had your share of adventures - oh don’t you worry - I know all about them, because I’ve been gossiping with your friend Helmut Dönnhoff for hours and hours - and listened to stories about your travels. I have no idea how you were as a father, but just by knowing your two sons, Oliver (Fritz Haag) and Thomas (Schloss Lieser) tells me you have succeeded because I see the same humor, warmth and kind generosity in both of them. In fact, in your entire family.
So what have you been to me? And WHO is Wilhelm?
I will tell you who. The successful, world-renowned winemaker of Weingut Fritz Haag who made wines of utter elegance and beauty, wines that defied gravity and wines I fell in love with. Which was also the reason why I, together with my best friend Sverker, knocked on your doors many times. To do what? To ask for a tasting. And what did you do? You always had time, you opened your wines generously and allowed us to taste whatever was produced, be it entry level wines or the the most brilliant and rare top-end wines. And it wasn’t just the wines. You offered us so much more - your generosity with your…time. You sat down for hours and explained, told stories, shared your knowledge and your burning passion for Riesling. I think you saw that same passion in us too and subsequently during our many encounters as our relationship slowly turned from nerdy wine geeks visiting anually, to a close, personal friendship.
This friendship continued and by now - since long - I’ve lost count on the many times we have met each year, either just for a quick ‘Hi’ and sometimes for a tasting, or just sharing a glass with some mandatory gossip. And Wilhelm, there are so many STORIES about you I would like to share to those less fortunate who haven’t met you in person but who have always enjoyed your lovely Rieslings from the Brauneberger hill in Mosel. And you know what? I will share them all to the public. Helmut Dönnhoff’s stories from your travels together, like that time in Asia, or - my favourite - in Mendoza, Argentina, when you went to that restaurant for a dinner, twice. And how the second evening turned out so much differently compared to the day before. Or your bone-crushing handshake. I still remember the first years when I had trouble writing tasting notes after shaking hands with you. My hand felt numb. Or that time at the party the evening before Mythos Mosel, at Schloss Lieser (the castle, not the weingut), when you, my friend, soon pushing 80s but was still the one with most energy. People were dancing, drinking, chatting, eating and in the midddle of it all, there you were, with your constant youthful energy, with your laughter and your warmth, always time to sit down for a chat. I will tell stories about my favourite prank on you whenever we met at Mainzer Weinbörse, at the pre-tasting of the VDP auction in Trier, or whenever we met at Dönnhoff’s vintage presentation. Always the same, whenever I happened to see you standing by a table where other winemakers were pouring you their wine, I sneaked from behind, put my arms around you an whispered to the winemaker at the other side of the table, asking them to PLEASE NOT pour too much wine, because this gentleman had some difficulties holding his liquor - with you each and every time turning around with surprise and shouting out when you recognised me, wanting to chase me away. Or how you always asked me for money (jokingly) whenever I took a photo of you. Or just observing how you were the antimatter warp core with endless of energy whenever Oliver had his vintage presentation of Weingut Fritz Haag, but with you being the hardest working man in showbiz, never sitting still for a moment, always making sure the glasses were filled with wine.
I’m so sad when trying to write these words, Wilhelm, but I m u s t share these memories. Like when you phoned me in Stockholm and asked me to visit you in Germany to do a photo project for that museum of wine in Bordeaux. I spent most of the day with you, shooting photos from every angle and I still remember when you told me I need to see that spot high above in the Braunemberg, close to the sun dial, where the grapes always turned into those golden berries. Almost 80 years old of age, you jumped up the ultra-steep stairs in the vineyard like a mountain goat and I told you to keep it slow because I was loosing my breath. Or the day when I visited the Oliver at the weingut with a group of friends, and you happened to come by and you asked some of my friends, who were commenting on your delicious wines and asking about the sparkling minerality, and you asked them "Yes, but haven’t you been to the Brauneberg vineyard? You have to TASTE the soil to understand it!". No, they replied, they hadn’t been there. "That’s it!, Wilhelm shouted out. “You’re going with me! Let’s meet in the vineyard!”, he screamed out, sat into his car and droove off, with me clinging behind him with a van full of surprised and eager wine nerd friends. And there, to the awe and amazement of my friends, you walked them through the vineyard and explained and shared your passion and kneeled down, took up some slate gravel in his hands, reached out to my friends and asked them to each take a pinch and taste the soil. And they did. And it was magic. One but many precious moments I want to share with you, passionate fellow wine aficionados out there who love the wines of Weingut Fritz Haag. So please stay tuned.
For now, I’m just trying to cope with this void you left behind but I opened a bottle of wine made by your hands, the 1993 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese AP 15; smooth, delicate, noble, layers upon layers of dried tropical fruits mixed with spices and so utterly delicious. A fine way to remember you, my dear friend. I have promised to fill my sadness with memories of you. All of them.
If anyone out there has a story about Wilhelm, about his wines or memories from a personal encounter, please share them here.
I always called you the same thing - the perennial teenager of Mosel. You are and always will be. But above all, you belong to one of those very rare people in life I wholeheartedly call Ein Mensch.
Rest in peace up there in the heavens. I will never forget you, Wilhelm.
Miran