Mosel for a Riesling Newbie

Hi

I’m a fairly new wine enthusiast. Mostly been drinking Napa, Sonoma, and Burgundy wines. I will have a weekend to kill near Frankfurt, in about 3 weeks. I was seriously considering doing a day or two in the Mosel region to educate myself about the local wines. However, my question is, will it be wasted on me? I have not really tasted the wines from the region, and am the kind of wine drinker who doesn’t care about “gross” characteristics like high acid, low acid, sweet, dry, etc. - I enjoy complex wines, no matter the style (at least to the extent my palate permits).

From what little reading I’ve done, Mosel wines seem to be ones that are best appreciated aged. Given that, do wineries over there usually pour their latest vintages? Would that be a good representation of the type?

Thanks for any insight
Madhu

The Mosel is a beautiful area. Young Riesling can be profound.
I would suggest the Loosen winery. Also consider a river cruise.

Mosel wines were the first wines I ever liked. They are wonderful young for the beautiful fruit and wonderful older for the complexity. I have not visited there, but I drink a lot of wines from the region - my favorites producers are JJ Prum, Selbach, Reinhold Haart, and Schloss Lieser. If you get to the Saar, I love the wines from Zilliken and from the Ruwer the wines of von Schubert.

I would highly recommend it. You can get a good sense for the region in just one day.

This should be all you need:

Thanks for all the replies. Ok, the trip is ON then. I’ve armed myself with the guide referenced above, and some older trip reports.

Please enjoy and report back!

Wow. Just wow. What a trip!

Highlights - amazing hospitality, great scenery, oh and yeah, incredible wines.

I stayed 3 nights, at a super quiet Airbnb about 4km from the Bernkastel city center.

In chronological order:

Saturday
Martin Mullen
Met Martin himself, and his wife and son (who conducted a 1-on-1 tasting). Stayed about an hour, tasted mostly Trocken and Spatlese. Wonderful, patient 1-on-1 tasting. I won’t do tasting notes, as I don’t think I have the palate for it (yet), but all I’ll say is - YUM :slight_smile:. Walked away with 4 bottles, all kabinett - auslese

Rieslinghaus Porn
Amazing hospitality - spent a good 3-4 hours there just tasting and chatting with (the owner I believe) Ingrid and her staff. So educational. Fortuitously for me, they even had lil 'ol me taste 10 of their candidates for next month’s Wine Fest, to get a newbie’s point of view! I went back on my last day to pick up some older wines, just to see how Riesling ages.

Sunday
Self-guided hike - Maria Zill loop

6km, 450m vertical - about 3 leisurely hours for a reasonably fit person. Incredible views of forest, river, vineyards, meadows, and a beautiful descent through Bernkastel’s vineyards.


Vinothek
They have a cool system - 130 wine racks in the cellar, they hand you a glass and you can taste-all-you-want. A bit wasted on me, if I’m honest - it was information overload, but I did taste and buy a few bottles of what I felt were “classic” Mosel Rieslings - sweet, tart, slatey, in the 10-15 Euro range.

Schmitz-Bergweiler
I just walked in here on a whim - they were not on my list of wineries to visit, but were well-located, in the middle of Bernkastel’s pedestrian area. I just did the 20 Euro tasting, 5 wines of my choice - mostly focused on Icewine, BA and TBA. Didn’t really speak to me in terms of complexity so I didn’t buy anything

Monday
JJ Prum
A more formal tasting, 5 individuals (2 additional individuals were no shows), conducted at a table in a pretty room. I personally don’t think I have the capability to “appreciate” their more “elegant” and expensive style, but I picked up a couple that spoke to me:

  • 2007 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese
  • 2010 Graacher Himmelreich Spatlese (sadly, this one did not survive the trip home)

Reinhold Haart
A 1-on-1 tasting with the winemaker/owner - Johannes, for about 1 hour 15 mins, in a modern tasting room. I was the only one there at 1pm on a Monday in August. Only cut short because I had to leave for my next appointment. I can’t believe how generous he was with his time, and his wines - by my count he poured about 15 wines, and opened most of them fresh. I walked away with a couple of drier ones and also the '16 and '17 Ausleses.

Schloss Lieser
Again, a 1-on-1 tasting with the winemaker/owner - Thomas Haag, and his daughter. Tasted 13 wines, the first half being fairly dry (incl. GG), then Kabinetts and Spatlese, finally an Auslese or two. Stayed two hours, came away with a few bottles, mostly on the drier side.

In summary, I had one of my best wine country weekends, and this is from a SF/LA resident, who’s visited Napa/Sonoma numerous times, Niagara, and Champagne. Before I booked this trip, I’d never really tasted a Mosel wine. I was blown away by the hospitality, and the price-quality ratio of the wines. In total, I stuffed 27 bottles into my luggage, for a price of about 350-400 Euros. Thanks again to fellow berserkers for the encouragement, and for previous threads, which told me where to go.

Madhu

Glad we were able to give you the nudge to add this to your itinerary.
And if the 2007 Prum Weh Sonn Auslese spoke to you, then you certainly have a great beginner’s palate for Riesling.
Excellent that you were able to explore the whole range of pradikat.

How far in advance do you need to make appointments with these producers? I am thinking of going at the end of April/early May.
It sounds like they are pretty welcoming and generous with their time!