LOADING 10 POINTS PHILOSOPHY ...
To Achieve Greatness One Needs Sufficient Knowledge and a clear vision of what is possible. This is true with any authentic wine, not only those from the Mosel.
My staff and I are wine lovers as well as winemakers. We travel to the world's finest wine regions to taste their wines, especially those with an established international reputation.
These experiences help us to achieve a goal, a clear picture of the wines we create at our St. Urbans-Hof. Our view spans all aspects of winemaking, from selecting the best vines to the choice of closures for our bottles.
The demands we place upon ourselves begin and end with our motto 'quality with no compromise'. This is the genesis of our wines.
... and our wines are exclusively Riesling. This variety is perfectly suited for our region.
In 1787 the Prince Bishop of Trier, at the time the political authority in the region, issued a decree improving the region's wine which prohibited planting any varieties other than Riesling.
We agree that this insight, inextricably linking the Mosel and Riesling, was appropriate because the climate, topography, and soils of the greater Mosel-Saar-Ruwer region best accentuate the qualities for which great Riesling is known: elegance, lightness, finesse, and ageability.
Slate is a soil type found in precious few wine regions - but is widespread in Germany, especially in the Mosel valley.
The Riesling grape gains enormous structure and flavor when grown upon gray, red, or blue slate soils. This is because the friable slate releases its minerals easily to the vines, thereby giving the resultant wines a unique character.
This minerality gives structure and drinking pleasure to the wine allowing it to feel refined and silky, especially in conjunction with the residual sweetness.
The slate-iness binds the relatively high acidity from the Riesling grape with the natural sweetness found in Mosel Riesling wines.
One may look upon a vineyard simply as a 'production facility'; then it'd be enough merely to have a fertile soil and productive vines. What will be lacking in this instance will be a sense of typicity in the finished wine.
A classic vineyard may be likened to an old city which fascinates the visitor with its palaces, churches, classic and modern pubs/restaurants and public squares. The unique conglomeration of structures are integrated with a flair creating a holistic sense of 'place'. A classic vineyard--with its layers of soil, fine water rivulets, and vines of varying ages--is much the same.
Over the passage of time vines send their roots deep, better enabling them to slowly draw water up from the ground below to the vegetation above. Thus, older vines will have weak vigor which results in lower yields of higher quality. When this takes place there's little need for the intervention of yield reduction by the winegrower. The genetic material for Riesling at St. Urbans-Hof is very old. This is why we replace our vines only when they've died, our idea of 'eternal viticulture'. In some of our vineyard sites own-rooted vines (ungrafted) may be found of over 80 years of age.
A special combination of soil, microclimate, variety, caretaking, and human knowledge will finally express the unique character of a vineyard's origin in the taste of its wines. It's the mission of the winemaker to bring this terroir into the glass.
"Le vigne aime le soleil, mais plus encore l’ombre de son maître" is an old proverb of French winemakers that states poetically, yet clearly, that a good wine needs the sun but, even more, the maintenance of the vintner.
The attention of constant handiwork is necessary to get the best results from any vineyard and no less on ours. Soil cultivation on our steep slopes continues to be done with a hand-held hoe.
This care creates the best conditions for great wine. This work is necessary because great wines grow on great sites, an environment which cannot be ameliorated by even the most modern of cellar treaments.
I believe that our constant presence in our vineyards has an additional effect. The vines, being living organisms, sense our presence and they respond with better growth, better fruit.
The Mosel is a region which cannot be successful in the long-term with cheap wines. We've only two options:
either invest in our labor-intensive viticulture and produce such great wines that wine lovers the world over are willing to pay for or ... let goats graze on the hills.
In order to preserve the individual vineyard character, the flow of winemaking from the grape to the bottle must be as smooth and gentle as possible.
This is why, whenever possible, we refuse modern technology in favor of an adherence to traditional craftsmanship and natural methods.
This is how we preserve quality and character in our wines. How we bring this into the bottle to achieve the highest drinking pleasure. In the cellar we're minimalists.
The slower that a fermentation occurs the slower CO2 is released; a cool cellar is the ideal condition for slow fermentations because fruitiness will develop best in this manner.
This is how aromatic flavors can be retained in the wine. If, during fermentation, a good smell is present in the cellar then this will later be lacking in the wine. A little CO2 bound within the wine creates refreshment by enhancing the perception of acidity while helping to preserve the wine by displacing oxygen which would otherwise render it defenseless from the vagaries of premature aging. We eschew cultured yeasts in favor of spontaneous fermentations.
We refuse to add enzymes, synthetic fining agents, or other such chemicals.
We want our wines to find their own balance. Faith and patience are necessary components.
A Special Wine has a Special Character. The oldest, most classic wine regions produce wines with a singular character.
Like champagne's bubbles, the delicately sweet fruitiness of Mosel wine remains when yeasts don't fully ferment its sugars into alcohol. This naturally remaining sweetness makes our wine not only unmistakable from other wines of its type, but also has other advantages.
This environment ensures a naturally low level of alcohol offering immediate drinking pleasure without future regrets. The trio of residual sugar, crisp acidity, and minerality create a harmoniously juicy, fruity sensation.
As these wines mature, the primary sweetness recedes and the wine slowly finds its balance.
Additionally, the fine natural sweetness acts as a preservative, extending its aging potential. In optimal conditions the finest Mosel wines can age decades.
Germany is the only wine producing country which separates its wines into two distinct categories dictated by sugar levels at harvest
Before the 1971 revision of the German Wine Law, prädikat wines were rightly declared 'naturweine' (natural wines). Germany has created a stopgap for purity akin to the country's famous Beer Purity Law.
Provided the winery adheres to these proscriptions, the wine lover can rely upon this codified series of profiles. This is how we achieve clear wine categorization of: Kabinett--light and elegant with low alcohol. Spätlese--juicy/fruity character clearly showing a minerally expression.
Auslese--a mouthful of intensely sweet/sour character in a viscous, mouth-coating body with enormous aging potential. Beerenauslese--rare and intensely sweet with a varying 'noble rot' character. Trockenbeerenauslese--very rare and sweet with a unbeatable earth and 'noble rot' character--.
The best Mosel wines benefit exquisitely from the passage of time.
The best are usually enjoyed after an optimum amount of time spent aging in a cool, dark cellar. However, modern living denies most of us the ability to age the best wines properly but, if you can make this happen, it's worth it.
A young Mosel wine with its piquant acidity and primary fruit notes, exciting as it may be, can't compare its balance and wonderful fruitiness to its mature counterpart with refined and supple structure and an imcomparable flavor spectrum.
Just as with well-aged wines from other classic regions such as Burgundy and Bordeaux, Mosel wines are even more agreeable served with food than enjoyed alone. And, even more, their naturally higher acidity promotes digestion.