Winery:Von Hövel

Vintage: 2007

Region: Saar, Germany

Vineyard: Scharzhofsberg

Varietal: Riesling

Average Price: €10

Tasting Notes: This is a wine that will give you a zen-experience when you drink it. Scharzhofsberg Kabinett from Von Hövel is an excellent, straight forward world class riesling for around 10 euros! On the nose it has elderflower, citrus and delicious honey, and the palate shows a slight sweetness which is perfectly integrated with the hint of lemon fruits and a creamy yet very fresh acidity. And the taste goes on forever

A little impressions from Saar:The vineyards of Saar are dominated by slate. Sharzhofsberg is dominated with blue slate, which gives the wines an excellent crisp acidity which need just a hint of sweetness and at least a year or two to get integrated in the wines. And when you find producers like Von Hövel, who completely understands how to integrate the classic Riesling sweetness, the Saar rieslings are some of the best wines in the world. I’ve certainly found myself a new love in the world of wine! You should go there, the people are fantastic and the wines even better.

Rating: 3.5 tastevins (Super Value, Party!, No Oak)

Last month we left the city for the weekend to gorge ourselves on the best wines made in New York State.  My girlfriend Amanda and I had been invited to spend some time in the Finger Lakes, starting with a vertical tasting of Hermann J Wiemer Rieslings from ’99-’08 hosted by the winemaker, Fred Merwarth and Oskar Bynke the estate manager.  Fred has been at the winery for nine years gradually taking over full winemaking responsibilities and Oskar worked there as an intern for two years after working in the wine industry in NYC.  Hermann was looking to retire and lacking any natural heirs struck a favorable deal a few years ago to have the winery sold/passed down to his vigneron protege and his impish former intern.  These are not the most well known wines of the region necessarily (that is changing) but they are far and away the benchmark and are almost solely responsible for the legitimacy of the Finger Lakes AVA.

The winery was established in 1979 on the west side of Seneca Lake.  There are seven lakes in region which are long, narrow and incredibly deep.  This is the reason the vines can survive the harsh NY winters in that the depth of the lake actually prevents it from freezing and protects the the area up to just over a mile from it’s shore.

Wow… visting this region is not only about wine, it definitely comes with an endless amount of history classes! Very impressive and stunning Schloss Reinhartshausen in the small town of Erbach in the “Rheingau” region!! Admirable with which deep knowledge, imense professionalism and certain pride Mr. Bibo (Managing Director) and his team lead the place, make amazing wines, carry on this huge task and tradition the castle carries with itself. It is difficult to put in words, but I am going to try anyways….

Brand: Hattenheimer Wisselbrunnen

Winery: Schloss Reinhardtshausen

Vintage: 2007

Varietal: 100% Riesling

Winery: Zind-Humbrecht

Vintage: 2006

Appellation: Alsace (Clos Hauserer)

Varietal: Riesling

Oak: No

Average Price: €40

Recently, I met with Sofia Thanisch, the owner and proprietor of Wwe. Dr H. Thanisch-Erben Thanisch to taste her 2007 Rieslings. Thanisch is one of the top producers in Germany and the main vineyard, Berncastler Doctor, has been held up as the German equivalent of Romanee-Conti. It could be considered the most expensive piece of vineyard land in the world (yes, more than Le Montrachet) based on the price paid the last time any land was sold within the vineyard (1908) when 100 gold Deutsche Marks were paid per SQUARE METER when vines were planted one to the square meter. The label may be the most iconic in all of Germany. The vineyard itself overlooks the Mosel, facing south-southwest and at more than a sixty degree slope making harvest a difficult, almost a dangerous proposition. These wines are made in varying quantities every year, between 100-700 cases, depending on the ripeness of the grapes both from the Berncastler Doctor vineyard and the surrounding Bernkastler Badstube. Just a quick comment on the “c” versus the “k” in Berncastler…the vineyard labels for Berncastler Doctor were registered in 1904 hence the “c” versus the true German “k” both in Berncastler and Doctor. This is why you see variation when the wines are written up using “k”. Thanisch uses a “k” in Bernkastler Badstube. Again, German wine labels are easy…