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from the sound of the slate

the vintages

Mail from the winery

40 years of Heymann-Löwenstein! What a number! Fortunately, we didn't need as long as the good Moses did when he left Egypt and after 4 years we were able to drive our 4 pioneering stakes in Winningen: terrace vineyards, ecology, dry Rieslings and a classification of the vineyards.
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February 2020 the anniversary

März 2019

wie im schönen Lande Kanaan

The fact that authentic vineyard flavors are so rare these days is thanks to the many dubious blessings of modernity. The fact that it was not the rule a hundred years ago is due to the medieval “Little Ice Age”. In the shadow of a few, legendary exceptional vintages, green, unripe grapes have been harvested too often since the 16th century. Therefore, even if the current climate change with heat, drought, storm and hail constantly presents us with new challenges: We harvest mature pigeons every year! Elementary basis for wines that not only taste good, but also convey a cultural message: The singularity of the slate, the exciting taste of petrified, 400 million year old tropical seabeds.

January 2018 anachronism or avant-garde? "Without a full harvester and the use of industrial technology including synthetic aids, viticulture is no longer feasible in many cases. Presumably only 5% of the German wine harvest is harvested by hand today, with all the consequences that this has for the quality, which is average at best no wine as I understand it. The vintners are auxiliary gardeners and they determine the upstream and downstream industry. The vine-planted vineyards and the proverbial sea of vines have nothing to do with ecological diversity. What an idiocy of land use that is on long-term avenge. "Even if the style reminds you, the quote does not come from an old leaflet from student days but from the" Weinwirtschaft ", the most renowned German industry publication. And yes, editor-in-chief Dr. Pilz is right: Viticulture is firmly established in the Hand of technology and chemistry. And what about the market? For a few years an endless stream of money flows into start-ups . Golden medals and highest points promise organoleptic nirvana in full-page advertisements for € 8.50. The annual losses in the millions - it doesn't matter. The main thing is sales. And then at some point the address file will be sold ... chemistry, technology, discounts ... Is it right that we are not going here? Can we afford not to bring 'silent partners' on board in order to double the operating area? Not to trade in cheap wines bought in to compensate for the high costs in the terraces? One of our interns from Bordeaux reports that visionary scenarios with well under 100 hours of work per hectare are being developed at the university. Less than 300 are already a reality in modern viticulture. Quality-oriented top wineries take around 700 hours. The labor-intensive steep slope viticulture is - without a harvesting machine - over 1000. With us it is more than 2000 hours per hectare. "The poor winemakers ..." Stop! Here is not subliminal pressure on the pity gland! We are proud of our traditional winemaking craft. And we stand by our high costs, our cultural standards and the price level of our wines. We love working in the vineyard. Unruly, hard and frosty in winter, then a light, delicate spring awakening, a shy, highly sensitive bloom and finally irrepressible growth in threatening thunderstorms and shimmering summer heat ... Until the harvest in autumn, every vine requires many, many sensitive contacts. Basically we are more gardeners than farmers, too often and too individual is the intensive encounter with every single plant. But we also like to slip into the role of the medieval master mason. Without mortar, stone on stone ... In love with the aesthetics of the new vineyard wall, which will give the mountain hold for the next centuries and a home for the lizards and snakes. We pride ourselves on the care of our barren rock soils, in which countless microbes work to convert the slate down to the deepest soil layers. Year after year, we spread tons of shale to protect the soil from erosion and drying out. Fantastic, our age-old, real-root vines, which develop a completely new vitality through 'gentle pruning'. Fantastic, the diversity of flora on walls and rocks, the shy snakes, the tumbling flutter of the rare Apollo butterfly. And in between the laughter of the many young people from different countries who, besides their hard work, have a lot of nonsense in their heads and party together. Of course, such a concept was and is not easy. But every year it bears more fruit. Because there is a worldwide growing market for 'dropouts' from the globalized world of taste optimization. In the search for authentic products, more and more people develop strong resistance to sophisticated advertising strategies and also rely on their own brains and hearts when choosing a wine. An exemplary concept is found in the classics of marketing literature: buy cheap fats and colors, produce face cream and lipsticks and then sell hope and dreams. What luck that there is another way! In the vineyard, in the cellar and in sales. It's about craft and culture, sustainability and transparency. It's about joy and real enjoyment.

March 2017 Sarah Löwenstein

March 2017 Tell me quando - tell me when ... When will it be like before? Hopefully never. But that the viticulture in the terraces is really worthwhile again, that the top wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhine and Moselle are not only mentioned in the same breath, but also realize the same prices as a hundred years ago ... Not a bad idea! "Tell me quando ... let's dream ...", Caterina Valente sang in 1962 in her wonderfully kitschy Bossa Nova. And yes, dreaming is important. But also tackle! Example Uhlen, our favorite vineyard. The division into the three subappellations Blaufüßer Lay, Laubach and Roth Lay has finally been legitimized by the German side. With admittedly growing impatience, we are now waiting for the blessing from Brussels to write a piece of wine-growing history with the “first German appellations controllées”: For the first time, the name of the vineyard not only promises a certain origin, but also guarantees strict production criteria: high planting density '100% Riesling, higher maturity, traditional vinification ...' We are also making good progress with the renovation of our vineyard walls. We have rebuilt over 100 cubic meters of dry stone walls in recent years. Our employees are now true masters of their trade and are envied everywhere! 'The next big construction site in Uhlen: to motivate as many colleagues as possible to plant the terraces lying fallow at the edge of the forest so that the unique amphitheater can shine again in its old beauty. The question arises again and again: When should our wines be drunk? Well, in general, the taste evolves from primary fruit to herbs and minerality. As beautifully simple and correct as this sentence is - it is not very suitable for everyday use. In addition to slate terraces and Röttgen, which are always underlaid with juicy fruit aromas, there are wines in which peach, passion fruit & Co. can rarely be associated. When we think of blue slate and Uhlen Blaufüßer Lay, we tend to think of cool stones. The Kirchberg often has a salty-maritime effect, Stolzenberg has something warm, but is just as fleeting and hot. We experience the Uhlen Laubach slightly smoky and the Uhlen Roth Lay it is again wet stones with hints of violets and liquorice. But is that true? The way in which wine freaks connoted in an insider tongue project their oenological soul life into the wine is certainly neither universal wisdom nor reproducible for everyone. But does this language have to be learned at all? Isn't wine more of an organoleptic Rorschach test, an emancipation drug that invites free association? 'In addition to the vineyards, the character of the vintage also plays a decisive role when it comes to the optimal drinkability. In our “cool” climate in particular, no two years are alike. With 2011, 2012 and - as it currently looks - 2016, we have wines that seduce young people with harmonious fruit, the opposite poles in 2014 and 2015 are of rather rugged beauty. Here the minerality in all its facets is currently in the foreground - the youthful wines sound like free jazz ... In general, the harmony: As a meal accompaniment, wine should "harmonize" with the food. It can now be such that it forms a flavourful antipole, for example a fruity Röttgen with salty goat cheese or Indian curry, or the aromas and haptics of the two actors come together in order - the dream of all connoisseurs - to animate each other to culinary heights. Quite different in wine tasting - especially when tasting “blind”. Here it is mostly the young wild ones who tear you off your stool. It takes a practiced tongue to start a wine tasting with the louder, extroverted wines and then slowly approach the calmer and much more complex, more mature wines. The main pillars of acidity, sweetness, spiciness and bitterness, which are dominant in youth, are so interwoven that something qualitatively new has emerged. Both in the nose and on the palate. Fascinating aromas and haptics, a rather speechless but exciting fantasy journey into the archaic world of smell and taste. Wine! A plea for waiting, for allowing it to mature. “For God's sake, no!” The internal business economist speaks up. “Don't bunker, but drink and ideally come back tomorrow! And who is investing so much money in wine, who has the discipline and who has enough space! ”Okay. Let's make a compromise. Perhaps a good wine cellar can manage with a few fewer bottles without the gods being angry. And maybe “young” will be enjoyed and a few bottles will still go to the back corner of the cellar. What a feeling of happiness! The first samples of the new 2016 vintage are in the glass in the cellar. Fantastic! Forget the caterpillars in Uhlen and Röttgen, the hail in Kirchberg and Stolzenberg. Forget the torrential rains, the fungus-causing tropical climate in early summer. Forget the dry August with 38 ° C and sun-burned grapes, the hours of sorting out during the grape harvest. The nascent wine shines from the glass in a conciliatory manner. A warm, liberating feeling. Every barrel a pleasure, every vineyard a personality with a strong character! Yes, it tastes like a vintage with depth, tastes of fine fruit, of full and charming maturity.

Januar 2016

Bruchsteinmauern und Blindreben

Was, liebe Freunde unserer Weine, was war das für eine Hitze und Trockenheit! 50% gelbe Blätter mitten im August. Herbstverfärbung im Hochsommer! Wo soll das enden? Nein, ich schreibe nicht über 2015. Ich schreibe über Jahre wie 1990, 1997 und 1999. Jahrgänge, in denen es beileibe nicht so heiß und trocken daher ging wie in 2015.

Und trotzdem begann die Blattverfärbung im vergangenen Jahr – grad‘ wie sich’s gehört – Ende Oktober und bescherte uns bis weit in den November eine gold-gelb patinierte Terrassenlandschaft. 2015, das Jahr der glücklichen Winzer! Optimal reife Trauben mit endlich auch wieder einmal einer normalen Erntemenge. Aber wie passt das zum Wassermangel? Die zwar knappe und trotzdem stimmige Antwort lautet: konsequenter Verzicht auf „Kunstdünger“, konsequente Humuswirtschaft. Und warum?

Als sich unsere Vorfahren vor vielen Jahrhunderten anschickten, an den steilen Felshängen Weinberge anzulegen, hieß es „kräftig in die Hände spucken.“ Nicht nur, dass es hier so steil ist, dass man kaum stehen kann, es gibt auch kaum Erde, in die man die Reben pflanzen kann. Der Weinberg will erst einmal geschaffen werden! Das Verbrennen von Büschen und Hecken ist noch verhältnismäßig einfach. Dem folgt die schwierige Kunst des Mauerbaus – notwendig, um durch Terrassierung die Steilheit des Hangs zu bezwingen. Der Schiefer macht es einem als Sedimentgestein relativ leicht, Steine an Ort und Stelle zu brechen. Entlang der Maserung wird mit Hammer und Meißel ein Schlitz geschlagen in den trockene Keile aus Eichenholz getrieben werden. Gut gewässert und mit feuchtem Moos und Erde abgedeckt wird so der Fels über Nacht zu Steinen gesprengt. Und der Mauerbau kann beginnen. Stein auf Stein – natürlich ohne Mörtel! Mit dem Wachsen der Mauer wird der bergseitig entstehende Raum mit allem, was zur Verfügung steht, aufgefüllt: Kleinere Steine, Erde, Gras und Gestrüpp. Ist die Mauer – je nach Hangneigung oft erst nach mehreren Metern – hoch genug, wird der Boden zum Schutz vor Erosion mit Schiefer-Schotter abgedeckt. Und am oberen Ende der Terrasse kann mit dem Bau der nächsten Mauer begonnen werden.

Vielleicht ist es mittlerweile aber auch schon Frühjahr geworden und die Arbeit muss auf den Winter verschoben werden. Jetzt ist Pflanzzeit! Traditionell – oft noch bis in die 50er Jahre – mit sogenannten Blindreben. Frisch aus dem einjährigen Holz geschnittenen Reben werden sie ohne vorgetrieben zu sein in den Boden gesteckt – und damit sie in dem groben Stein-Erde-Gemisch nicht vertrocknen wie ein Sandwich in ausgestochene feuchte Waldwiese eingepackt. Zusätzlich zu dem in tiefen Bodenschichten eingebrachten Gestrüpp also noch einmal eine Menge organisches Material, welches in seiner Verwandlung zu Humus nicht nur in der Lage ist, große Mengen an Regenwasser zu speichern sondern unzähligen Lebewesen Nahrung und ein zu Hause zu bieten. Und das nicht nur kurzfristig. Denn bei einem Gehalt von über 50% Steinen ist das Bodengefüge so zerklüftet, dass sich durch den hohen Sauerstoffgehalt selbst in über einem Meter Tiefe eine von Mikroben bis zu Würmern und Käfern unvorstellbar differenzierte Tierwelt ihres Lebens erfreut und zum Auf- und Abbau der organischen Substanz beiträgt. Natürlich wollen die guten Geister ein wenig gefüttert werden. Früher alle drei Jahre mit Stallmist – heute halten wir sie mit Grünschnitt, Rebholz und kompostierten Trestern bei Laune.

Also alles in Butter? Gab’s keine Wirtschaftswunderjahre? Natürlich gab es die. Nicht mit bodenverdichtenden Traktoren – die haben in den Terrassen keine Chance – aber mit ertragssteigerndem Kunstdünger. Instinktiv so genannt weicht er heute einem weichgespülten Begriff „Mineraldünger“. Und ja, es ist richtig, dass die heutigen Dünge-empfehlungen der Industrie sehr maßvoll sind und es ist ebenfalls richtig, dass Mineralien per se noch keine Katastrophe darstellen. Es kommt auf Art und Menge an. Und die war in den 60er/70er Jahren dafür verantwortlich, dass sich die Reben immer mehr in Richtung Gewächshaustomaten entwickelten und dass sich das Bodenleben dramatisch verringerte. Logische Folge: die Anfälligkeit gegen Krank-heiten nahmen zu, die Wasserhaltefähigkeit des Bodens nahm ab.

In machen Weinbergen mussten wir über zwanzig Jahre warten, bis sich die Böden wieder erholt hatten, bis die Masse an organischer Substanz, und damit die Wasserspeicherkapazität, so hoch wurde, dass selbst die Trockenheit eines 2015er Sommers weggesteckt werden konnte und sich die Ernährung unserer Reben wieder durch das symbiotische Zusammenspiel der Wurzeln mit Myriaden von Mikroorganismen beschreiben lässt: Sie verwandeln die organische Substanz und den Schiefer in pflanzenverfügbare Leckerbissen – und verändern den Geschmack des Weins. Nicht grundlegend. Unsere Geschmacksbeschreibungen aus den 80er Jahren sind auch heute noch korrekt. „Röttgen“ zum Beispiel war schon immer die „barocke Fruchtfülle mit feinen Kaffeeröstaromen“. Aber während früher die Fruchtfülle im Vordergrund stand, ist es heute viel mehr die rauchige-salzige Mineralität. Oder der Uhlen Blaufüsser Lay: Noch bis Ende der 2000er Jahre ein zwar mineralisch-kühler, aber doch eher introvertierter Wein. Und heute tänzelt er wie eine Ballerina aus dem Glas und verzaubert mit einer charmanten Komplexität.

Unterstützt werden diese Prozesse in unserer Vinifikation: Durch unseren Neubau haben wir jetzt endlich Platz für einen großen Sortiertisch. Hier werden die Trauben noch einmal kontrolliert und alle „Rosinen“ bleiben mit ihrem fruchtigen Schmelz den Reservefüllungen und Auslesen vorbehalten. Bei den trockenen Weinen erhalten wir hierdurch einen noch präziseren Fokus auf die Mineralität! Und schließlich das große Holzfass: Optimale Nestwärme für ein langsames Gären und Reifen auf den eigenen Hefen. So entwickeln sich Tiefe, Komplexität und spannende Individualität in der Expression eines jedes einzelnen Terroirs.

January 2015 panta rhei How nice that everything is in flux. Even Moselle tourism! Sure, there is still demand for abnormally sweet Möselchen and 60s schnitzel culture. But today the Moselle is more and more characterized by cycling, hiking and good food and drink. Our vinotheque opened at exactly the right time! After a short winter break, we will be open again on Fridays and Saturdays in the afternoons from March 13th - wine tastings can still be booked by arrangement. panta rhei, 2014 was a great start year for our “Fair and Green” sustainability concept (www.fairandgreen.de). Twenty well-known German winemakers have been certified - many will follow. As one of the first measures to improve the ecological balance, we declared our vineyards a "plastic-free zone". Remnants lying on the ground are collected and the young shoots are only attached with natural raffia. panta rhei, everything flows, but so quickly ... We now close over 80% of the bottles with the practical screw cap, and the trend is rising. And with some terroirs we will completely do without corks in the new vintage. Absolutely tasteless, the bottles are closed so tightly that the wines can be stored practically indefinitely - (can, not have to!) Panta rhei, it flows and ferments! Since 1991 with us exclusively with wild yeast. Especially in botrytis-rich years, this often resulted in stagnant fermentation. Is it the more consistent sorting out of the noble rotten grapes or the newly developed yeast strains? In any case, we are very pleased that our wines have been fermenting properly for a few years and are therefore more enjoyable to drink even when they are young. panta rhei, there is also a lot going on in wine journalism. Regardless of whether it is inexpensive or with high-quality photos and layouts: with the dominance of the Internet, the print sector is less and less profitable. The result: more and more magazines and wine guides ask us winemakers to pay. Pay first - then taste. And if necessary there will be more text, an additional image of the label, a nice photo ... A very unhealthy development. Playing everywhere quickly costs over 10,000 euros a year. Who can afford it? In any case, we have been stubborn so far - and do not appear in some media. But we don't want to fool ourselves: if print media is to be preserved, the winegrowers also have to pay. But how can that work? panta rhei, and the head is round so that it can turn: For years we argued against red wine to sharpen the Mosel = Riesling paradigm - and sparked our Pinot Noir to a Blanc de Noirs. And then Hans-Peter Ziereisen, one of the most gifted Pinot producers in Germany, asks us to give him our grapes after all, he only has limestone soils and would love to vinify some of the slate. It happened the way it had to. The result tastes fantastic ... And now we have a Pinot Noir! Little - we share the harvest with Zierisens - but so much that we cannot drink everything ourselves. The 2013 will be bottled in summer and will hit the market in September. Price per bottle 45 euros, delivery of a maximum of three bottles per customer. panta rhei, et la vie est belle! How happy are we about our highly motivated and committed team. There is a lot of work, and often it is quite exhausting. But there is also a celebration! And our hearts open when we see how the internationally motley team meets across all language borders for an Indonesian dinner and a Spanish wine tasting or when a football game - Poland against the rest of the world - is organized. Our Facebook presence is also entirely in the hands of our employees. Great! panta rhei, and sometimes it flows quite confused. Big growth, first layer, big layer ... What now? Well, if 200 vintners across Germany are looking for a uniform regulation ... But now the pear has been peeled. The grands crus are called large sites, corresponding to the premiers crus. First sites, then local wines and the base form the estate wines. And the great growth is the dry wine from a great location. Big growth from a big location? Sorry, this is the semantic industrial accident of the classification. We are working on slowly removing the "GG" from communication. panta rhei, and the process is won! The complaining winemaker was called back by the Cologne administrative court, so that our subappellations Blaufüßer Lay, Laubach and Roth Lay can now be submitted to the EU authorities for final approval. If everything goes smoothly, we can label the 2014 Uhlen wines as the first German “appellations controllées”! panta rhei, everything flows, including the prices. Even up the mountain, to stay in the picture. After three stable years, the 2014 model is now an adjustment to increased production costs, the prices of colleagues and, ultimately, to the fantastic quality. The vintage fascinates with an unbelievable precision and mineral clarity, which at the same time flatters the palate so delicately and elegantly ... We hadn't dared to dream that during the harvest, as we had to watch how the heavy rain made more and more grapes rot every day. In many parcels we cut over half of the land. And in order to ensure that only high-quality grapes were pressed, each batch was carefully sorted by the most experienced readers in the evening. No, despite all the romanticism: Terroir wine is not only a gift from nature, it is also the result of concentrated, targeted work. Only in this way was it possible this year to accompany each vineyard in its individual form in the glass, only in this way do our wines allow the sensual encounter with the fantastic variety of slate. panta rhei, thanks to our renovation we finally have more space and therefore want to start putting wines back so that they can only be sold again after they have matured. So that this also works economically, we are positioning the older years one euro above the new year. No insane interest, but at least ... We have already started with some items - especially large bottles from 2011 and 2012. If you are interested, please ask for the price list “matured wines”. panta rhei, also at the vernissage of the expressive sculptures Malgorzata Chodakowskas in our winery on June 12th: For the Flying Diner we enjoy our Rieslings as well as the grandiose wines of her husband Klaus Zimmerling from the - what a name! - "Pillnitz Royal Vineyard". Registration at the winery, further information and information on the other events - for example the big Uhlen Gala in November - at www.koeche-und-winzer.de. Panta Rhei . Yes, they may flow all year round: through the head the good thoughts, through the heart the good feelings and through the throat the good wines.

Januar 2014

Die Ernte 2013 – „Blowin’ In The Wind“

Dabei sah im September alles noch nach „normal“ aus. Klar, der Winter war lang, die Blüte kam mit 10 Tagen Verspätung. Alles kein Problem, sondern mehr Hinweis auf einen späteren Lesebeginn. Dann aber der nicht enden wollende warme Regen im September. Das war selbst für die dickste Riesling-Haut ein Zuviel des Guten. Irgendwann waren sie da, die kleinen Verletzungen, auf die der Botrytis-Pilz nur gelauert hat. Innerhalb weniger Tage war ein Großteil der Trauben infiziert. Wenn’s jetzt trocken geblieben wäre, hätten wir uns vor Trockenbeerenauslesen nicht retten können. War aber nicht. Es blieb warm und nass. Und dann der Sturm! Blowin’ in the wind. Die reifen Trauben verschwanden auf Nimmerwiedersehen. Lange Gesichter bei der Lese. Zum Glück haben wir Antidepressiva im Keller! Lichtblicke dann beim Keltern: Trotz hoher Botrytis wunderbar klare und präzise Moste. Selbst bei 110 Grad Öchsle schmecken wir im Most den Unterschied von Uhlen Roth Lay und Röttgen!

Das amtliche Endergebnis: Eine Erntemenge von nur 21 hl/ha. Im Durchschnitt wogen die Trauben erfreuliche 97° Öchsle, hatten knackige 10,5‰ Säure und würzige 45% Botrytis. D.h. die Weine schmecken nach…. Ja, wenn wir das mal wüssten! Was wir sagen können ist: Sie werden mit Sicherheit konzentriert und gehaltvoll. Und bei der passenden Säure werden sie trotz des hohen Anteils von Botrytis nicht barock, sondern versprechen Geradlinigkeit und Präzision. Teurer werden sie nicht – das Produktionsrisiko ist unser Problem – aber sie werden mit Sicherheit gefragt, knapp und daher teilweise kontingentiert. Aber erst mal sind sie am Gären…

January 2013 Today I bake tomorrow I brew ... Unlike grapes, hops and malt only ferment after adding yeast. The ingenious trick with the fresh bread dough that the clever Rumpelstiltskin tells us about has long since given way to modern laboratory technology. It is no different in the wine scene either. Everyone can keep it as they want, but when wines are later adorned with terms like "traditional", "authentic" or "organic" ... It is our way to bring not only the slate, but also the microbial identity of each vineyard to life in the wine to be let. Our cellar has been fermenting "spontaneously" for 20 years and, just like our ancestors, we rely on the wild yeasts that live in the wild. These cute little animals are not just called that, they are: wild, chaotic, unpredictable. Sometimes they interrupt their spiritual work with months of hibernation, sometimes they meditate on a few sugar molecules for a year or they simply drop their enzymatic toolbox when they are drunk - and unfermented fructose is left over. A few grams are okay, just ... Who has the space and the discipline to wait ten or more years for the opulent melt to take a backseat and the wine - like the 2002 Röttgen, by the way old vines - presented with delicious mineral and spicy ripening aromas? We are therefore very happy to have seen our yeasts have an increasing tendency to ferment in recent years. At the moment all wines of the 2012 vintage have actually been fermented! But not only the yeasts were busy, special thanks also go to our employees! During the fertile rainy summer they fought their way through the lightning-fast, regrowing vine jungle with unbelievable diligence in order to remove the moist breeding ground from the fungi through optimal ventilation. So we were able to harvest perfectly healthy grapes when they were very ripe. Fascinatingly clear notes of slate are the result, which each terroir expresses precisely: mineral, concentrated and - to use the unfortunate word - "really dry". How nice that they still have time until summer - Uhlen Roth Lay, as usual until next Easter - to develop their complex aromas by further maturing on the yeast. Spontaneous fermentation, wooden barrels and a long yeast storage create a type of wine with depth and personality, which, in addition to good taste, is characterized by a shelf life that is hardly known today for white wines. Even the slate terraces from the 90s still give us great pleasure today. And wines like the 1998 Uhlen Roth Lay are currently just to kneel down ... Whether young or mature - it should taste good in every phase. What is important about our wines: In addition to large glasses for the aromas to develop, you should have at least half an hour in a bulbous carafe to breathe deeply before enjoying. Finesse and the delicacy of the perlage - even sparkling wine requires sufficient maturing time on the yeast. In addition to the vintage, we therefore also note the month of disgorgement on the label. It should ripen for about three months - then our sect can give great pleasure for up to 10 years. Even if we like to drink champagne: the Moselle sets the pace in our cellar. The "F" of our fantasy of the slate terraces is not due to the new spelling, but an homage to the "fantasy" from music: a little, prancing slate composition. Quite similar with our Blanc de Noirs. Here it is the Pinot Noir vines that, in their role as a medium, conjure up the smooth, fine-spicy soil nuances in the glass. Liberation from winter depression, support for spring fever, refreshment on warm summer evenings, indulging in the warm autumn sun ... Blanc de Noirs or the fantasy of the slate terraces? The sparkling pearl package, each with a bottle, should be within reach for all emergencies and other cases. Carpe Diem! PS After years of negotiations we actually succeeded in buying the property adjacent to our winery from the Catholic Church. We build! - And are very happy about the transformation of our architectural visions into wood, steel and stone. Photos on our homepage show the construction progress. PPS The book »Terroir«. The bound edition of almost 4,000 copies is slowly being sold out. The 2nd edition is now available as an e-book in the Applestore.

February 2012 2011 - Botrytis and screw cap In 2011, nature meant it very well for us. An unusually early start of vegetation, neither frost nor hail, a riesling-friendly, humid and warm summer ... The first ripe grapes already in September! We were able to harvest extremely concentrated Botrytis grapes for the reserve fillings, especially along the walls and on the humus terraces at the foot of the slope. It is different on the poorer floors of the higher terraces. Here the harvest went like on a postcard: Ripe, juicy, golden-yellow grapes. Even if it is economically very difficult after the small 2010 harvest, we let the wines mature on the lees until July and, as usual, only deliver in September. For the first time, we are also offering the reserve fillings from the Laubach as a subscription in addition to the Roth Lay. This pre-financing allows us to mature the wines in wooden barrels until spring 2013 to give them an even more complex aroma. We are less and less willing to tolerate the influence of taste even with the most expensive corks. The relatively low percentage of “correct” cork tasters can still be cope with. The bottles are bad because they lose a large part of their elegance and fruitiness without clearly tasting like cork. When placing your order, please let us know whether you prefer natural cork or screw cap - we will fill both variants again.

May 2011 Concentration If we had to characterize the taste with a single term, after the “minerality” of the 2008 vintage and the “elegance” of 2009 for the 2010 vintage, it would certainly be the word “concentration”. What a vintage! The Riesling vines store almost the same amount of sugar, fruit acids, minerals and aromas as usual. However, this time these ingredients are distributed over 50% of a normal harvest. Instead of around 5000 liters, we were only able to press 2500 liters per hectare. We know such concentration effects from evaporation as a result of a botrytis infection. But up to now, we have not considered it possible that “normal” Riesling grapes reach must weights of over 110 ° Öchsle. The fermentation process also surprised us. Instead of fermenting very slowly and well into the summer, as is to be expected with such concentrations, this time we were dealing with almost hyperactive yeasts that sometimes attacked the fructose wildly, sometimes slowly. The wines are pleasantly well fermented, so that the remaining fructose is so well integrated due to the higher acidity and strong minerality that the wines do not go wide but promise great drinking pleasure with crystalline and precisely focused stringency. Great cinema, from slate terraces to the Uhlen. We will communicate this on the label of all terroirs by adding “reserve”. The higher price level of the 2011 vintage corresponds - we have had this more often in the last few years with Schiefererrassen and Röttgen "old vines" - with the extraordinary concentration of these wines.

January 2010 Riesling? Riesling or Röttgen? Dry Riesling is booming worldwide. Even the "lovely" English and US Americans find their way back to the mineral wines from the Wachau, Alsace and German growing areas. Back? Yes. Because the "Rhine" and "Mosel", which were drunk in the Belle Époque in London and New York, were, with a few select exceptions, a fully fermented wine. Only at that time it was not called Riesling, but was called "Rüdesheimer" or "Piesporter" according to its origin. And only at the absolute top was attention drawn to the taste of the vineyard. Scharzhofberger, Sonnenuhr, Uhlen ... After 500 years of winemaking tradition, the word "Riesling" was first noted on a label in our family in 1975. Today the name pops off every supermarket shelf. After Chardonnay and Merlot, Riesling also sits in the dubious Olympus of global brands. One more reason to only mention the grape variety in the small print. Because the fascinating thing about the old deep-rooted vines is not in their supposed taste, but in their role as a medium: They sublimate the character of the different slates. They transform the 400 million year old seabed, the changeable microclimate in the Moselle valley, the breathtakingly steep terraces and the skill and hard work of our employees. This is how our visions of terroir find an enjoyable shape. Schiefererrassen, Röttgen, Uhlen ... Here is an overview of the 2009 vintage. The weather conditions with its optimal mix of heat, coolness, rain and dryness, the beautiful small, golden-yellow grapes and the exciting tastings during fermentation promise a wine with ripe aromas and more concise , minerality rich in finesse. Let's let it ripen on the yeast for another six months ...

Juli 2009

Schraubverschluss!

Kork oder Schraubverschluss? Der Korken ist „schön“, gibt aber ab und zu ein paar Geschmacksmoleküle ab. Dem gegenüber ist der „perfekte“ Schrauber optisch und haptisch gewöhnungsbedürftig. Was ist besser? Nach dem wir letztes Jahr für den Export umgestellt haben – und ganz erstaunt sind, wie gut uns die Flaschen gefallen – bieten wir nun Schieferterrassen und von blauem Schiefer in beiden Varianten an.

Sehr gut ist er geworden, der 2008er. Schon wieder ein Spitzenjahrgang. Zugegeben, das klingt nach PR. Aber es stimmt. Und es lässt sich aus zwei Faktoren ableiten: Klima und Winzer. Nach der „kleinen Eiszeit“ vom 16. bis 20. Jahrhundert steigt heute das Thermometer endlich wieder auf „Normal“. Und da es gleichzeitig im Sommer mehr regnet, können unsere Trauben optimal ausreifen. Da heißt es nur noch, in hochwertigen Weinbergen zum richtigen Zeitpunkt die richtigen Arbeiten zu erledigen. Das ist zwar leichter – und preiswerter – gesagt als getan, aber Dank vieler fleißigen Hände sind wir hervorragend aufgestellt: Über 20 Minuten qualifizierter Arbeit stecken heute in jeder Flasche Heymann-Löwenstein. Garant für eine individuelle und liebvolle Pflege jeder einzelnen Rebe.

Eine Gruppe von Weinfreunden machte das, was wir im Weingut viel zu selten tun: Sie genossen einen Abend mit den letzten sieben Jahrgängen UHLEN Roth Lay. Alle einige Stunden dekantiert, nicht zu kalt serviert; eingeschenkt in große Gläser: Ein wenig neidisch, nicht dabei gewesen zu sein, lese ich die Verkostungsnotizen im Internet. Karamell, Tabak, ungewöhnliche florale Noten à la Kamille, und da am Gaumen tiefgründige Mineralität, Salzigkeit… Ganz besonders freut es uns zu lesen , das der „winner des Abends der ältestes Wein der Rund war, der 2001er…

January 2008 Praise to the carafe with the 2007 vintage, we are looking forward to an elegant classic. After an unusually early budding and flowering, the grapes had over five months in a cool summer to store minerals from the slate and let the aromas mature. And the beautiful autumn allowed us to harvest vineyard after vineyard in an optimal state of ripeness. Now the young wine bubbles slowly in the cellar. Even fermenting wines from the 2006 vintage are slowly coming to rest. We fill and ship the Röttgen in February and the Uhlen Roth Lay as planned in April. The long barrel aging in constant contact with the wild yeasts is, in addition to good vineyards, old vines and reduced harvest quantities, the basis for flavor complexity. But also for the other important dimensions of a terroir wine, for aging potential and liveliness. Now every wine has its individual dynamics and very different taste buds dance in every palate ... However, in the first months after filling the bottle, but also years later, in the beginning maturation phase, we experience how the aromas are locked and the finesse masked by wild aromas could be. We therefore strongly recommend decanting in a large-bellied carafe. The wines literally blossom and unfold their elegant fruit and minerality rich in finesse. Half an hour is usually enough for the slate terraces, and two to four hours for the single-site wines. Very extreme wines, such as the Uhlen Roth Lay from 1990 or 2000, even take 12 hours. And if you then enjoy the wines moderately chilled and not below 12 ° in a large glass ...

April 2007 the good is quiet the good, as the saying goes, is quiet. It's also slow with our wines. The 2006s matured in the barrel for almost a whole year. Now, after a few more months in the bottle, they shine with sensual individuality. Enjoyment for many days, for many years ... Terroir wines live a calm, slow rhythm. Empathizing with and resonating with the terroirs is one of the most exciting aspects of our work. In order to develop a feeling for the differences between the different slate formations and to collect sufficient information for the classification of the sites, we vinified all wines equally in the 1990s. Today we learn to take into account the special features of our vineyards in the cellar too. More and more wines are fermenting in wooden barrels, and especially with the first layers we feel an enormous gain in complexity, depth of taste and shelf life with an even longer maturation on the fine lees. We will therefore only bottle the most important parts of the 2006 UHLEN Roth-Lay in March of next year. A big and important step in the further development of the terroir concept. We reserve this wine in advance until the end of May 2007. And the other 2006s? Again very good, again far too little. Major failures due to hail and disease, no Stolzenberg, extremely few slate terraces ... But what we were able to harvest was fantastic. Small, golden-yellow grapes with high-quality botrytis at optimum ripeness, "as beautiful as painted".

July 2005 The Oskar We really hadn't expected that: Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve, the most renowned French wine journalists, presented us with the Oscar for "Foreign Wine of the Year" during a gala dinner in the Louvre. Not the Unico from Vega Sicila, not the Montebello from Ridge… It was Uhlen Laubach who stood on the podium between Château d'Yquem (Emile Peynaud special prize) and Château Latour (Wine of the Year). For the first time since the world exhibition in 1900, a Riesling was honored in Paris like this and, as Bettane explained in his laudation, it was finally celebrated again among the "great European cultural wines". Quel honneur! Not only for our winery but for everyone who enables the Riesling grape to sublimate the exciting identity of ancient vineyards into the glass in such a fascinating way. But what would the terroir movement be without the connoisseurs, without your willingness to let yourself be seduced by our "sounds of slate"! We would like to thank you very much for this. After a wet summer, which is so important for our barren slate soils, and a warm and dry late autumn, the very healthy and golden-yellow grapes of the 2004 vintage were able to ripen on the vine until December. As usual, life comes back to our basement in spring. The yeasts wake up from their hibernation, fermentation starts again ... And we are looking forward to a "classic", to individual, clear and precise slate aromas.

March 2006 a completely normal year A "normal" year? What apparently no longer fits into the modern, superlative marketing world is for us an elementary basis for high-quality terroir wines. Because more than sun, alcohol and power are the quiet, subtle tones: the flowing transitions from maritime to continental climate, the change between warmth and cold, dryness and wetness. In this arc of tension, the individuality of vintage and vineyard, slate becomes palpable. The finesse-rich depth of the 2004 vintage finds an exciting continuation in 2005 with fascinatingly precise terroie expressions. Perhaps a touch more playful - with almost vibrant complexity at the same time. Like '71 and '76, 2005 will also go down in wine history as a great botrytis year. Thanks to an unbelievable abundance of optimally dried grapes, we were able to vinify an unprecedented spectrum of noble sweet selections in addition to highly concentrated "old vines" from slate terraces and Röttgen. However, the large number of raisins significantly reduced the yield of our classics. We therefore urgently ask you - if you have not already done so - for a timely reservation and ask for your understanding if we may have to shorten the order a little. As usual, the wines will be delivered from September.

March 2004 everybody must get stoned ▄Terroir. There is more and more dynamism in the terroir movement. The members of the "Prädikatsweingüter (VDP)" have classified their vineyards in all regions of Germany. From the 2004 vintage onwards, only wines from classified locations will be labeled with the name of the vineyard on the label. The many bland location names still in use today are slowly disappearing from the market. This means that the classified sites can develop into an indication of a high-quality terroir. Participation in the “grand cru” concept is still voluntary. Only the wines from the best parcels of the classified sites are allowed to adorn themselves with the logo "1 with grape" after strict controls. Here, too, the number of participating winemakers is increasing from year to year. Meanwhile "first plants", "large plants" and "first layers" ripen on a good 8% (327 ha) of the vineyards of our member companies. ▄From Öchsle to terroir. Under this title, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published a full-page article written by Reinhard Löwenstein on the development of German viticulture over the past 100 years in October last year. The cultural issues addressed in the article in particular have contributed to sensitizing large sections of our society to this topic and to winning many political allies. The article has now been widely quoted and commented on in many magazines and is currently being translated into various languages. It is included as a reprint in the current issue of VINUM magazine, but it can also be requested free of charge from the winery. It can be downloaded from www.heymann-loewenstein.com on the »current information« page ▄Internet. In addition to the many senselessly wandering bits and bytes in virtual space, some really good wine pages with associated discussion forums have emerged in recent years. I would like to point out some good addresses, not just to read what people have to say about "Heymann-Löwenstein": www.talk-about-wine.de, www.wein-plus.de and www.riesling .de. ▄Post delivery. It finally seems to be working. After the post office became not only cheaper but also worse after its privatization and finally brought us to despair with a breakage rate of more than 3% - after all, our wines were packed in boxes approved by the postal service - it now finally seems to work. Our new boxes are a bit more expensive and larger and make us more work packing, but they survive the frustration of poorly paid employees at Swiss Post. There were only a few breakages last year. Unfortunately, it still happens again and again that shipments are delivered in pieces on consecutive days. And even the famous note in the mailbox with the note "not found, please pick it up at the post office or make a second delivery appointment", some customers looked in vain last year ... But the post office wants to get better. ▄Terrassenmosel. It is now 10 years old, the name Terrassenmosel. Congratulations! The name Terrassenmosel, which was supposed to replace the term »Untermosel«, which was heavily influenced by bowling clubs, and as a catchphrase should contribute to the development of a new regional identity with better wines, restaurants and hotels, what has become of it? Well, there is still no reason to put your hands on your lap, but: the region is on the up. More and more committed winemakers and restaurateurs turn a visit to the Terrassenmosel into an exciting experience. Just these days, another regional culinary highlight is opening its doors in Winningen with the Moselblick restaurant. Michel Bettane, editor-in-chief of the Revue du Vin de France writes that Winningen has the potential to become the "in-village" of the Moselle. We would like to take this opportunity to thank him for all journalists who support our "Terrassenmosel" movement so much that the name has meanwhile been introduced not only in newspapers and magazines, but also in travel guides and various encyclopedias. ▄Shelf life. One of the really difficult chapters. Our work in the vineyard and cellar differs little from that of our grandparents. And the shelf life of wines from around the 1920s was legendary. If we then take today's hygienic conditions for bottle filling into account, the statement "There have never been such storable wines as today" is on the tip of the tongue. But the question of when the wines should be drunk and when they taste best is of much greater interest than the shelf life. When is the primary fruit broken down, when does the minerality begin to dominate, how do aromas and texture develop? But, stop, who really likes matured wines? And how do they go with the food? Or would you prefer to be in good company solo? Try out! Everything is possible, everything can be fun. Our recommendations for the last vintages: 1993 - the fruit is degraded, the wines are ripe. Spicy, strong herbal aromas. Excellent now and in the years to come with strong, spicy vegetables (lentils) and mushroom flavors. 1994 - clear, locked. Opens a little after three hours in the carafe. 1995 - highly ripe and playful elements lie above a spicy and deep fruit that is perfectly integrated into a highly elegant minerality. 1996 - the carafe must be two hours beforehand. Then a fine, distinguished and at the same time tension-laden wort blooms. 1997 - harmonious and ripe with the first hints of wild minerals. 1998 - playful charmer in the field of tension between youthful fruit and ripening minerality. 1999 - beginning of maturity in the nose, still youthful and impetuous in the mouth. 2000 - a journey into the wild world of botrytis and energetic minerality. For freaks only! 2001 - fine flavor, expressive minerality, slate par excellence. Precise terroirs. Only Uhlen Roth Lay is still largely covered with Bortytisum. 2002 - youthful charm, beguiling variety of aromas, organoleptic Rorschach tests. ▄Super vintage 2003 for the first time. With wine it is like with cheese: The variety of production in the field of tension between the most diverse small producers who produce completely different cheese variants with love and ecological responsibility in different regions on the one hand and a high-tech supplier of Aldi on the other hand basically prohibit any generalizing statements about "the cheese this year". ▄Second super vintage 2003. Like all northern Europeans, we too have the warmth-hungry imperative “the sun, the more well-being” embedded deep in our genes - and we project it onto the wine. And when official wine advertising and various media use the same marketing horn and rant about the summer of the century, sentences like "the optimum assimilation of Riesling grapes is 27 ° C and overcast skies" or, even worse, "wines from the north" read are so good because the summers are so nice and cool and damp here ”, as the heretical deadlocks of sun-hating intellectuals. But it's true. The best wines do not ripen in Sicily or Algeria. They ripen in the cooler regions of the north, with each grape variety "rubbing" against its climatic boundary. The Nebbiolo in Piedmont, Cabernet Sauvignon in Bordeaux, Syrah on the northern Rhône, and the Riesling in the river valleys of Germany. Year character. The typicality of the respective vintage runs like a red thread through all of our terroirs. One year emphasizes the atmospheric components of the wines, the next one lives more from the minerality, while the third is perhaps characterized by a more complex texture or a botrytis-shaped wildness. For us, these are differences in style, not quality. However, we can only guarantee this if we react appropriately to the changing weather conditions in the vineyard. Do we cut the leaves so that the grapes can come into the sun or do we leave them in the shade for as long as possible, as was the case last year? Where is the optimal root-fruit and leaf-fruit ratio, ie how many of the pigeons do we remove in the green harvest? And, last but not least, the crucial question: How do the grapes taste, like the wine? In terms of quality, so our claim, the wines must meet the same criteria every year: We not only require an outstanding taste, but also a clearly recognizable terroir character that is typical for the respective location. The quantities ultimately drawn on the bottle often fluctuate considerably. With the »Uhlen Roth Lay«, for example, the filling quantity varies between 3000 and 10,000 liters, depending on the year. ▄Super vintage 2003 for the third time. Only adherents of an extremely anthropocentric worldview may believe that the love of God has allowed the vine to grow so that it may please us with its delicious nectar. From a biological point of view, the vine wants something else - if the word "want" makes any sense in this context - it wants to multiply. The so-called physiological ripeness is given when the seeds of the grapes have developed and enable genetic reproduction. But precisely this maturity has very little to do with the question of the quality of the wine. The »optimal physiological maturity«, which has to serve as a permanent advertising message for the 2003 vintage, is nonsense in terms of content. It is not about "physiological" but about "oenological ripeness", about the optimal ripeness for a particular wine. ▄Super vintage 2003 for the fourth. So was it too hot for 2003? Clear answer: yes. In one year the bud is too early, in the other too late. Sometimes it's too cold, sometimes too wet. And 2003 was just too hot and too dry for us. After a good shoot and early flowering, with the optimal weather in early summer, it looked as if the grape harvest would take place in August. Horror scenario! And then came the heat. For six weeks, the vines were busy pulling the last drops of water out of the earth to save themselves from death by heat. Further development of the grapes was out of the question. During this time, we had to thin out many grapes, especially in the exposed terraces, in order to ensure the survival of the vines. When it finally cooled down a bit in mid-August, it was too late for many grapes. They hung lifeless and odorless on the vines and were cut on the ground by us. In terraces with better care they were at least good enough for our Icarus. However, the majority of the vines found time to slowly get used to a normal metabolism again. This process could not only be followed by the structure of the leaves, but also by the taste of the berries. From boring, boring grapes in August, fine fruity, delicate flavor concentrates developed by the end of October. The light frost on the night of November 4th to 5th, which caused the leaves to fall to the ground, was the starting signal for the start of the main harvest. With wonderful weather - we only had to interrupt for two days because of rain - we were able to harvest perfectly ripe, highly aromatic berries by the end of November. The taste of the grapes, the juice and the fermenting wine suggests a vintage that can be described with the words precise, clear, fine mineral and complex. In spite of the drought, we had a few botrytis infections which, in addition to an optimal proportion of raisins in the dry wines, also gave us outstanding sweet wines. In its enormous concentration, the Trockenbeerenauslese from the Uhlen Roth Lay breaks everything that has been there before. ▄The Riesling's smile. 100 points for a dry German Riesling! The scene was in turmoil. What "finally" for some was a single provocation for the sweet wine apologists. Markus Hofschuster, taster at www.wein-plus.de, had dared. For the first time in Germany. Four weeks later, at a meeting organized by the magazine VINUM, we sit with journalists and fellow winegrowers in a pub in the Rheingau and taste blindly. Also the 100-point wine. And then the scandal. Markus only gives the wine 81 points. A secret grin fills the room, serious speeches about seriousness ... But who says that a good taster always tastes the same, that a good wine should always taste the same? Why do we see the Mona Lisa every time we are in the Louvre. Because she smiles differently every time! Sometimes male, sometimes female, sometimes androgynous, evil today, seductive tomorrow ... That is exactly what makes it a great work of art. Like a large Riesling that doesn't just come along with a one-dimensional "more" flavor, but rather fascinates with its complexity and many different dimensions. Only a really great wine allows extremely different tastes, allows projections of the most diverse mental states. ▄Texture. We too like to describe wines through aromas, we love to associate flowers, fruits and spices. Writing about texture is a lot more complicated. "Physics on the tongue" is an equally exciting side of the same coin. For Francophile connoisseurs, the most important thing. Anyone who has ever observed how little attention French wine freaks, for example, pay the nose of a wine and then sometimes spend minutes devoting themselves to the "mouthfeel" will get an idea of the important role texture plays in the wine culture of our neighbors. The identity of a high-quality terroir is communicated to a large extent via the palate, the type of attack, structure and persistence. Terms such as depth and complexity also belong in this taste dimension, which enables us much better than the flavor association that is common in our country, for example, to meaningfully differentiate the three terroirs from the Uhlen. Blue-sweet lay, for example, as the subtle, subtly aristocratic prancing variant of blue slate. Laubach, with its colorfully mixed, multi-layered palate tickle, which is incredibly diversified and, in its tension between lime and slate, is often reminiscent of Burgundy, and the Roth-Lay, which, woven from velvet and coarse linen, with its complex, deep blue-green depth of the Source inside a mountain. The Uhlen and the Wine Law. For 30 years, the designation right in the German wine law was structured in such a way that everything was forbidden on the label that was not expressly allowed. Fancy names for wine were allowed, but could not be confused with existing regions, locations or production methods. For this reason we were forced to use the abbreviations »B«, »L« and »R« in Uhlen. From the point of view of wine control, Blaufüsser Lay, for example, could clearly have led to confusion with an existing situation and at least brought us an administrative offense. Half a year ago the law was finally changed. Today all names are allowed, unless they are designed to rip the consumer off. Nobody can argue against "Blaufüßer Lay", the real cadastral name, against the geologically correct name "Laubach" or the name "Roth Lay", which is derived from the highest elevation in the forest above the vineyards. We therefore want to say goodbye to the abbreviations and put the real terroir names more in the foreground. ▄Cellarhand. Bruce Jack is not only one of the young vintners in South Africa with very excellent wines, he is also one of the few who take aggressive action against the legacy of apartheid in their winery. Teachers are hired to teach English to colored people and Xhosa to white people. The »Backchat Blend« is also part of this concept. The staff at the Flagstone Winery are allowed to develop their own wine. In "long and chaotic tastings sessions", as Bruce writes, the cuvée "Cellarhand" was born. A red wine with enormous, harmonious drinking pleasure, which on closer »inspection« shines with enormous sophistication and depth. Since it also offers an unbelievably good value for money at 8.50 euros, we have decided to include it in our range with immediate effect. ▄Praise the wines. Even the conservatives of the wine scene, who in principle spell the word "Moselle" as a lovely late harvest, have been aware of the existence of prime locations downstream from Ürzig for a number of years and praise the style of our terroirs as an independent contribution to wine culture. At the moment we are being overwhelmed with positive feedback from almost all media. The manager magazine writes about "perhaps the best winemaker in Germany", the Feinschmecker nominates us as the only German winery for a wine Oscar. Even the front girl of the sweet wine faction, Gault Millau, raves about the »extraordinary potential, high maturity and special flavor of the finesse-rich dry Rieslings«. The wines also enjoy a very high reputation in the international wine scene. When Jancis Robinson certifies our Uhlen “a similar structure to the fullest mature white burgundy” and even certifies the slate terrace “grand cru character”, when Michel Bettane writes that he tastes our 2001 Uhlen Auslese Goldkapsel just as good as Château Margeaux 2000 and clearly better than Mouton Rothschild, Ausonne and Léoville Las Cases… Don't worry, we'll stay on the carpet. But we are very happy and would like to take this opportunity to thank you very much for the many compliments and constructive criticism from the press. In times when our wines almost sell themselves, our biggest thanks go to our customers: For the many discussions, the often longstanding solidarity, for the many, many recommendations and, quite profane, for ordering and drinking.

March 2003 Good news In the current edition of the most famous wine journal in France, the "Revue de Vin de France", the editors-in-chief Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve publish lists of the 10 best wines tasted in 2002. In the Ruibrik »current vintages«, after Château Margeaux 2000, our Uhlen Auslese long gold capsule from the 2001 vintage ranks with 10 out of 10 points. 3rd place is the 2000 Château Mouton Rotschild with 9.5 / 10 points.

März 2002

Le Chardonnay est mort

»In Blindproben stellen wir immer wieder fest, dass den meisten unserer Kunden der Riesling am besten schmeckt«, sagt Michael Mondavi, Chef des gleichnamigen Wein-Imperiums – und verkauft Chardonnay. Noch, denn Riesling lässt sich zwar blind verkosten, aber nicht blind kaufen und beim Anblick von Rieslingflaschen rufen in den USA immer noch zu viele kleine Männchen aus dem Unterbewusstsein »cheap and sweet«. Wohl nicht mehr lange, denn die guten Weine stehen in Startposition: »Eroika« von St. Michell, »Kritik of the pure Riesling« von Bonny Doon… Und die sind mit über 20 $ weder »cheap«, noch sind sie »sweet«.

Australien ist schon einen Schritt weiter. Hier hat sich Riesling in den letzten 20 Jahren aus billig-süßen Plastikkanistern zu Kultflaschen emanzipiert und ist mit Preisen ab 18 Euro dabei Chardonnay die Schau zu stehlen. Was passt auch besser zur modernen, asiatisch inspirierten Küche? Anfang Februar hatte Winzerin Judi Cullen zu einem »international riesling tasting« in Sydney eingeladen. Höhepunkt der zweitägigen Veranstaltung war eine Probe von 32 Rieslingen aus der ganzen Welt. Die Stars von Elsass und Wachau, aus Deutschland u. a. Rebholz, Breuer, Künstler, Dönhoff, von uns 98er Uhlen, und aus Australien Grosset, Henschke, Crawford, Mitchell, Frankland Estate... Ein riesiges Fest der Sinne und eine großartige Manifestation der Terroir-Bewegung. Jeder Wein nicht nur einfach gut, sondern individuell und spannend, Genuss »at the edge«, wie es Moderator Stuart Pigott treffend formulierte.

Und in Europa? »Le Chardonnay est mort – vive le Riesling« postuliert Frankreichs wichtigste Weinzeitschrift. »Riesling – the grape of the 21th century«, schreibt die Times, und die FAZ widmet dem Thema eine ausführliche Artikelserie »Zur Lage des Weins«.

Will sich der Riesling für die vielen Ehrungen bedanken? Der Jahrgangs 2001 lässt dies vermuten. Unter sommerlicher Oktobersonne reiften Trauben wie aus dem Bilderbuch: kleinbeerig, gold-gelb, ein optimaler Anteil Rosinen…

C’est avec plaisir que nous vous infirmons que nous organisons une dégustations de nos vins à Paris au sein de l’hôtel George V.

Cette dégustation aura lieu le vendredi 24. mai de 17.00 à 20.00 heures.

A cette occasion nous vous invitons à venir découvrir notre gamme de rieslings de différents terroirs.

Nous espérons de vous (re)voir bientôt,

pour des questions, n’hésitez pas d’appeler Monsieur E. Baumard à l’hôtel.

March 2001 Unable to trade The taste is flawed. It was not until the third attempt that our 1998 Uhlen was certified by the Chamber of Agriculture as being »marketable«. It is precisely this wine that has now been described by Michel Bettane, editor-in-chief of the Revue de Vin de France, together with a castle hill from our friend Bernhard Breuer, as one of the best German Rieslings. Irony of fate - or are the synapses of our professional representatives now stewing in the food designers' test tubes? The vehemence with which the fight against Terroir suggests itself. Fortunately, the dedicated wine scene is not impressed. On the contrary. The question of the identity of a good wine is discussed everywhere, impressive terroir wine tastings are organized and the worldwide growing demand for authentic wines by far exceeds the supply. Also with us. Especially after the very small but fine harvest of 31hl / ha in the 2000 vintage, we ask for your understanding if our "first layers" are only available in limited quantities. Our websites are also enjoying growing popularity. We are therefore constantly updating, expanding ... The current wines and individual bottles from older vintages can now be ordered even more conveniently at www.heymann-loewenstein.com. As usual, the new vintage is delivered after the bottle has been filled in summer.