Schieferterrassen

Schieferterrassen (slate terraces)

A flirt

of fruit and stone

and sun and moon

Name


Each parcel’s, in fact each terrace’s, wine tastes a little different. Yet at what point are the differences significant enough that we should speak of a ‘distinctive terroir character’? And how should we name that wine?

By the mid-1980s, we had started correcting the legally mandated — and ultimately misleading — classification chaos by applying sensible names: one part ‘nomen est omen’, one part indication of a unique taste. Today the wines from the GROSSE LAGE sites, which are strictly delineated through a geological — and hence flavor — profile, bear the name of the respective single site. We use the term “Schieferterrassen” to describe wines from the parcels of our ERSTE LAGE sites, which grow in the slate of the Devonian layers of the Rittersturz hillside.

Facts

Geological definition: Devonian, Rittersturz hillside layers. A highly quartz-heavy slate whose color changes from gray to yellow-brown. We cultivate 12 parcels here, totaling 5.2 ha. Orientation: SSE-SSW, elevation 75 - 180 m, slope 100 to 150%, average age of vines: approx. 50 years. Alongside the VDP.Grosse Lage sites, the parcels are also internally classified as “Erste Lage”. 

All wines are exclusively vinified with wild yeasts and absolutely no addition of enzymes or fining agents, primarily in large wooden barrels. Alongside the classic dry taste profiles, we also produce, where the harvested fruit allows it, residually sweet Auslesen or enhance individual batches using the Champagne method into “Fantasie aus Schieferterrassen” (Fantasy from Slate Terraces). And sometimes we even go “orange.”

A rare exception from our Riesling rule, we cultivate Pinot Noir on several parcels. From those grapes we produce a sparkling “Blanc de Noirs,” vinified in small wood casks into a “Schieferterassen in Rot” — or, entirely inspired by the wines from Portugal's Duoro Valley, as “Fortissimo.” 

Reviews

“The simplest Riesling from Heymann-Löwenstein starts at the point where others conclude.” talk-about-wine.de ▄ “The power and the authority of a great Alsatian with the beautiful floral quality one finds in Mosel. It demonstrates that it is possible to make great dry wine from the Mosel.” Los Angeles Times ▄ “Riesling that truly makes many Große Gewächs wines look a bit tired.” Gault & Millau ▄ “A delicate, acutely elegant and mineral wine with an extraordinarily expressive body for this category. A model for the region’s winegrowers!” La Revue du Vin de France

Wine> slate terraces

Schieferterrassen
(slate terraces)

A flirt

of fruit and stone

and sun and moon

Name

The wine from every plot, and even every terrace, tastes a little different. Where are the differences so significant that we should speak of an independent terroir character? And what should the wine be called?


As early as the mid-1980s, we began to correct the ultimately fraudulent legal chaos and to use the names sensibly: As a nomen est omen, as an indication of a unique taste. Today, the wines from the geologically and therefore strictly delimited GREAT LOCATIONS bear the name of the individual vineyard. We refer to the wines from the parcels of our ERSTE LAGEN as "slate terraces", which grow on the slates of the Devonian knights fall.

Facts

Geological definition: Devonian, Rittersturz hillside layers. A highly quartz-heavy slate whose color changes from gray to yellow-brown. We cultivate 12 parcels here, totaling 5.2 ha. Orientation: SSE-SSW, elevation 75 - 180 m, slope 100 to 150%, average age of vines: approx. 50 years. Alongside the VDP.Grosse Lage sites, the parcels are also internally classified as “Erste Lage”. 

All wines are exclusively vinified with wild yeasts and absolutely no addition of enzymes or fining agents, primarily in large wooden barrels. Alongside the classic dry taste profiles, we also produce, where the harvested fruit allows it, residually sweet Auslesen or enhance individual batches using the Champagne method into “Fantasie aus Schieferterrassen” (Fantasy from Slate Terraces). And sometimes we even go “orange.”

A rare exception from our Riesling rule, we cultivate Pinot Noir on several parcels. From those grapes we produce a sparkling “Blanc de Noir,” vinified in small wood casks into a “Schieferterassen in Rot” — or, entirely inspired by the wines from Portugal's Duoro Valley, as “Fortissimo.” 

 Reviews

“The simplest Riesling from Heymann-Löwenstein starts at the point where others conclude.” talk-about-wine.de ▄ “The power and the authority of a great Alsatian with the beautiful floral quality one finds in Mosel. It demonstrates that it is possible to make great dry wine from the Mosel.” Los Angeles Times ▄ “Riesling that truly makes many Große Gewächs wines look a bit tired.” Gault & Millau ▄ “A delicate, acutely elegant and mineral wine with an extraordinarily expressive body for this category. A model for the region’s winegrowers!” La Revue du Vin de France

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