Weingut Stein - Alfer Hölle 1900 - Riesling Spätlese 2020
Price: $69.00
| Producer | Weingut Stein |
| Country | Germany |
| Region | Mosel |
| Varietal | Riesling |
| Vintage | 2020 |
| Sku | 000036 |
| ABV | 12.00% |
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Dr. Ulrich Stein, known as Ulli, is a farmer and winemaker in the Mosel Valley known for working incredibly steep, slate vineyards that are extraordinarily difficult to cultivate. He has been a passionate advocate for the preservation of these traditional vineyards in the Mosel Valley, which are in danger of being abandoned by a combination of economic, cultural and social pressures. Ulli himself has reclaimed vineyards in the Lower Mosel, and crafted wonderful wines from these once forgotten sites. The Stein family always believed in the importance of old vines, so in the 1970's, when producers were being encouraged to rip out their vines and plant on American rootstocks, the family kept their ungrafted vines in place. Today, Ulli has a plethora of old, ungrafted plants: he farms about 10% of Germany's total! His wines have a wonderful simplicity to them with aromatic lift, generous cut and purity of site. He firmly believes that his wine isn't what he wants to make, but rather what the vineyard gives to him.
Stein's Alfer Hölle 1900 Riesling is one of the most unique and important wines in all of the Mosel. The wine comes from a small, 0.2 ha parcel of land planted in 1900 with 1,200 ungrafted Riesling vines: it is the second oldest producing vineyard in the Mosel. The grapes are fermented with native yeasts in neutral barrels in a dry style, producing a reserved, dense and intensely structured wine that showcases the saline and slate driven minerality of these ancient vines. A truly magnificent Mosel Riesling that will age beautifully over the next couple decades.
