From Martin Muellen's Brutally Steep Part of the Mosel Totally Different Style Crazy Values for Amazing 2015 Dry Mosel Wines These Wines are a Phenomenon in Germany - 4 Stars in the Top Guide

While the Mosel has traditionally been the top region for sweet wine, it was only relatively recently that it's dry wines became popular.  And while the Brauneberg area of the Middle Mosel has its share of top dry wine producers (e.g. Stefan Steinmetz, Schloss Lieser and our own Licht Stadfeld) the area around Traben-Trarbach is really hot with producers like our own Martin Muellen and Immich Batterieberg.  The vineyards are steep, treacherous and very not fun to work in. As I have gotten older as well my excitement for climbing super steep vineyards has waned. It's hard work. The Ellegrub is insanely steep. And all the bending over. It's labor. Hard unforgiving labor done for the love of Riesling.

I try and have a range of styles in my portfolio and with the demand from the list for German riesling, I actually have 4 styles in my Mosel portfolio.  Martin Muellen has the high acid, concentrated style.  Licht Stadfeld is more fruity and pleasurable.  Clemens I love for feinherbs.  And Caspari is for the mineral heads.  They had a young winemaker when I started working with them and the wines have gotten better and better each year.  2015 is an epic vintage for them with their mineral style complementing the incredible depth and concentration of the 2015 vintage.  And because these wines are from the Mosel (as opposed to the Rheinhessen) they are an incredible value for this level of quality.

2015 is a great vintage in Germany and for Riesling the Mosel is the sweet spot. I've never had a Mosel vintage this great. Yes this approaches and may eclipse 2001 one day. But the key difference between 2001 and 2015 is that in 2001 dry wine was not a thing and not many were good.

Up first is just an absurd value. Usually I highlight the GG style wine first but not today. The 2015 Caspari-Kappel Urschiefer Trocken is $15.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. This is their ortswine level essentially and it is $15.99. It's insane. The wine is heavenly delicious and refreshing and complex. Mineral, pillowy and super pure nose oozing with slate and green apple. Excellent purity, aromatic rockstar. Green apple fruit that cuts like a razor on the palate with terrific acids and such depth. Very pure. Amazing density. Very mineral, good strength and body. The improvement they have made in 2015 is beyond belief. My mouth was left agape. Astonishing QPR. This would sell for $30 ish through 3-tier. Believe me I know I brokered this for a NYC distributor and it was! Kick back a case this Fall. But it can age for 5-6 years. It will never last that long. Total crack.

Up next is the 2015 Caspari-Kappel Ellegrub Riesling Spatlese Trocken "Von Alte Reben" for $22.99 a 4-pack. Again, almost silly ridiculous prices for a wine that is their Grand Cru/ Grosses Gewachs quality wine. Just absurd again. Super deep and concentrated and so complex yet so refreshing. Amazing depth and purity. The wine does not quit. Mineral slathered finish. So long. This is impressive. It is built like a brick house and will age 20+ years. It has so much sap, so much density, so much salinity and Mosel love. It's absurd. The upward improvement combined with the high quality of the vintage makes this one of the best values from a wine region, as I stated before should not be values. But such is life.  

I have said it once, I have said it twice and I will say it screaming from the rooftops, the Ellegrub is the single greatest and more importantly, underrated vineyards in all of the Mosel, if not Germany. I hold it in the same regard as Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Domprobst, Huhnerberg, Juffer-Sonnenuhr and a few more. But because it is in Enkirch it does not get the attention it so readily deserves. But each producer that makes Ellegrub has their own particular spin on it and Caspari's is downright complex as it is drinkable. The purity and freshness, the cooling blue fruit character and the absolutely dazzling purity and simple expressiveness make this wine to special. It has a light, yet enhanced texture that makes you double take, along with vivid apple skin, peach and lime zest fruit that perfectly integrates with Ellegrub's amazing and detailed minerality.

The 15's, like the 13's launch Caspari into a new universe of quality. They work the very steep Ellegrub in the beautiful picturesque village of Enkirch. When I tasted there this past August it was also 99 degrees that day. To be able to taste the 15 Caspari's in a cool tasting room coming in from insane heat was a treat as it almost made the experience more enhanced. Caspari does something so unique. They make complex refreshments. Basically the wines never ever lose this mineral water refreshing quality to them even as they gain in complexity and body as you go up the ladder and also laterally on the ladder with sweetness. It's remarkable. It is also what makes Caspari special. It's also why they are a massive phenomenon in Germany with 4 stars in the Eichellman guide, which is the most important guide for German dry wines.

2015 Caspari-Kappel Ellegrub Spatlese "Von Alte Reben" - $24.99 

($91.96 4-pack) 

2015 Caspari-Kappel Urschiefer Trocken - $17.99 ($63.96 4-pack)