- Impossible to Work 70 Degree Slopes
- Wines of Brilliant Minerality, Clarity and Precision
- Super Small Production
- Like Nothing Else in the Portfolio
Two Brilliant Young Winemakers, Artists, on Their Own Path
2016 Materne & Schmitt Winninger Hamm Riesling Trocken
- Intense and Majestic
- Slatey Minerality That Is Almost Spicy
- Citrus Fruit and Richness
- Insane Balance - Just a Brilliantly Well Made Wine
- A Wine of Contemplation that Will Improve with Age
2016 Materne & Schmitt Winninger Riesling
- No Decant Needed - Gorgeous on Open
- Beautiful Yellow Fruits, Brilliant Minerality, Acidic Balance
- Amazing Value for "1er Cru" at $24.99
The trip to the Terrasenmosel is like something out of a movie. As you wind back and forth along the
Rebecca and Janina
The winemakers are incredibly talented and, perhaps because of the terroir, perhaps because they started the winery on a shoestring, they are doing things totally differently from anyone else in my portfolio. I really spend a huge amount of time with the goal of finding the unknown, different winemakers. The artists. So that I can expand they styles of wines that I, and you, get to taste.
What Are the Wines Like?
Terrasen means terrace in German. And many vineyards in this region have terraces. They are so steep that it would be impossible to cultivate them without terraces (unless you had mountain goats as workers). They also have no machines for the vineyard because of the steepness of the slopes. The wines are so unique. The lower Mosel minerality is just vastly different than the classic slate you get in the Middle Mosel. It's more of a smokey/salty minerality which I find utterly irresistible. It gets warmer in the Terrasenmosel than the Middle Mosel so sometimes in warmer vintages the wines can be flabby. I hate that. But not here. I tasted 14s, 15s and 16s and these passed perhaps the hardest test in the wine world test to pass, and that is the Fass acidity Riesling test. I need the acidity to POP in the Rieslings I import. But not at the sacrifice of balance. These have that acidic energy and tension for days. The wines, stylistically, are all between 11-12% alcohol, more at 11-11.5 range which is the perfect moderate amount, in my view, to achieve the perfect Mosel moderately fruited yet intense dry Riesling. Martin Müllen also regularly achieves these alcohol levels. It's just perfect. They are playful yet incredibly serious with lovely fruit but not so much fruit that it overwhelms the minerality and secondary flavors. These are mineral-driven Rieslings with superb balance, grace, palate presence and most of all the unique mineral character of Riesling from the Terrasenmosel. It's vastly different from the Middle Mosel but just as delicious and engaging. There are vastly fewer wineries than there are in the Middle Mosel. It's a small community essentially. And the winemakers are real trailblazers to be making wine here. Partially because of the slopes but also because marketing is hard because they are so far from the rest of the Mosel. Of course, that's great for us because the wines have been relatively unknown and are incredible values (although this is changing).
The Story
My introduction to Materne & Schmitt is a curious one. In August I was on a mission for new Pinot Noir Estates. I had more top quality Riesling than I could shake a stick at and if I tasted any Riesling it had to be so unreal, so unique and so distinctive that my hand was forced because the wines were so great that I had no choice but to work with them. Well that happened, ironically when I was tasting with Tobias Feiden of Marbleous. Tobias Feiden, the winemaker of Marbleous', girlfriend is Rebecca Materne who is one half of the brilliant dry Riesling specialists of the Terrasenmosel. The other half is Janina Schmitt and they are best friends who met at the famous Geisenheim wine school. They have no winemaking heritage or lineage. So they started, like Enderle & Moll, as a bootleg operation. Sven Enderle made his first Pinot Noir in a bathtub lest we forget. Rebecca and Janina did not make their first Riesling in a bathtub but the way they work and what they do has been somewhat dictated by the fact they have no winemaking family background. Basically they had no money. So they didn't have much if any winery equipment.
Tobias asked me if I wanted to to taste Rebecca's wines. It was a no brainer for me. I'd always loved the wines of my friend, Matthias Knebel, and the father figure of the region, Richard Hermann-Lowenstein as well. These were perfect Terrasenmosel Rieslings. I was stunned by their impossible beauty. 2016 is their 5th vintage. Like Martin Müllen the wines are all good and it was impossible to decide what to sell first. The fact they are getting recognition and fame in Germany and in the USA with great reviews from Mosel Fine Wines and David Schildknecht of Vinous Media means the already small production is selling out. Today I'll have three wines on offer because for two of them I have a strict allocation. The other one is a story unto its own. The 2016s that Rebecca and Janina made are beautiful wines. Crystalline in their precision but yet also wild, feral, smokey and mineral. Awesome combo.
The climate and wines are radically different than the Middle Mosel.
I've got two wines today that are silly good for the price and from the vineyard and village that Matthias Knebel made famous, Winningen. I love Winningen and have spent an inordinate amount of time there. It's not very big but surrounding it are some of the most majestic vineyards in the world. The swath of vineyards in this area of the Mosel offer some of the most breathtaking views you will ever see with steep steep slopes and small villages spotted in between. The wines can be dramatic and breathtaking as well. Winningen has a warmer climate, as it is an hour south, and Hamm in particular has the highest average temperature of the famous sites in Winningen. Bruckstuck being another. I've got a 1er Cru and Grand Cru today and these wines exhibit the best of what 2016 has to offer. These interpretations of Winningen Riesling are some of my favorites now after tasting so much of Matthias' magnificent wines from Winningen. These are chiseled like the steep slate slopes, with a reserved exotic character and terrific snap due to the low alcohol clean, refreshing yet intense style of Materne $ Schmitt. I love this clean refreshing style of dry wine, especially in a warmer region.
Up first is the Grand Cru, the 2016 Winninger Hamm Riesling Trocken for $32.99 a bottle on 4-Pack. This is a ridiculous bottle of Riesling and the debut vintage. It's from 50 year old vines and is just so intense and majestic. It shows the warmth and richness of Hamm while also being balanced but a wonderful refreshing quality. There is tons of yellow fruit and citrus on the nose and a sense of richness but the palate just snaps you back as it is richness allied with incredible acidity and spice. Yes this is a spicy Riesling, as are others from Winningen. It's very distinctive and appealing. The palate is majestic in every way. Rich, enormously juicy and complex with tons of wonderful unique slate tones. There is so much there and it is so complex but remains insanely balanced like only Mosel can be. It's very elegant Riesling and offers great texture. It's super pure and finishes earthy with tons of stoney slate. It's insanely juicy and just echoes on the finish. There is an ethereal quality to this wine as it is only 11.5% alcohol which is about as perfect as it gets for dry Mosel Riesling. It's a beautiful airy yet very serious wine and one that will greatly benefit from medium term aging. In 2-4 years this will be much much better wine. This got a 92 from Mosel Fine Wine. The excellent review is below.
"The 2016er Winninger Hamm is a full dry Riesling (4.2 g/l of residual sugar) which comes from two new parcels added in 2016 and planted with well over 50 year-old vines in the terraced parts of the vineyard. A part (one quarter) of the wine was fermented and aged in a used 300-liter cask. It offers gorgeous scents of greengage, gooseberry, cassis, ginger and flowery elements wrapped into quite some smoky elements on the nose. The wine proves elegant and medium-bodied on the palate and leaves a gracefully zesty feel of tart minerals, greengage and fine spices in the superbly airy and elegant finish. This beauty with not more than 11.5% of alcohol is still a little bit rough on the edges and will really benefit from bottle aging." 92 MFW
Now the 1er Cru, the 2016 Materne & Schmitt Winninger Riesling for $24.99 a bottle on a 4-Pack. This is an insane steal. All my Molsheim lovers out there? All my Müllen Kabinett lovers out there? All my Laible lovers out there? This wine is for you. It's stupid good yet playful joyful and so so drinkable. It's the only Fass Selections wine that does not need 10 hours to breathe! I kid I kid. Kind of. This is Saturday afternoon sipping somewhere chill type of Riesling. The yellow fruit character is the first thing that grabs you from the nose. It's just fantastic and backed up by stacks of minerals. An intriguing herbal character complicates things. Floral as well. It's something so engaging yet so playful. The palate is mineral, deep, complex, layered and just so awesome. It is at once playful yet serious as well. It's kind of the type of wine that can be what you what it to be. This could be served with the first few courses of summer fare as well later in the day. Love wines that have that aspect. A serious and playful side. The finish is deep and complex but also conveys a sense of lightness and snappiness. It's very fresh and extremely precise. This will be one of the first wines i open for my Fall shipment. I cannot wait to have it again. This got 90 Pts from Mosel Fine Wine. The review is below.
"The 2016er Winninger Riesling is a dry-tasting wine from Estate's holdings in the Brückstück, Röttgen, Hamm and steep hill parts of Domgarten. It offers a beautiful nose of greengage, elderflower, ginger and pear. The wine is nicely playful with medium body and great flavors mingling greengage, lemon and herbs on the palate. The finish is mineral, tart and elegantly balanced. This is a little beauty which marries spicy presence with finesse." 90 MFW
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