Two new German producers on my radar

Picked up a couple bottles to to try of some really cool new German producers virgin to my experience and both bottles delivered way above my expectations. The first producer is Horst Sauer, based in Eschendorf in the lovely region of Franconia. I am a Franken nut and was remiss when the wine came in today that it was NOT in a bocksbeutel. Oh well. The wine in question was the 2006 Horst Sauer Eschendorfer Lump Silvaner Kabinett Trocken. This was lovely. Shows the richness of the 2006 vintage in spades with a lovely loamy nose and minerals in spades with a nuttiness I always get out of Franconian Silvaner. It is a rich for Silvaner and even a bit rotund but has all those lovely bitter greens and nutty complexity on the finish that Silvaner is famous for. Long and juicy and dare I say, very refined Silvaner. The fruit is all peaches and apricots with some nice sweet bitter greens and a lovely fleshiness. The balance is fantastic. A warm, fun and happy wine. Lovely chalkiness on the finish and powdery tannins. My first experience with Sauer and hopefully not my last. If I had to explain Sauer in one sentence it would be - - - -Undeniably Franconian with lovely minerality and refinement with a polish that separates them from the pack. I do know he is much more famous for his noble sweet wines than his dry wines.


The next producer is one our own Levi D. has been telling me to try and that is Laible. The bottle was the 2006 Laible Durbacher Plauerlain Riesling Kabinett Trocken. Hailing from Baden this stuff rocked. All about texturem, concentration and purity. There was so much sappy, citrus (tangerine, tangelo fruit) fruit presented in such a layered form it was quite compelling. There was a wonderful elegant texture but there was no lack of grit in this wine. This wine had true grit and was so drinkable. The density of the citrus fruit was remarkable and there was no shortage of minerality. I need to get me some for my cellar that is for sure. A lovely wine and someone permanently on my radar.

I love it when I discover two new producers I love. So many more out there. The quality of German wine has never been higher and now that there is more exposure more great wine will be brought into the country.