2016 Weingut Haart, Riesling Spätlese, Piesporter, Mosel, Germany.
At ten years old now, the Haart Piesporter Spätlese is showing good evolution, but still lovely and fresh in detail with classic Mosel slate influences with flint, smoke and a slight petrol note coming out in the glass with off dry medium bodied palate showing golden apple, lime, pineapple, honeyed peach and quince paste to start, along with candied ginger, wet stone, rosewater and verbena. The secondary elements are subtle, hinted at with the deeper golden hue, but cut into the residual sugars here, giving a balanced less overtly sweet and more mature Spätlese to enjoy in its prime here. I haven’t done a lot of the Reinhold Haart wines, which are very limited here in the States, so it was fun to try this nicely aged Spätlese, thank you Christian Adams of the Germany Wine Collection, who turned a few friends on to this wine a few years back, it really has entered a good phase and is very rewarding. The sweeter Rieslings are better with food, especially cured meats, medium spicy Asian cuisine, and pork dishes, and this one is no different, lingering on with dried apricots and lovely mineral charm. The famed Piesporter vineyard, on the north-bank of the river is one of Germany’s most iconic wine regions, located on a steep, south-facing bend of the Mosel River it has long been a source for top notch wines. Piesporter is famous for its ancient Roman origins and deep slate soils, and has long been noted for proving world-class grapes, that make for aromatic and stylish Rieslings. I love Riesling and while I drink the drier ones most of the time, older Spätlese often are fabulous, as this wine shows, and better still they are bargains for wine enthusiasts.
This wine is sourced from the historic Peisport Vineyard a VDP Grosse Lage site or Grand Cru, which according to the winery, has a south facing slope of loamy grey slate soil above the village of Piesport and is always a place to look to for quality and value in German Riesling. Even in hot and dry vintages water supply is sufficient due to the woods above the vineyards and Haart says the yelds are kept very low (around 35hl/ha) to achieve a maximum of flavor during the long ripening period. The Haart family goes bank in Mosel winemaking or growing to 1337 and seen a lot of history in the region, with Johannes and Marcus Haart leading this old estate, sometimes referred to as Reinhold Haart, these days. The winery is on the Mosel riverbank and immediately behind the family’s home, the Piesporter and the prestigious Goldtröpfchen parcel begins its steep uphill climb, and only a few steps from the winery are the remains of the first and oldest Roman grape pressing house that was unearthed along the Mosel. Johannes says they, for the Kabinett and Spätlese, typically hand-picked the grapes and they quickly crushed and pressed carefully right after arrival at the winery, staying cool from vines to the cellar. After a 24 hour settling period the must is fermented at low temperatures with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks, after which this wine usually sees between 6 to 9 months on the lees before bottling, all to preserve freshness and detail. During the Summer months I love the low alcohol, with 7.5 to 8.5 percent ABV, refreshing nature of off dry Kabinett Rieslings, which Haart does very well, but sometimes with spicy food these slighter more dense, sweeter style Spätlese Rieslings are the better choice and this one is delicious and again in a sublime window.
($35-45 Est.) 92 Points, grapelive