Tasting through Lauer’s collection I was startled, once again, by how singular Florian’s style is. The wines have texture and (apparent) weight, yet, somehow the second they make contact with your palate they evaporate, they explode – like a drop of cold water hitting a sizzling pan. The wines seem to expand to fill whatever space they can, incisive and saturating, voluptuous in ways, yet also weightless.
Important in this year’s discussion of style are notes from the 2021 Vintage Report:
“Fear not the Feinherb, the Halbtrocken, the curious Rieslings that float in this beautifully grey area, neither truly dry nor off-dry. While these wines evade our instinctual yearning to make everything binary, either a 0 or a 1, white or black, dry or not dry – the truth is always more complicated, more beautiful, more perfect and unknowable.
With vintage 2021, these wines are even more quixotic, structured, bracing and salty – in other words, they are awesome. In youth, for the next 6-12 months, they are going to be freakishly, sneakily, incredibly dry-tasting.”
This sums up so much of what makes Lauer’s collection so incredibly compelling in 2021. Barrel X and the village level off dry wines have a nearly impossible to describe balance that is practically shivering with nervous energy.
If you are lucky enough to track down any of the Kabinetts, they are incredibly cutting, linear and vibrant with a certified wallop of acidity. For the first time ever, Florian made a Kabinett from the historic Schonfels vineyard in 2021, if you know the history of this absurdly steep and special Saar site, you know it is worth the hunt.
The dry wines often need time in bottle to show, or a healthy decant, but in 2021 they are showing right now, and showing incredibly. There is no question that there is a backbone of acid and structure for the wines to age, but take this moment to enjoy how incredibly delicious these wines are out of the gate.
Below we have an in depth vineyard tour including the GG sites that will be released later this fall, and an overview of the collection that has just landed stateside. As always, if you need help tracking down these wines in your area, either as a consumer or professional buyer, email us at orders@vomboden.com—your friendly vom Boden operators are standing by and happy to assist!
We begin with an overview shot of the Mosel—the pin is dropped in Piesport where Julian Haart’s main sites are. Up in the top right of the screen you can see Traben Trarbach where Weiser-Künstler and Vollenweider are and a few bends of the river beyond that is Alf where Ulli Stein and Phil Lardot are. We then take a brief stop in the village of Ayl where the winery is located in the heart of the Saar.
Now moving to two eastern facing slopes we have the Rauberg and the Scheidterberg which circle around the backside of the village. The village wine No. 25 comes from Rauberg and the coolness brings the intense saltiness and bright acidity. Scheidterberg is considered a kind of 1er cru, nearly grand cru especially in the center where the warm section is facing south.
Next with slide five is the south-east kind of tail of the Ayler Kupp–called “Wald” on old maps–where there are 70 year old plus ungrafted vines. This is where the wine called “Senior” comes from, named in honor of Florian’s grandfather who loved this wine and would frequently reserve the cask from this site for personal consumption.
Then, the Kern, one of the most complete of the Ayler Kupp wines as it has a whole cross section from top to bottom, named after the industrialist who cleared this site in the 19th century. The vines are old here, well over 70-years-old, so the wine has some stuffing. It is well in that off-dry style, yet, with Lauer, it’s always about the balance.
Next is the curious Neuenberg, one of the most historically important parcels in the Ayler Kupp. This site has wet fields directly below which create a cool and damp haze around the vines, leading to very clean and good botrytis, giving a concentration and slight exotic quality to the wines from this small site. Florian’s father planted these vines with future generations in mind, as the site was still too cold to make great wine in his day.
We arrive at the warmest and oldest part of the Ayler Kupp with slide eight. First with Unterstenberg. Even in Roman times they noticed the snow melted quickly in this area and planted grapes in the earliest farming of the Saar. This is the foot of the hill and benefits from hundreds of years of weathering of the slate at the top of the slope, the topsoil here is full of slate rocks.
Next is the “Filet” section of the Kupp where the GG comes from, this was replanted in 1956 by Peter Lauer Senior and this is the steepest and warmest part of the slope. It is perhaps the most elegant of the GG wines, with fine layers and a suave, polished finesse—it has both fruit and depth and mineral core of slate and salt.
Finally at the top is Stirn, translating to Forehead or the summit of the slope. Here there is very little water and the interplay of that and the coolness of the stone makes a kind of baby Kabinett, usually quite off dry and soaringly angelic.
The Kupp’s east side is where wines such as No. 3 come from, a kind of spiritual kin to the Stirn wine. Again, this is another area that has benefited tremendously from the warming climate, now turning out wines of incredible finesse and balance.
Further south in the village is one of the greatest sites of the Saar called Schonfels with 107 year old vines. While the vineyard has always had a huge reputation, Florian’s father let the site go fallow in the 1980s. The reason? It’s too damn expensive and too difficult and dangerous to farm—because the site is so steep and “ends” in a rock face that drops a few hundred feet to a street below, harvesters must be harnessed in, via a carabiner, to a tractor parked at the top of the vineyard. There can be no slipping here; it is truly a matter of life and death. Florian’s decision, in the late 2000s, to rehabilitate this site was equal parts daring, brilliant, insane, and potentially financially crippling to the estate.
Lambertskirch is the next small site on slide thirteen, cleared of the overgrown brush in 2010 by Florian, this was another reclaimed site like Schonfels but unfortunately the vines needed to be replaced—replanted from selection massale cuttings of the oldest Riesling vines at the estate.
We move to the north with the Sonnenberg which is a site that has come online in the last few decades thanks to the Saar channel that now warms this site—previously it was hit hard with frost—this is where a number of off dry Village level Rieslings come from.
Finally is the only site that is not on slate, but on gravel—Feils is a unique site for the Saar in a number of ways. First, you’ll note that it is right up against the Saar river. The Feils is unique in its rather direct relationship with the river. Second, because the river pushes up against and flows around the vineyard, the site has a good amount of alluvial soil, especially toward the bottom. Feils is a warm site; it is also sneakily steep. Convex like a spoon, the vineyard begins mildly as you walk through it heading down to the river. However, as one reaches center-slope the incline becomes quite severe. The lowest third of the vineyard is extremely steep. The wine this site produces is one of the most textural and luscious of the GGs; from the beginning it can show a rather broad range of fruit and spice. It also tends to drink earlier than Lauer’s other GGs, though obviously this can change vintage to vintage.
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2021 Lauer “Barrel X” ~$25
“Barrel X” is winemaker Florian Lauer’s Platonic ideal of what a slightly off-dry (feinherb) Saar Riesling should be. If we were in Burgundy, this would be the equivalent of a “Bourgogne Blanc.” As an appellation-level wine, it is sourced from multiple vineyards in four different villages of the Saar: Ayl (Lauer’s home village), Saarburg, Wawern and Wiltingen. Florian says, “From Ayl and Wawern, the wine gains the fruit and power, from Saarburg the racy acidity, and from Wiltingen, the spice.” Regardless of what comes from where, this much is certain: dollar for dollar, I’m not sure there is a 750ml bottle that delivers as much joy and zing. This is the gateway drug to Lauer, to the Saar, to Riesling… be careful. Very addictive.
2021 Lauer Ayler Village Level No. 6 “Senior” ~$30
One of the greatest values in German white wine—period! This is declassified grand-cru wine, sourced from a parcel of the Kupp with 70+ year old ungrafted vines. An iconic bottling, dry-tasting though not legally dry.
2021 Lauer Ayler Village Level No. 4 Feinherb ~$30
A village-level off dry, sourced from top parcels in the Scheidterberg and Rauberg; though the wine has about 37 grams residual sugar per liter, it has beautiful acidity and lift; it feels like a baby Kabinett. Incredibly light and dancing. Stunning.
2021 Lauer Ayler Village Level No. 25 Trocken ~$30
This is only the second year we are able to offer a bit of this wine! This is a village-level dry wine sourced from two sites (Scheidterberg and Rauberg) that circle around the backside of the village. Historically a bit chilly, these sites are now coming into a glorious place and the sorta jaw-dropping quality of “Barrel X” is a testament to these sites. The wine is all cut and clear and vigorous – old school Saar! — some reduction but focussed and clear.
2021 Lauer Grand Cru No. 12 “Unterstenberg” ~$45
Over the thirteen years I’ve been closely following Florian’s wines the Unterstenberg (sourced from the lower part of the Kupp mountain, “unter” the “berg”) has shed sugar, from a bit under 20, to then 15 and now since 2019, even lower. The wine is completely dry for 2021 at under 7 grams residual sugar. I love it in this dry / drier form, with the schmaltzy, glycerin depth of the mid-palate emphasized and defined by the acidity’s cut and lift.
2021 Lauer Grand Cru No. 9 “Kern” ~$45
“Kern” is named after the 19th century industrialist that cleared this more-western part of the Kupp; it is a small parcel that spans the entire top-to-bottom reach of the Kupp. Thus, for me, the wine always has something of the lift and rigor of “Stirn” and something of the depth of wines like “Neuenberg” and “Unterstenberg.” The vines are old here, well over 70-years-old, so the wine has some stuffing. It is well in that off-dry style, yet, with Lauer, it’s always about the balance.
2021 Lauer Grand Cru No. 15 “Stirn” ~$50
For me, always one of Lauer’s most angelic, soaring wines. Sourced from the top of the Kupp mountain, the vines here are battered by the wind and there is little soil and little water; it is a struggle up here. The wine, however, shows just a soaring tension, an amazing linearity. I love this damn wine.
2021 Lauer Grand Cru No. 17 “Neuenberg” ~$58
As with the “Unterstenberg,” the “Neuenberg” this year comes close to dry and is one of the more curious wines Florian makes. It is sourced from a cherry parcel in the Grand Cru Kupp, one that sees the cool morning sun as well as the warmer afternoon sun and, situated as it is mid-slope, it can often have a bit of mist or fog lingering about. Sometimes there is just a touch of very very good, very clean botrytis that Florian will keep in the wine, adding to it a certain exotic textural component, glycerin polished down to its mineral core. It is a profound testament to what Lauer can do, what Riesling can do. It is also always one of the rarest wines.
2021 Lauer Grand Cru Kupp Kabinett No. 8 ~$36
This Kabinett is sourced from the Kupp; power and extreme rigor – this sports 45 grams residual sugar with about 11 grams acidity. Teeth-shatteringly delicious and incredibly finessed and light this vintage.
2021 Lauer Grand Cru Schonfels Kabinett ~$58
Florian Lauer has made his first-ever Kabinett from the Schonfels vineyard, a spine-tingling site with 100-year-old ungrafted vines that is simply one of the most daunting sites of the Saar.
2021 Lauer Grand Cru Lambertskirch Kabinett ~$58
This is another site that Florian cleared and replanted, just a stone throw from Schonfels. Here the vines had to be replanted from 100+yr old selection massale RIesling from Schonfels and other Grand Cru sites. With younger vines, this wine always shows a bit more exotic, but of course with an intense amount of substance, complexity and focus. Something along the lines of an Auslese from the 1990’s with 60g of RS and almost 10g of Acidity.