Weiser-KünstlerRiesling Gaispfad Grand Cru (750ml)

The Grand Cru dry wines of Weiser-Künstler are among the most cerebral dry Rieslings made in the Mosel. They are wines of meditation, wines that seem to have something more to do with distillates or teas made from stone, ore and flower. They have very little easy fruit to hang one’s hat on. In other words, they are among the most thrilling wines from this fabled place.

Gaispfad is always one of my favorite wines from the Mosel, and from Wei-Kü. This is one of the most beguiling, forest/fruit noses in the wine world, with a perfumed nose that quivers between tart alpine strawberries (there are tons of wild strawberries in the vineyard), tart blueberries, melon – herbal elements that recall quinine, with a complex forest medley of pine needles, tulip stalks framed by an iron-rich slate, a just fantastical array of minerality and flakey sea salt – it feels so tactile, like it’s right in front of your nose. There is something fatty and meaty here too, raw – like a steak freshly strewn with salt before grilling. The wine is finely woven, delicate, porcelain in nature, lean and airy, defined yet not aggressive or cut – it is as if every sharp angle has been finely polished, like a stone that’s been rounded by centuries of glacial water.

On the palate, there is a diffuse yet energizing array of mellow citrus, a sunrise of earth and citrus. If you can, do not decant, yet keep the wine open for as long as you can; it is only more intriguing on days three and beyond.

How this elemental wine comes from fruit I do not understand.