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  • January 2, 2014
  • When to Drink Mosel Riesling

  • by Joachim Krieger

senior_tasting_peter_lauer_bw"It’s a shame to drink young, but…the great classic wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhône, Barolo, and even vintage Port suffer today from the manic trend to drink the wines too young. Much worse: some producers have changed their style accordingly. There is probably only one place among all the famous winegrowing regions in the world that has the inherent characteristics and winemaking traditions to handle these two seemingly opposing capabilities. Authentic Mosel Riesling from the steep slate vineyards can be charming both in its youth and with a bottle age of 10, 20, or 30 years, if not more. Even the mature vintages can show a wonderful freshness—a true Mosel lover has a choice of pleasures! The issue of when to drink is best settled, of course, by the mood, the situation, the day, the night, the hour, the meal…" —Joachim Krieger, author of "The Mosel: Taking the Long View"

Photograph of Joachim Krieger (in black) expounding the virtues of mature Saar Riesling with David Schildknecht (in the middle) and Florian Lauer at a vertical tasting of Peter Lauer “Senior” (vintages 1992–1998) in Sept. 2010.

Joachim Krieger’s articles and essays covering the classic wine regions of Europe have appeared in many publications since 1983. He has written the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Nahe, and Portugal chapters, among others, for several editions of the Slow Food Guide to Wines of the World and is the author of the Portugal section of André Dominé’s Wine. His Terrassenkultur an der Untermosel (Terraces of the Lower Mosel, Edition Krieger, 2003) is the first book to appear in Germany that comprehensively details and classifies all of a subregion’s vineyard sites. Over the years, Joachim has made his home on the Rhine, Mosel, Saar, and Ruwer. The preceding texts are exclusive extracts from his writings intended for a future book about Mosel Riesling, as well as his manifesto Größe der Mosel. ♦