Hanns-Josef Ortheil

Wine Atlas of Germany

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Where wine wakes the life

View or edit your browsing history. Unlimited One-Day Delivery and more. There's a problem loading this menu at the moment. Get to Know Us. Amazon Music Stream millions of songs. When I first purchased Weinatlas Deutschland several years ago, I noticed right away a number of errors and omissions, as well as questionable rankings. The authors curiously don't even list Willi Schaefer, which is a VDP member and one of the best producers in the region more later on this.

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Wine tendrils and luxuriant oleander bushes which decorate the gabled houses and narrow lanes do the Moselle scenery the south in the north. There was a further building boom in the late 20th century which brought holiday homes. Der Stift und das Papier: This would be a step in the right direction, along with abolishing Grosslage. The fort could house 22, soldiers and 3, horses. He suggested replacing the vaulting, which he found to be too flat and too weak, with a wooden ceiling and improvements to the roof frame.

In my opinion, the authors fail to recognize many of the Mosel's better vineyards and, at the same time, fully back the VDP classification. For the most part, the historically top sites solely owned by non-VDP members are often ranked lower down or at the bottom. The basis of their work, with few exceptions, seems biased in favor of the VDP, plus the maps could be more detailed. They are only slightly topographical. Pigott and Johnson are also wrong that the so-called classic wines are lightly sweet, but that's another matter.

Planet Wissen - Das stumme Kind

What I like are the outstanding topographic maps. In a map of the Middle Mosel, Braatz et al. Yet these are some of the greatest terroirs in the entire Mosel Valley.

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Moreover, most sections of this steep slope have been untouched by Flurbereinigung , a term for the reforming of vineyard land. Hence the terraced sections have old, ungrafted vines. Yet the authors ignore many other first-class sites along the Mosel River. There's no mention of the exciting Klitzekleine Ring , for instance.

Instead, the former head of the Grosser Ring ignored this proposal to include nonmembers' sites. Loewen then patented its own lion emblem to bring more recognition to these vineyards. Here is a list of some of the questionable "other vineyards," which should be ranked higher: And here is a list of some important Mosel and Saar producers missing from the authors' list: Thanisch — Erben Thanisch, Wwe. Getting back to a classification of the Mosel region's vineyards, my grievances about such an enormous undertaking is that it's much more complex than what the authors and other critics make it out to be and it requires more research old wine books, journals, maps, and price lists , experience, and knowledge of the region and its wines.

In fact, three of the leading 19th-century Mosel wine authors—Karl Heinrich Koch, Otto Beck, and Friedrich Wilhelm Koch—didn't feel that a classification of vineyards was feasible for the Mosel. They gave a general ranking but cautioned that all is not first class in the vineyards of Piesport, Brauneberg , Oberemmel, and so on.

And, by the way, no wine critic is truly independent or impartial. Each has his or her favorite growers and wines.

Three rivers Moselle, the Saar and Ruwer and thousand stories

But why do reviewers always highlight this point? Many of the most knowledgeable wine writers work in the trade, like Kermit Lynch or, in the past, Frank Schoonmaker. It's normal, plus they often have more insight. My favorite work about Mosel wine is from the Mainz-based wine broker Karl Heinrich Koch, who wrote a delightful book titled Moselwein , published by von Zabern in In addition, there are sections of hillsides, such as parts of Piesporter Falkenberg, that are underrated.

I will say, however, that it seems odd that so many top Mosel vineyards are unranked, whereas truly lesser vineyards in other regions Rheinhessen, Pfalz have Grosse Lage status. It's hard to understand. Aldegunder Palmberg-Terrassen is an excellent site as well.

On the map from Zell to Bruttig, only Calmont is listed as a "good vineyard. Ulrich Stein, who makes wines from both sites, explained to me that drought-prone vineyards, like Calmont, often lack acidity. I should add, too, that Palmberg has almost exclusively old, ungrafted vines growing in a stony soil of blue and gray slate. It's an impressive terraced vineyard. Yet there are many "other [lesser] vineyards" that can produce outstanding wines.

Lieser, Germany

When I worked the harvest in Winningen, I was impressed with other sites, too, like Domgarten, and not necessarily the highly ranked Im Taubesberg on the Mosel map. The prime Domgarten areas might look less impressive without dry stone walls, but they still have a slate soil and a good exposure. In fact, the Eifel is on the other side of the Mosel River, which cuts between both low mountain ranges see map.

As for Saar wines, I don't find them to have more power than Mosel wines. On the contrary, they usually tend to be a little lighter and brighter, with that harder "steely" component. As for the main soil types, the authors list slate and "greywacke," but I'm fairly certain it's a harder gray slate, not Grauwacke.

Moreover, diabase is not only found in Saarburger Rausch but also in Krettnacher Altenberg and in Avelsbach near Trier. They do, however, mention the damming of the Saar River at Biebelhausen, which changed the mesoclimate there. The authors also point out one of the biggest misconceptions with the wines from the Grosslage Wiltinger Scharzberg , which is often confused with the famous Wiltinger Scharzhofberg. On the Saar map, the book rates, for example, Ayler Kupp as a "good vineyard," because it's "a heterogeneous site.

But didn't they classify it? Perhaps it would have been better to properly rate the Ayler Kupp slope and then list the actual pre names of the other slate hillsides, which are different from the original Ayler Kupp but nonetheless are very good sites, too—Schonfels, Saarfeilser, Rauberg, and Scheidterberg. I enjoy many of the Rausch wines from Zilliken and Dr.

Trier (Germany)

But there are plenty of "other vineyards" that have been ignored on the Saar and Mosel. Do the authors now rank Rausch lower because it has expanded to include those two other lower-ranked sites on the same Saarburger hillside? I don't think so. Here is a list of some of the questionable "other vineyards" on the Saar: Lastly, in the Ruwer chapter, it should be noted that the St. Maximin Benedictine monastery also had important holdings on the Saar, not just on the Mosel and Ruwer.

The authors properly rate Abtsberg "excellent," but they rank both Herrenberg and Bruderberg "superior. Thanks, Lars, for the excellent review. Though few experts, as mentioned above, would rate the wines of Bruderberg in the same class as Herrenberg. Thanks for your thoughtful review, Lars. Your erudition is something which i admire, and i learn something from just about everything that you write. The photographs are stunning, there is abundant information about familiar and unfamiliar regions, and the large maps are great for quick reference or for us wine geeks who savor nuance and detail.

Any book that attempts to create a hierarchy of taste is inevitably going to encounter resistance. The authors of the Atlas recognize this by 1 acknowledging this challenge, and 2 offering detail about thousands of vineyards no matter where they fall in their hierarchy. I consider these discrepancies to be indicative of the ever-changing dynamic of viticulture and, more importantly, a healthy, democratic marketplace of consumption.

Kevin, I appreciate your kind words and I admire your translation of the atlas. The photographer deserves credit, and the authors went well beyond the Rhineland to cover the other regions. In this case, as you indicate, the authors of the Atlas seem to fall more in line than out of line, but i hardly see this as dogmatic or even as all that controversial.

The authors should take notice of these instances, too. The tone is perfect and the book reads easily and well. I appreciate the details provided for each vineyard that is profiled, the photographs are really excellent and the maps are very good.

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For example, Himmelreich surrounds Domprobst and is more varied in the attributes just listed. Is the ranking arbitrary, or does it have to do with who holds property in a given site?

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Of the 21 4- and 5-grape Mosel producers listed in this guide, the only two not listed in the new atlas are the retired Hans Leo Christoffel of J. What about sites that have historic pedigree but are currently lacking a driven, quality-oriented producer? Oberemmeler Raul, Trierer Thiergarten and Ockfener Geisberg were all highly celebrated years ago and are largely forgotten today.

I know next to nothing about Franken, for instance, and found the chapter quite informative. Hey, John, thanks so much for your long comment. You bring up some great points. How can the Nahe which truly has great sites have 21 exceptional vineyards, and the Mosel, Saar, and Ruwer only 13? Rheinhessen has 10 for crying out loud! They do mention about being reluctant to rank a potentially great site higher if it lacks a top producer. Yesterday, David Schildknecht forwarded me a press release from the VDP about the new wine-labeling regulations in Rhineland-Palatinate , which would also enable the registration of pre sites that are listed on cadastral maps.

Thank you for the comprehensive review. I just read about the Atlas last week, and am still probably going to buy a copy, but you have many well-taken points here. First and foremost, I completely agree that the excessive focus on VDP producers undermines the purpose of the book. Thanks for the info about the expansion of Saarburger Rausch.

Last but not least, I am very much with you about these so-called lesser sites. To imply that a wine like this offers no value is patently ridiculous. The expansion of Saarburger Rausch occured in Hanno and Dorothee Zilliken were for this measure, as all the sites are on the same slope of Saarburger Berg. Each has a south-facing slope in a side valley. The vineyard slope in Wawern is similar.