German Pre-Arrivals: Schaefer, Dönnhoff and Adam

7/6/12 -

At the end of May I had the privilege of traveling to Germany to meet with some of our favorite growers and to taste the new vintage. While there were some pretty interesting discoveries (more about those later), I came away more excited than ever about what's happening along the Rhine and its famous tributaries, largely due to the influence of the new generation that's taking over in the cellars. The quality of dry wines has never been higher (and 2011 is a great dry vintage), but lovers of balanced, off-dry and fruity-sweet Riesling have nothing to fear.

​The famous estates continue to produce sweet wines of the highest caliber, and, as is the case at Dönnhoff and Schaefer, the next generation taking over is learning well from the previous. It's heartening to see that as their fathers start to slowly step back, Christoph Schaefer and Conrnelius Dönnhoff also have a gentle hand in the cellar and produce joyful wines with unsurpassed grace, elegance and persistence. Although not featured in this offer, Johannes Haart of Weingut Reinhold Haart deserves a special mention as a member of this group, as the wines here continue to be among the very best in the Mosel. Other young favorites doing great work at their family’s estates include, of course, Florian Lauer, Mathias Knebel and Stefan Steinmetz.

Andreas Adam's parents are not winegrowers, although his grandfather was, and Andreas has revived the family’s old traditions. Having apprenticed at Heymann-Löwenstein and Van Volxem, among others, he's one of the most exciting and talented growers on the Mosel, and has built his estate up from nothing. He reinvests any profits he makes and continues to acquire more parcels in both the Dhroner Hofberg and the Piesporter Goldtröpfchen, though he doesn't want to end up with

​more than 5 hectares (working just 3.7 now). He works the soil on his steep sites, avoiding chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. He's not certified organic because so many of his small parcels abut others that are farmed conventionally, but he is exploring how to get there in the future. As at Dönnhoff, quality is uniformly high, from the entry-level Estate Riesling to the lush and colorful Beerenauslesen.

We had to choose carefully in 2011, as in most of the rest of Europe, since high levels of ripeness are a bit of an issue in Germany. Tasting at each of these estates was a revelation and we proudly stand behind the quality of each wine offered. These three masters produced some of the finest collections of the vintage and are not to be missed. Unlike in previous years, some of the wines are already here in stock for you to get a taste of the vintage, with the rest set to arrive in the fall. We’ve listed those that are currently in the shop first, followed by the pre-arrivals. Please note that pre-arrival items are priced especially low for these wines and no further discounts apply. Standard case discounts apply to the six items that are currently in stock. -jfr