Lauer Power: 2023 Edition
It's Lauer time! Some 2023s have arrived and are hitting shelves around the city soon. We will kick the article off with remarks on Florian Lauer, from beloved former colleagues John Ritchie and Cari Bernard, both of whom are now integral parts of the dynamic Vom Boden team! We follow with some prose on the 2023 Lauers from our friend Stephen Bitterolf, of Vom Boden, the importer of these fine wines.
"Florian Lauer has been working as primary wine maker at Lauer for the past several years, continuing the estate's five-generation tradition of artisanal, single vineyard wine from the steep slopes of Ayler Kupp in the Saar. These are singular wines, most of which are site-specific according to the traditional sub-sections of Ayler Kupp. They almost entirely fermented with wild yeasts to feinherb levels with low alcohol. Their mineral-driven delicacy is balanced by impressive concentration resulting from extended time on the lees, and the precision and focus typical of the high-acid Saar. These wines are simply some of the most impressive to cross our palates in recent memory." -John Ritchie from a 2011 article.
"Florian Lauer is a font of knowledge, which flows from him with such casual confidence, that it becomes clear that he is deeply invested in all the facets of his life’s work. Looking back at my notes on the wines, there is a lot to revisit. Thank goodness for notes. I would have never remembered off-hand that Lambertskirch was replanted using selection massale cuttings from 5 different old vine vineyards along the Mosel, or that this was the specific tasting in which Tobias coined my new favorite Riesling tasting term "dog-whistle acidity." I don't have a photographic memory (or even that great of a short-term one), but I do remember on a visceral level how much I loved these wines, some of which were still barrel samples at the time. A few of those bottles won't be with us until January or February, but until then, we have lots to drink!
Along with the Grosses Gewächs (GG) bottlings, Weingut Peter Lauer is known for their dry-tasting wines: those Rieslings that do not ferment fully trocken, but have enough acidity to be harmonious and bright, not saccharine and cloying. The Saar is an ideal region for this style, with cooler winds helping to temper the sunny weather, keeping acidity levels high in the grapes. Florian is currently farming some of the finest sites in the Saar, and has taken huge steps to preserve their integrity. He has gone so far as to petition to be able to use the original site names on his labels, which from 1971 until 2014, wasn’t allowed by law." -Cari Bernard, from a 2016 article.
[Florian Lauer]
From Stephen Bitterolf of Vom Boden:
"Maybe we should preface the good news regarding the arrival of Lauer's 2023ers with a bit of bad news, not to sour the mood but to set expectations and explain what will be a quirky release schedule. In April, many of Germany's vineyards were damaged greatly by frosts; side valleys and the cooler regions not protected by larger bodies of water were affected the most. The Saar was hit hard. At the moment, Lauer estimates he lost around 60% of the 2024 harvest. He wrote to me it's the worst they've had since 1981."
And now the good news!
"Lauer's collection from 2023 is simply a do-not-miss highlight of the vintage. I never want to take these sorts of things for granted: even giants sometimes stumble. Yet the cooler side valley of the Saar seems to have benefited in the warm 2023 vintage. The valley's famous winds kept things cleaner and the acids higher. Lauer did not miss the chance to put his stamp on 2023.
To some extent, the collection defies the vintage. If there is a heady, perfumed opulence that threads its way through many of the wines of 2023, Lauer's bottlings were some of the only wines on our March and April tasting trips that felt restrained, almost austere. They are savory and über-mineral - they have a truly supernal clarity to them. There is more soil here than in many vintages; you taste the site(s).
The generous water of the vintage (a saving grace after the horribly dry year of 2022) brought plenty of nutrients into the wines; the fermentations were powerful and quick. Therefore we also have one of the driest vintages at Lauer. For the first time ever "Senior" fermented dry (it stopped with 10 grams residual sugar) - it can legally be called "Trocken." Lauer's "Unterstenberg" is dry as well, for only the second time. The wine is so layered and complex, smoke and mineral, flower and soil. It has punch... and grip. The same is true of the "Neuenberg," a wine that normally has a fierce glaze to it. In 2023 the wine has density and grip, but also a lightness, even a delicacy.
The Saar, at least in Lauer's deft hands in 2023, is expansive and compact.
Again and again and again tasting Lauer's wines, I think to myself: There is no one else in Germany who makes wines like this. Wine is time, and if we are going to have to deal with the loss of 2024 - for the moment we can focus on celebrating 2023. And there is much to be celebrated here.
