Weiser-Künstler 2012s: In stock now and more coming!
7/31/13 -
(They love owls at Weiser-Künstler. Here one holds a picture of the Ellergrub.)
We keep beating the drum for this tiny Mosel estate, and we’re particularly thrilled to offer the 2012s. Given the small size of the estate and the high quality of the wines, the demand for W-K is rising to Willi Schaefer-like proportions and for good reason. Fortunately for us—and you—the word still isn't out about W-K, and the estate's growing reputation hasn't yet caught up to where it deserves to be. The Schaefer comparison is also apt in other ways: Konstantin Weiser and Alexandra Künstler are showing that they are able to craft classic Mosel wines with as much delicacy, intricacy and mineral-laden detail as the legendary family estate in Graach. We love the diversity of styles that is thriving today in the Mosel, but the mid-century, delicately sweet tradition that Schaefer excels at is a special one, and it's going to be carried on in the best of hands.
What makes the quality of the wines so high? First, their meticulous attention to detail; everything in the vineyard is done by hand, and unlike most German estates, they use no pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers. They're always working in the vines, as caring for steep sites like these without relying on chemicals is more than a full time job. Second, the Ellergrub is a very special site, as these bottlings—as well as those of Gernot Kollmann at Immich-Batterieberg—have proven. In addition to the site's great southwest exposure and all broken blue-slate terroir, there's been no Flurbereinigung (vineyard restructuring in which old, ungrafted vines are ripped up and craggy, characterful hillsides are flattened), so the vines are all old and ungrafted, bringing beautiful density and complexity to the base material with which they are working.
Some of the wines are already here, including the 2012 Ellergrub Kabinett and the 2012 Gaispfad Feinherb. The delicious Gaispfad Kabinett Trocken will be here soon (feel free to ask to reserve some), and the Spätlese and TBA will arrive in the fall. -jfr
