Weiser-Künstler 2023s
Though I was slightly oblivious to German wines in my early days at Chambers Street Wines, and didn't realize I liked Riesling until my 30s (I was born in '82 so I was a little late to the party in 2012, but not too late!), I do remember witnessing something very special during the late 2000s and early 2010s. First, through the pioneering work of Lars Carlberg and his colleague Dan Melia at Mosel Wine Merchants, and then via the visionary Stephen Bitterolf from Vom Boden and our friends at Louis/Dressner Selections, a small and relatively unknown cadre of German wine producers were being introduced to an equally small but slowly growing group of wine nerds in the US. There was a lot of excitement, to the point that one wondered what all the fuss was about... it's just wine right? But to these importers, our staff at Chambers Street (and at Crush Wine Co. and Flatiron Wines, among others), and the US customers, these were not just wines. They were a testament to a long forgotten history of prized vineyard parcels in the Mosel. Many of these vineyards had been abandoned or were on the verge of abandonment, due to how outrageously difficult they were to farm, for low yields, no less. In addition to the fascinating history, and the story of the perseverance of these passionate winemakers (and vineyard saviors), the wines were scintillating, acid-driven, and delicious! One of the estates that was impressing this tiny American audience during these early years was Weiser-Künstler, a small project started in 2005 by Konstantin Weiser and Alexandra Kuenstler. Today we offer 2023s from Weiser-Kuntsler to some of the same folks who got hooked way back when, and the few newcomers who've just recently caught the bug.
-Eben Lillie
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The Weiser-Ku(e)nstler project began in 2005, born of the passionate vision of husband and wife team Konstantin Weiser and Alexandra Kuenstler to give voice and protection to the Mosel’s great, unheralded, endangered steep slate sites. Konstantin takes the lead in the cellar, while Alexandra manages the estate’s affairs; but both are devoted laborers to the vineyards. They are part of the Klitzekleine Ring, a small group dedicated to the preservation of old-vine, terraced sites along the Mosel.
The estate comprises around four hectares, all planted with Riesling. Beginning with a parcel of vines in the Ellergrub from the old Immich estate, this soon expanded to other very steep, largely ungrafted, old vine holdings in Ellergrub, Gaispfad and Steffensberg with the later additions, including Trarbacher Schlossberg. Ellergrub is a very special site, as the Weiser-Künstler 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.
Flowers, bushes, plants, and micro-organisms—the flora and fauna that are crucial to any real concept of terroir—are thriving components of Weiser-Künstler’s sites. Alexandra and Konstantin want a living, vibrant, diverse vineyard and see it as part of their responsibility to protect the ecosystem and maintain its balance. They use no herbicides or pesticides. Machines cannot be used for vineyard work, since the terraces and the vineyards’ steepness do not allow for them to pass through. Instead, the soil is worked by hand, with a hoe, or occasionally with a Wingertsknecht (“vineyard farmhand”), an antiquated tool with a two-stroke engine and winches, which is used to smooth and break up the soil.
The work in the cellar is one of allowance for terroir expression – all wines undergo indigenous-yeast fermentation, which takes place in their particularly cool cellar. They use a combination of stainless steel and old oak Fuder depending on the wine, and rest on their fine lees for several months in order to allow their character to develop fully before bottling relatively late.
The emphasis at Weiser-Künstler is on the creation of light, lilting, low-alcohol wines with noticeable residual sugar that’s always in balance. They are finely detailed, mineral-driven (the Ellergrub site having a wonderfully chalky mineral texture), and subtly, compellingly fruity. No dabbler, drinker, lover, or connoisseur of Riesling should hesitate in getting to know these wines.
(Thanks to Rosemary Gray for the bulk of this informative text from a 2010 Chambers Street article, and to all the folks who wrote and proselytized about these wines in the 2010s and beyond.. John Ritchie, Jonathan Kemp, Cari Bernard and John McIlwain)
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Musings from Stephen Bitterolf, founder of Vom Boden
Let's begin at the beginning.
The husband-and-wife team of Konstantin Weiser and Alexandra Künstler are perhaps the ultimate winemaker's winemakers.
I have never come across any estate, famous or not, that has expressed anything other than awe for what these two do, which is, in short, the following: They farm some of the oldest vines, organically (certified), in the steepest slopes, where there can be no mechanization, in a very wet and humid place, receiving meager yields because of the extreme age of the vines, but also making dazzlingly complex wines that are always delicious but rarely particularly easy.
Many of their bottlings remind me less of wine and more of wildly delicate distillates (with ABVs of 10% or less!) or of very complex spring waters. There is fruit present, especially in the Kabinetts and sweeter Prädikat wines, but even here it is often phenolic - not green apple, but green apple skin, not peach, but peach pith.
Their style is one of the most singular, most unique in the Mosel. These are wines of the earth in a ways that are rarely presented so unadultered.
I have the sense they could get better scores and more attention making easier, fruitier wines. But they make the wines they want to drink, as do most of the greats.
Vintage 2023 is at Weiser-Künstler something of a dream, the wines are airy and intense yet not sharp; all the edges have been smoothly polished. They seem to be among the most friendly of Wei-Kü's more recent vintages, something like the energetic 2020ers yet with more intensity and complexity.
These wines are gems, rare and beautiful.
If they are priced incredibly well for what they are (which is among the greatest wines of the Mosel), the only real restriction is quantity.
The Feinherb is without question the most forward and approachable I've ever had from them, though keep in mind this wine wine normally tastes tart and salty.
The village-level dry Trarbacher is a serious wine, salty and smoky and full of green herbs and zest. It feels like the sharper, saline edge of a Muscadet. I love the directness, the almost rustic linear punch of the wine.
The Gaispfad Kabinett Trocken is for me one of the diminutive masterpieces of the Mosel. This wine and Stein's Palmberg Kabinett Trocken are the two wines that made me realize the greatness of this genre. For me the Gaispfad Kabinett Trocken always tastes like iron and thyme. The 23 edition is airy and intense.
The Steffensberg "im Löwenbaum" Feinherb is their most curious wine, rounder and with more depth, in reality a Spätlese that is fermented almost dry so that the moderate creaminess of the palate is countered by a nearly dry, phenolic grip - the 23 version is lovely, both generous and tart.
When we are talking Kabinetts, the three lineup with their own personalities. The Schlossberg is for me always the lightest and zippiest; it is immediate pleasure. The Sonnenlay is the most elegant, reminding me a bit of the form of a classic middle Mosel Kabinett. The Ellergrub is the masterpiece, the most mineral and dense, the most structured. It's I'd say the most complex and normally the toughest of the Kabinetts, though it's relatively energetic and expressive in 23.
The higher-level Prädikats from Wei-Kü in 2023 are delicious and rare. There is a tiny bit of Ellergrub Spätlese for the U.S. and about half as much Auslese GK. Both are stellar; you can taste the love that Wei-Kü has for these genres.
Finally, being released with roughly two years of bottle age a superb 2022 Sekt Brut Nature comes to market. Their sparkling style is direct and zippy, less brioche and biscuit and more salt, dried herbs and lemon zest. For purists, they are a delight, the salty cut of their best dry wines being even further enlivened by the bubbles.
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