Wines of Schloss Lieser

5/24/10 -

Thomas Haag, son of the owner of the Fritz Haag Estate, has been general manager and cellarmaster at Schloss Lieser since the harvest of 1992. At the time he took the reigns, the estate was somewhat dilapidated; he spent several years repairing, and finally bought the estate in1997 comprising 9 hectares in some of the top sites around Lieser including Niderberg Helden and Brauneberger Juffer and Juffer Sonnenuhr.

Thomas Haag only cultivates Riesling grapes from vineyards along the Mosel River. All face south or south-west; and all have a typical stony, slate soil and steep slopes of up to 80% grade.

The wine-making philosophy as Schloss Lieser is aligned with tenets for quality traditional wine – low yields, hand-harvesting and selection, mild care in the cellar allowing natural yeast to guide fermentation after a soft pressing. Fermentation is halted at the right point by temperature control and a gentle separation from the yeast. The wines are stored in both traditional German fuder and stainless steel.

Stylistically, these wines show great character and typicity of Mosel Riesling, with slightly wild iris aromatics. They lean toward a riper, fruity style balanced by integrated, fresh-lime acidity. These wines have great character and show off the charm of residual sugar – great wines to pair with anything spicy. The 2008 vintage brought even more verve to their modus operandi with brilliant, racy acidity.