Riesling Marienburg Grosse Lage "Felsterrasse" 2017

A dry steep-slope Riesling that carries the warmth of the 2017 vintage at 13.0% ABV and holds it in shape with taut acidity. A wine with drive, salinity and a long echo, one that puts structure before ease of drinking.

The Marienburg in Pünderich is Clemens Busch's legendary flagship site: eleven of his twenty hectares of steep vineyards lie here. He vinifies the Felsterrasse parcel separately. It sits on Devonian red slate, the rarest of the hill's three slate colours; it stores warmth, releases it slowly and lays a smoky spice beneath the fruit. The 2017 vintage brought late spring frosts on the Mosel followed by a warm, dry summer, producing concentrated, structure-rich wines.

Riesling from old, ungrafted vines whose roots reach up to eight metres deep into the slate rock. This depth was made possible by the absence of herbicides on the soils since 1976. In the cellar, 80 percent of the wines ferment spontaneously in centuries-old 1000-litre oak casks, without cultured yeasts, without enzymes, without fining. Some fermentations take over a year; the long ageing on fine lees adds further complexity.

On the nose, ripe lemon, white peach and apricot, followed by beeswax and dried herbs over a pronounced slate note. The attack is taut, the acidity vibrant, underpinned by a saline minerality. The finish stays dry, spicy and long.

Grilled turbot with herb butter, lobster or scallops, as well as aged hard cheese such as Comté. Enjoyed on its own, the wine needs air and time in the glass.

The capsule colour reveals the soil: red, grey or blue. The estate has worked biodynamically since 1986. Clemens Busch runs it in the seventh generation, today together with his wife Rita and son Johannes.