Riesling Marienburg Grosses Gewächs "Fahrlay Terrassen" 2023

A bone-dry Mosel Riesling of pure energy that draws its impact not from fruit but from smoke and slate. A wine of rock whose depth increases with years in the bottle: well worth cellaring.

The Pünderich vineyard Marienburg Fahrlay sits on predominantly bright blue slate, with a high clay content and a small proportion of limestone particles. The terraces form a small section within the Fahrlay, very stony and south-facing, with vines more than 100 years old. The rock gives the wine tension and minerality. Clemens Busch, now in the seventh generation, farms 20 hectares of steep slopes, 11 of them in the Marienburg; the oldest vines root as deep as eight metres into the slate. He stopped using herbicides in 1976, and has been working biodynamically since 1986.

Riesling, 12.5% vol., dry. After harvest and sorting comes an extended skin contact period, then very slow, gentle pressing and spontaneous fermentation. Clarification happens through sedimentation, without cultured yeasts, enzymes or fining. The wine matures in traditional 1000-litre Mosel oak casks, with a long rest on the fine lees.

Slate, smoke and a few touches of lemon and apple, alongside white currants, grapefruit, mint and jasmine. Juicy and mouth-watering, concentrated and complex, at once weightless and grounded, with a light salinity, subtle phenolics and a polished texture. Freshness and length carry far.

At Clemens Busch, the capsule colour reveals the soil: red, grey, blue. Here it's the blue slate, standing for mineral freshness. A dedicated bottling from a small, century-old plot of vines in the Fahrlay.