Riesling Marienburg Grosses Gewächs "Falkenlay" 2023

The Riesling Marienburg Grosses Gewächs "Falkenlay" 2023 is a dry Mosel Riesling from a south-facing steep slope in Pünderich, combining richness with cool minerality. The southern exposure brings yellow fruit and a creamy texture, while the grey slate lends the stony character that keeps the wine fresh.

The Marienburg Falkenlay vineyard lies between Fahrlay and Rothenpfad, facing south, on predominantly grey slate with a fair amount of weathered rock and limestone content. Clemens Busch cultivates 20 hectares of steep vineyards, eleven of them in the Marienburg, whose three slate colours he makes legible through the colour of the capsule. He stopped using herbicides in 1976, and the estate has worked biodynamically since 1986; the oldest vines root as deep as eight metres into the slate rock.

Riesling. After harvest and sorting, the grapes undergo a period of skin contact, then are pressed very slowly and with little pressure; fermentation proceeds spontaneously. Clarification happens through sedimentation, with nothing added beyond small doses of sulphur. Ageing takes place in traditional Mosel fuder casks of 1,000 litres.

The nose brings together yeast, almond cream and a touch of cinnamon with apricot, apple and tart apple peel, alongside mint, mustard seed, crushed damp slate, a little flint, lanolin and citrus notes. On the palate, a creamy texture with a light sweetness of extract, quickly caught up by lively acidity. Then it turns juicy and substantial, with yellow fruit and a touch of yeast. The acidity currently seems almost restrained, but gains lift from the minerality and stony character, which keep the wine fresh.

Grey slate with limestone content, south-facing slope, spontaneous fermentation in an old fuder cask: a Riesling made without cultured yeasts and without fining. The estate's wines are listed on the menus of five three-star restaurants.