Ulli Stein's Alfer Hölle (the 1900 plot is a bit down the river)

Rieslingfeier; Recent German Arrivals, New and Old

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There's been lots of activity in our German section recently. More of the excellent 2012s are arriving (and one should stock up on these as the 2013 vintage looks to be quite tiny); great producers are offering library releases, and we are continuing to find collections of well-stored older wines that we are able to offer at very affordable prices. Highlights amongst our newer selections include some of Germany's best reds from Swabia's young burgeoning star, Andi Knauss, and outstanding releases we couldn't pass up from the likes of Spreitzer, Leitz, Eugen Müller, and Ulli Stein (Stein’s Alfer Hölle Spätlese comes from vines planted in 1900).

Another producer that deserves to be on everyone's radar is VOLS in the Saar. Headed by Helmut Plunien, VOLS makes delicious, bright, piquant wines from the Ayler Kupp in an old-school style that brilliantly contrasts the fuller, more expansive wines we know and love from Lauer. Good thing there's no need to choose between the two!

For some older wines, Carl Ehrhard in the Rheingau and Harald Hexamer in the Nahe have dug deep into their cellars and have sent us some really tasty 93s, 94s and 01s; we actually have good quantity of some of these if you’d like to see how they continue to develop over time. Notice also the single case we’ve acquired of the incredibly rare 2005 Ayler Kupp Auslese from Peter Lauer. At the end of the list you’ll find a smattering of old wines from the 70s-90s from producers both familiar and less well-known. As always, we stand behind each older bottle we sell; order soon as these are likely to disappear quickly.

Also, the second annual Rieslingfeier is fast approaching! We'll be participating again in the city-wide Riesling Crawl on Saturday, February 22nd, a day-long event at seven different retail shops. We'll be the last leg from 6-8pm and will be joined by our good friend from the Mosel, Clemens Busch. Rieslingfeier has a number of other great events taking place that weekend, including a seminar led by David Schildknecht and a not-to-miss dinner at Betony featuring Cornelius Dönnhoff and Christoph Schaefer – as of today there are a few tickets left to both and you can purchase them here at the Rieslingfeier website. Hope to see you on the 22nd! -jfr