“I want to make a wine that, when you finish one bottle, you want to open another. And another”.
Harald Steffens makes his wines in a leaner, nervier, lighter style with all the whiff of slate that we love from the Mosel.
He has been organic for decades. “I’m the one who went round to Thorsten Melsheimer and signed him up to Ecovin” says Eco vintner Harald Steffens-Kess. Harald Steffens-Kess is friend and almost neighbour of Thorsten in the village of Reil on the Mosel. He has a small parcel in Reil, the rest on the opposite bank in generally more sun-favoured Burg. His Hahnenschrittchen (hens’ little steps) is the best we’ve tasted from that vineyard.
One time we visited Harald at the end of February and the then recent high water was a topic along the valley. “It was high this year, but not as high as 1993 when I put my boat in the cellar and gave rides to my kids and their friends. I was in waders in the freezing water. Brrrr. They still talk about it!”
It has taken us a long time to realise that Harald Steffens makes Sekt. We had been buying his slender, feather-light dry Rieslings for the best part of a decade before we spotted it on his list when we visited recently. “You make Sekt?” “Yes. Have done for ages.” Ah.
We found his Sekt delightful, with a proper Mosel Riesling nose, lovely weight and balance.
