Peter Lauer (Ayl)
“Come and look at the Schonfels!” said Florian-Peter Lauer. We were on the Saar at his parents’ Hotel, the Ayler Kupp, tasting through his sizzling range, which were beautifully balanced on the knife-edge between dizzy savoury fruit and searing Saar acidity. The view was gorgeous. He recently bought the parcel from an old boy in the village. “There was a lot of work to do, but look how old the vines are, look at the slate, look how steep the slope is. Don’t go too close to the edge, there’s a big drop down the cliff to the Saar!”
Florian has been showered with awards in Germany in recently. He works the family vines in top vineyard “Ayler Kupp”, one of the most hallowed vineyards on the Saar. Florian took over full responsibility for the wines recently, leaving dad Peter to focus on the hotel they own south of Trier, with a splendid view of the river – although, when the fog rolls in though, it’s difficult to see much of anything.
Loch – Weinhof Herrenberg (Schoden) ORGANIC
Manfred and Claudia Loch bought their first half-hectare plot in the Schodener Herrenberg vineyard in 1991. Each year they try to buy another 0.2ha and another steel tank. They currently have 2.5 hectares and 8 tanks. The steep Herrenberg is an almost fan-shaped slope overlooking the Saar and the village of Schoden 3kms north of Saarburg. Yields in the area are often over 100hl/ha, but the Lochs are working between 20-35hl/ha. You can taste the difference! The Saar is known for producing wines of racy acidity, hard to taste young, tightly-wound and softening only with age.
The Loch style is something else: much riper, much fleshier than your everyday shrill Saar wine. They still have a refreshing, exhilarating acidity, but with richness, depth and a unique mouthfeel. They leave the grapes on the vines incredibly late hoping to squeeze another degree Oechsle (ripeness level) or two out of the late autumn sun.
Their plots are dotted over the vineyard. Each parcel is picked separately, placed in separate tanks and bottled separately without fining and only one very light filtration. The Lochs (and we) are fascinated by the differences – each is clearly distinct.
New this time is the Wiltinger Schlangengraben old vines trocken, from a parcel (unlike most from that vineyard) overlooking the Saar. Also we had to wrestle Manfred for a few bottles of the Ockfener Bockstein trocken – he would dearly love to get hold of more vines in Bockstein – but there are three large land-owners who hold most of it and unfortunately don’t want to sell – shame, in Manfred’s hands the wine achieves another level of spicy intensity.
Also a new label – the third in as many years…a gentle identity shift. First there was Weinhof Herrenberg, then there was equal billing for Weinhof Herrenberg and Loch, now it’s simply Loch.
Von Othegraven (Kanzem)
Terroir. It’s a sense of place. It’s the expression of the earth, of the geology. Here on the Saar, like the Mosel that it feeds, it’s all about slate. The slate here sparkles with Quartz, which often gives the wine a dizzy, spicy, almost tropical character.
History is also a sense of place. The magical von Othegraven estate can trace its roots back to the 1500s.
We always loved Dr Heidi Kegel, the charming former head anaesthetist from Cologne hospital, who was left the historic von Othegraven estate by a maiden aunt in the early 1990s. When we phoned she would say “what time would you like to come?” “How’s 11.00h? “Would you like to stay for lunch?” We have many memories of lunch with her, her geologist husband and our friend Andreas Barth, her winemaker (whose Lubentiushof wines we also adore). There would always be a moment when she would say, Andreas, can you bring up something old from the cellar?
Unfortunately Dr Heidi became ill and in 2009 decided it was probably time to sell. Enter Gunther Jauch, generally held to be the most popular man in Germany. An unassuming man, he’s a TV host and commentator, a national treasure, a kind of David Attenborough figure (without the nature programmes). Gunther is a distant relative of earlier owners and brought a new energy to his new acquisition. The same team of Andreas Barth and Swen Klinger remained in place and continued to make exquisite wines, a world away from the searing acidity of the old-school Saar wines. Effortless.
No nonsense Swen Klinger, from southern Germany, joined von Othegraven in 2004 at the same time as Andreas. Originally hired as vineyard manager and cellarmaster, he has also taken on the wine-making role. Prizes and gongs abound.
The estate only has Grand Cru vineyards on the Saar. Kanzemer Altenberg (the magnificent steep slope behind the von Othegraven house), Wiltinger Kupp, Wawerner Herrenberg and the super-spicy Ockfener Bockstein.
