Gewurztraminer? Sometimes nothing else will do. It has been increasingly difficult to find a dry Gewurztraminer over the last two decades of global warming. In the summer of ’22 we found a beautiful, balanced, dry one in Reil on the Mosel – of all places! Tobias Treis can trace his family’s wine-making history back to 1684. With just 5 hectares, 90% in the steep slate slopes overlooking the river Mosel, clearly Riesling is the main theme. A friendship formed almost 20 years ago has influenced the direction.
Tobias Treis met Ivan Giovanett at Geisenheim – Germany’s leading Wine University. Ivan’s family winery is Castelfeder in the South Tyrol. You can sense the high altitude middle-European influence in Tobias’ non-Riesling whites.
Tobias and Ivan have collaborated to revive the Sorentberg, an ancient Riesling vineyard in a well-ventilated side valley above Reil, abandoned and completely overgrown for 25 years. It was intense, backbreaking work clearing the area and reviving the vineyard vine by vine. The Sorentberg has a unique geology – Wissenbach slate – red slate with Muschelkalk (chalk with fossils).
