Andreas and Waltraud Schmitges have made serious progress in recent years with regard to their new winery and tasting facility in the heart of the small Mosel village of Erden. The new “Probestube” or, as they call it, “Vinothek”, is elegantly yet efficiently laid out with modest adornments, chique modern lighting, and tasteful artistic touches throughout. Coincidentally, their wines come off in a very similar way–bright, clean, polished, and very fresh.

Here are a couple of very dedicated and seriously focused people who are determined to make pristine wines, and have a good time while they’re at it. Two fully furnished apartments nearby are also available to guests, complete with a breath-taking view of the majestic Erdener Prälat vineyard–one of the worlds smallest yet most precious pieces of vineyard real estate.

We spent a good two hours or so tasting through the majority of the 2009 collection, and it is definitely state-of-the-art Mosel: opulent, fruity, mineral, and balanced by superb acidity…the hallmark of any great Mosel Riesling. While they own parcels in neighboring Lösnisch and Ürzig, the primary focus belongs to the finest vineyard sites of Erden: Prälat, Treppchen, and Herrenberg, comprising the majority of the 10 hectares they possess.

Believe it or not we were duly impressed by the first two wines Andreas poured us, which were a QbA trocken and a QbA feinherb from, of all formats, a litre bottle! They were absolutely delicious and very affordable. In fact, all the wines tend to be fairly priced. These folks believe in turn over, and that’s a good way to get hesitant foreigners, who are still grappling with a negative exchange rate, to come around to your wines.

It was indeed these more modest wines that caught our fancy. Wines such as: Treppchen Riesling “vom Urgestein” trocken, QbA feinherb “vom Berg”, and the Kabinett “vom roten Schiefer” (he calls it his “anti-stress wine.”). All his fruity higher Prädikat wines are stellar, and his Eiswein was clearly amongst the finest of all we tasted, and although I do not believe that ’09 is by any means a classic Eiswein vintage, this Erdener Herrenberg at 195 oechsle was the bomb!

But even better was a wine I had never encountered at this estate: a Grosses Gewächs from the Erdener Prälat, whose precious, golden fruit is normally reserved for only the noblest late-harvest nectar. These grapes were the very last ones to be brought in under perfect conditions with absolutely no rot whatsoever from vines that are 70 years old, yielding a mere 1,500 bottles total–an astounding achievement! The wine is uncannily rich, creamy and balanced to perfection yet not cloying, sweet, nor is it obtrusively alcoholic in the least–ONLY IN GERMANY!!!

Dade

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