To appreciate beauty, you don’t need to know that this man is the thirteenth generation of his family or that the winery in Lower Mosel was founded in 1980 on some of the steepest slopes in the region. A 60% incline is no joke, but knowing this is entirely unnecessary to appreciate the beauty.
Reinhard Löwenstein, who, together with his wife Cornelia Heymann-Löwenstein, works wonders in Mosel, looks strikingly familiar. How do I know this face? After a sip of the 2022 Röttgen Riesling, I recall—it’s Albert Einstein I’m thinking of.
You don’t need to be Einstein to create beauty (though he did exactly that), and surely Nature has a lot to do with the beauty of Heymann-Löwenstein wines. After all, the neighboring Knebel wines are just as stunning. But what if it’s a contagious proximity, and the ideas spread through the terroir?
How would you describe the wines of Heymann-Löwenstein in one word, avoiding clichés and banalities? Definitely not “mineral,” though they’re bursting with minerality. Certainly not “fruity,” despite the exotic notes they radiate. And not “complex,” even though they’re layered and nuanced.
The scarcity of fitting words forces me to rely on terms that can—at the very least—hint at what’s happening inside my mouth and, mostly, my brain, when a sip of any Riesling by Reinhard, Cornelia, and their daughter Sarah enters my body.
Talking about these wines, I’m biased. Unlike most of you, I have stood in some of Löwenstein’s vineyards. I’ve stood on the slate and terraced hills. I didn’t lick the Schiefer (slate in German), so I can’t actually say if licking Schiefer is something these wines will remind you of.
While every vineyard Löwenstein owns in Mosel is a little miracle of nature, human effort plays a significant role in making it possible to craft wines there—many of those terraces didn’t appear by themselves. Yet, the views are breathtaking, from Schieferterrassen to Uhlen to Röttgen. The slopes are staggering to behold, and the work is so dangerous that climbing equipment is sometimes needed to care for and harvest.
Reinhard and his family are putting indigenous yeasts where they belong—in the fermentation tanks and old foudres for aging. They let the wines mingle with these yeasts until they become “lees,” adding complexity and roundness to the wine. What’s not to admire? Now, let’s taste something!
Schieferterrassen
Schieferterrassen VDP.Erste Lage 2022
The intensity and depth of this liquid are palpable. Deep-petroly, super-intense, fume-smoky, white-peachy, apple-crazy, wet-stony.
Schieferterrassen VDP.Erste Lage 2021
Deep and voluptuous Riesling with stunning balance and stance. Amazing both with food and as its replacement. Prost!
Schieferterrassen VDP.Erste Lage 2020
A four year old and still a baby. This baby needs a babysitter. And it’s me! Golden, tropical, salty. Precision and depth.
Röttgen
I consider this picture one of the most striking “wine photos” I have ever seen in my life. It blows my mind and can be presented as an evidence I am not sure what—is this a homage to nature or to human imagination and boldness? Turning steep, rough slopes into extreme viticultural playground? It’s clear humans have a tendency to realize how putting vines in unimaginable locations produce positively puzzling, fascinating outcomes. I exhale in sheer disbelief. How’s that even possible? This can’t be nature! And it’s not exactly nature—those terraces were created blowing up dynamite after 1820-s to make viticulture on extremely steep slopes even possible. The wines from this Grosse Lage are fully compatible with this impression.
Röttgen © A.DurstRöttgen VDP.Grosse Lage 2022
One of the steepest and most impressive vineyards of Germany gives birth to beautiful kids. It’s obviously cannot be serious to taste this GG at such age (2 years old, you’re kidding me), but surprisingly I did and there are deep, spicy, exotic angles to this baby-wine. I wish I had a case of 12 to wait and see!
Uhlen Roth Lay
Distinctive iron-rich, stony soils shine reddish sun reflections all the way down the Mosel. Your neck will feel the pain of looking up the slope for too long. No wonder: it’s inclined at 45-56 degrees!
Uhlen Roth Lay VDP.Grosse Lage 2022
Being cautious about drinking young GG wines is understandable, but in this case don’t be! Long sips are welcome. This intensity is shocking to human brain. Absorb the volume, ripeness, fullness and salt with appreciation—you don’t get that with any Riesling out there, not even with a VDP.Grosse Lage one.
Uhlen Roth Lay VDP.Grosse Lage 2021
Time to go deep down the rabbit hole and This Uhlen is as deep as you can get at three years old. Wet stones are wetter and stonier than ever. Exotic fruit is mixing with gunpowder and honey. Paradoxically the wine is as dry as Atacama desert giving off some very welcome sweetish vibes. Party mode on!