The Webers are part of a revolution in German winemaking, in the sense that they are reverting to the way they believe wines used to be made: grapes picked at low ripeness levels, minimal intervention, and bottling straight from the cask. The result is an uncompromising set of wines, bursting with energy and character, which show every nuance of their terroirs. They are very exciting.
The origins of the estate are recent: in 1981 Erich and Maria Weber purchased an abandoned outpost of the Friedrich Wilhelm Gymnasium in a side valley of the Saar – home also to the famous Scharzhofberg and Hütte vineyards – and gradually built up their holdings around the winery. Their prime site is a two-and-a-half- hectare section in the Euchariusberg, a five-hectare vineyard designated grand cru under Napoleon. Their vision was to make terroir-driven wines with minimal intervention: using only grapes from vines that were over forty years old, they stayed away from herbicides, focused on reducing vine vigour and left their must to ferment naturally, with no sulphur added until bottling. Each cask – a Fuder of 1000 litres – was bottled separately. The result was a distinct style, weightless, transparent and dense, that attracted a devoted following, allowing the estate to grow to its current size of ten hectares (including one hectare of ungrafted vines). Their son Johannes joined in 2015, and since then the wines have become finer and ever more precise. After some years of transition, they converted to full organic practice in 2021.
Johannes Weber does not like super-ripe grapes, and in warm years always picks earlier than others, preferring to make vibrant, lean wines that reflect their terroirs. 2021 was a perfect vintage for this – the cool conditions meant slow ripening, allowing the harvest to be delayed until mid-October. The long hang-time and humid conditions meant the grapes were able to draw up large amounts of nutrients and minerals from the soils, leading to dense, satisfying wines. Residual sugar levels in the off-dry wines are low – a good 10g less than most others and balanced by a vibrant, ripe acidity. ‘This is the first vintage since 2016 that I am truly happy with,’ said Johannes, The wines are herbal, fresh, salty, and crystalline, like a mountain stream.’ They certainly are, the best we have ever tried – and with all the hallmarks of greatness.
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Bottle - 75cl
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Bottle - 75cl
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