NAHE: EXQUISITELY TUNED

“The best [Nahe Rieslings] are exquisitely tuned…” – Ian Jamison, German Wines

When Ian Jamison’s German Wines came out in 1990, Müller-Thurgau was still the dominant variety in the Nahe, with 23.2% of the vineyard area. Riesling was in second place at 12% (his figures were from 1988), and unless you’ve been following Nahe wines long enough to observe this evolution, it’s a shocking statistic given the number of benchmark Riesling producers clustered here today. These include Dönnhoff, Schäfer-Fröhlich, Schlossgut Diel, Emrich-Schönleber, and Gut Hermannsberg, all first-rate VDP estates whose GG Rieslings I’ll often rate among the best in Wiesbaden each August. Riesling is now in the first position in the Nahe, and rightly so. Jamison writes, “It is perfectly possible to persuade yourself that the River Nahe produces the finest Riesling wines in the Rheinland and, therefore, in the world.” For this taster, no further persuasion is necessary.

The Nahe became an independent wine region in 1971. Before that, wines from the river Nahe were labeled simply as Rhein wines, and, as Frank Schoonmaker writes in The Wines of Germany, “All Nahe wines, being more akin to Rhine than to Mosel, are shipped in brown bottles.” It’s essential to clarify that Nahe wines are, stylistically speaking, not some halfway point between Mosel and Rheingau or Rheinhessen. The wine trade (me included) has repeated this almost as frequently as “Gigondas is like a baby Châteauneuf-du-Pape!” Hey, when a sale is on the line, I get it, but there’s no reason to “sell” Nahe wines this way, not when they’re some of the finest in Germany. There is indeed Riesling from steep slate slopes in the Nahe, and like the Mosel, Nahe producers can make stunning Prädikatswein, but Nahe wines do not smell or taste like Mosel, or Rheingau, or Rheinhessen. Nahe is unique, and much of its uniqueness comes from the soil.

The Nahe has the widest variety of soils in Germany due to 400 million years of geological upheaval. Schist, volcanic, loess, clay, and limestone are some of the 180 or so assumed soil types within the Nahe wine region. Britta Korrell of Weingut Korrell in Bosenheim told me the Nahe gained the nickname das Probiertstub’chen (the tasting room of Germany) because they have so many different soils, varieties, and microclimates. Protected from the cold winds by the high Hünsruck mountains, mild temperatures, much sunshine, and very little rain create an excellent climate for the vine. Although administratively, a single Bereich (Nahetal) covers the entire Weinanbaugebiet. Practically speaking, there are three subdivisions of the Nahe region and its 116-kilometer river: lower, middle, and upper. Generally, the Upper Nahe vineyards are cooler, while the Middle and Lower Nahe get progressively warmer, and harvest occurs earlier in Lower Nahe than in the Middle or Upper.

There is one Bereich (district) within the Baden Weinanbaugebiet (wine region): Nahetal. However, the Nahe is often viewed in three distinct zones: Lower, Middle, and Upper Nahe.