Mosel Producers

Saar | Konz-Niedermennig | 9-hectares | Mainly organic

My exposure to these wines has mainly been through a pair of Chicago collectors and Riesling enthusiasts, Patrick Rauber and Adam Caldwell, aka @rieslingkenner, who put on an annual charity event featuring Hofgut Falkenstein. The event has drawn Lars Carlberg and David Schildknecht, who have shared their knowledge and contributed to Falkenstein's relatively broad availability and following in our local market. It's positive to see that a non-industry event can generate interest in German wine and Riesling, even if for one night a year. 

Falkenstein lies in the Konzer Tälchen ("the little valley of Konz), which, as I write this in February 2026, is a section of the Saar I've yet to visit, but home to the historic Krettnacher Euchariusberg, marked dark red on Franz Josef Clotten's 1868 Viticultural Map of the Saar and Mosel, indicating a high-value site in the eyes of the tax man. The Tälchen also comprises the steep slate sites of Krettnacher Altenberg (also dark red), Niedermenniger Herrenberg, and Niedermenniger Sonnenberg, all of which make up part of the 9-hectare estate owned by Erich Weber and cultivated by him and his sons.

Carlberg provides extensive detail about each of these sites and their Gewanne on his excellent larscarlberg.com, rendering anything I could add here futile. Carlberg is the source for information on these wines, but to summarize the Falkenstein philosophy: vine age is 40-90 years, and 1 hectare is ungrafted. Farming is mainly organic, with Bordeaux mixture avoided to limit copper buildup in the soil. Harvest is by hand. 

In the cellar, Weber describes his minimalist approach as "Kontrolliertes nichts tun" (controlled doing nothing), and all fermentations are by ambient yeasts, with the various parcels vinified separately in old oak Fuder. In the old Mosel tradition, Weber bottles each Fuder separately, resulting in multiple bottlings of the same site and Prädikat. AP numbers vary; the eighth number, now highlighted in bold on the label, is the cask number. 

The focus is on trocken and feinherb wines, and Falkenstein is the style of Saar wine I very much enjoy drinking. Weber adheres to the Prädikat system and uses the Prädikat + trocken naming convention that he views as a historical link to the tradition of unchaptalized Saar Rieslings. This and Spätburgunder produced without ML are probably not philosophies I'd share with Weber, but who cares when there's so much to love about these individual and detailed traditional wines from the Saar.

Ruwertal | Eitelsbach | 28-hectares | Transitioning to organic

Karthäuserhof is a 28-hectare wine estate located in the village of Eitelsbach at the final stretch of the Ruwer before it empties into the Mosel. Carthusian monks founded the estate in 1335 after being granted the land by Prince-Elector Balduin of Luxembourg, and it remained a monastery winery until Napoleon secularized it in 1811. The Carthusians are a monastic order founded by St. Bruno of Köln in 1084 in the Chartreuse Mountains of France, famously known for developing the herbal liqueur "Chartreuse."

Karthäuserhof became a property of the French state following secularization in 1803. It remained in government hands for eight years before being auctioned off in Paris to Valentin Leonardy, General Manager of the French Army, in 1811. Through marriage and inheritance, the estate passed to the Rautenstrauch family, who owned and managed it for 127 years, cementing their name in the winery's official title: Rautenstrauch'sche Weingutsverwaltung Karthäuserhof (Winery Administration Karthäuserhof belonging to the Rautenstrauch family). 

Karl Wilhelm Rautenstrauch, the second generation of Rautenstrauchs, is credited with inventing the estate's iconic neck-only label. As the legend goes, he preferred to cool his wine in the Eitelsbach stream; because the water washed off the traditional body labels, he moved the label to the neck. In 1876, he married Kathinka Mühlens (of the famous "4711" Cologne perfume family), who introduced the brand's signature turquoise color, which still defines the brand today.

Hans Wilhelm Rautenstrauch, the third generation of Rautenstrauchs, managed the estate for over 50 years. He steered the winery through both World Wars and was responsible for several great vintages. Hans Wilhelm's daughter, Maria Rautenstrauch, married Werner Tyrell in 1947, and upon Hans Wilhelm's death in 1951, Werner Tyrell took over the estate.

During Werner Tyrell's time, the 19-hectare monopole Karthäuserhofberg consisted of five separate sites, Kronenberg being the fillet. It is the steepest, most central part of the slope, with iron-rich slate. The Kronenberg is typically the source for the Grosses Gewächs (GG) and top Prädikat wines. The other parcels are:

Burgberg: Located at the lower end of the slope, often providing the foundation and broader fruit for the estate's blends.

Orthsberg: Known for producing wines with intense mineral drive and sharp precision.

Sang: Situated on the edge of the vineyard, it often yields slightly different aromatic profiles due to its specific exposure.

Stirn: Located at the top of the hill where the vines are most exposed to the wind. Because it is cooler, this parcel is famous for maintaining high acidity and producing very "nervy," elegant wines. 

Werner Tyrell's tenure oversaw outstanding vintages in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Tyrell himself held the 1959 vintage in high regard, and the 1971 Eitelsbacher Karthäuserhofberg Kronenberg feinste Auslese is considered a masterpiece of the Werner Tyrell era. The weather of the 1970s was very uneven, however, and because Prädikat wines must achieve their sugar naturally, no chaptalization is a hard-and-fast rule. Sadly, Tyrell was indicted for wine adulteration, which forced his resignation as President of the Grosser Ring. 

In 1986, Christoph Tyrell, the sixth generation, took over the winery, implementing a "quality first" policy and adopting a single label for the entire production. Tyrell expanded dry Riesling from Karthäuserhofberg, 90% of which remains own-rooted, and planted Pinot Blanc on heavier soil at the foot of the hill. He famously removed every third row of vines across several sections of the vineyard, reducing total yield and improving sunlight and air circulation, leading to healthier, riper fruit. 

Tyrell installed Ludwig Breiling as the estate administrator and cellar master and, in the 1980s, moved away from chemical fertilizers and pesticides toward horse manure, compost, and pheromone-based pest control. They removed the old wooden Fuder barrels and replaced them with stainless-steel vats to achieve a cleaner, more reductive style. All the changes paid off. Christoph Tyrell was twice awarded Winemaker of the Year, first by Feinschmecker in 1997, and again by Gault Millau in 2005. 

On August 1, 2012, Christoph Tyrell handed over the winery to his first cousin, Albert P. Behler, in an intrafamily transaction. Behler hired Mathieu Kauffmann (the former cellar master of Champagne Bollinger and Von Buhl) as technical director and began restoring historic buildings and shifting toward more sustainable practices. Kauffmann is reintroducing Fuder to the cellar and is, of course, spearheading a Karthäuserhof Sekt program. 

2023 Karthäuserhof Riesling Eistelsbach Karthäuserhofberg GG

Blue slate. classified in the best category of vineyard sites in the Mosel, as early as 1868, and was previously owned by the Carthusian monks. White peach and green herbs are immediately identifiable on the nose. Very salty, clear, and focused on the palate, but with an amazing intensity of extract. ***+

2020 Karthäuserhof Riesling Eistelsbach Karthäuserhofberg GG

Monopollage of Karthäuserhof. Devon blue slate soils. Delicate florals are the first impression on the nose. White peach and just-ripe apple; a refined, delicate aroma. Lovely and fine palate impression, with the same elegant delivery of fruits and florals. ***+

Bernkastel (Middle Mosel) | Piesport | 8.8-hectares | Certified sustainable by Fair’n Green

Haarts have been farming on the Piesporter Goldtröpfchen since 1337, making it one of the oldest private wine estates in the Mosel. They were early adopters of bottling wine rather than selling it in barrels, and began auctioning their wines in 1894. Karl-Theo Haart took over his family's traditional Mosel wine estate in 1971 and, for decades, built its reputation as the finest wine estate in Piesport. Karl-Theo's sons, Johannes and Marcus, took over the family business in 2015. 

The house sits directly on the left bank of the Mosel, with Goldtröpfchen rising steeply behind it. With 4 of Goldtröpfchen's 68.8 hectares in the vineyard's core, Haart is for many the archetype producer of this famed Middle Mosel vineyard planted to vines since at least Roman times. Proof of which is visible in the remains of the oldest Roman press house found on the Mosel, just a few meters from the winery. 

Karl-Theo acquired the minuscule 0.098-hectare south-facing parcel with a higher clay content, known as Kreuzwingert, in 1993. This Monopollage produces dry and semi-dry wines with striking and distinctive flavors. Likewise, Haart's parcels in Ohligsberg on the Mosel's right bank yield brilliant, savory wines from its steep hillside of gray-blue slate. To the west of Goldtröpfchen lies Grafenberg, known for its red slate and particularly prized for its Kabinette and Spätlesen. 

Massal selection of old vines is the favored method of replanting, and Haart insists on careful hand-harvesting of healthy grapes and long fermentations with ambient yeast. The cellar is mainly stainless steel, with a small number of traditional 1000-Liter Moselfuder for the GGs.

“Altenberg is as steep as the Matterhorn,” Gunter Jauch likes to say, adding that “it’s a 65% grade from the foot to the summit.” Von Othegraven is a leading winery of the Saar producing Riesling exclusively from grand cru sites of Devonian slate soils. Since 2010, the owner is Günther Jauch, the quizmaster, and host of “Wer Wird Millionar?”, the German version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” Jauch lives in Berlin with his wife Thea and might be viewed by some as an outsider, but the couple had the inside track when the previous owner, Dr. Heidi Kegel, Jauch’s relative, decided to sell. Günther Jauch, whose grandmother was born a von Othegraven, is now the seventh generation of his family to own the estate. Von Othegraven was a founding member of the Association of German Natural Wine Auctioneers, today’s Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP), and has been producing benchmark Saar wines since the early 19th century. All of Von Othegraven’s vineyards are VDP.Grosse Lage (grand cru). Typical of the Saar, they are incredibly steep, south-facing, and feature Devonian slate intermixed with Rotliegend (iron-infused slate). The signature site of Von Othegraven is the Kanzemer Altenberg, a vineyard you cannot miss when standing in the estate’s charming English garden. “Altenberg is as steep as the Matterhorn,” Jauch likes to say, adding that “it’s a 65% grade from the foot to the summit.” It is also the longest steep slope in Germany at 250 meters long. Steep and south-facing with slate and Rotliegend soil applies to the other grand crus of Wawerner Herrenberger (a Monopol) and Wiltinger Kupp. The vineyard that breaks the mold is the famous Ockfener Bockstein, one of the classic vineyards of the Saar, with silver-grey slate in a south-facing amphitheater. Even Riesling Max, the basic Gutswein Riesling of Von Othegraven, hails from the grand crus Altenberg and Herrenberg. Von Othegraven is one of the rare wineries to produce consistent quality despite several generations of family succession. Max von Othegraven took over the estate in 1921 and made a vintage for the ages that year. More recently, Jauch’s predecessor, Dr. Heidi Kegel, elevated the winery to new heights before turning over winemaking to Andreas Barth, then to the talented Sven Klinger in the summer of 2021. Under Sven’s direction, quality has soared, and Von Othegraven received Vinum Magazine’s German Winemaker of the Year award in 2023. the fermentation is spontaneous with natural yeasts, and he likes to give them the time they need to clarify and stabilize in stainless steel tanks and large neutral oak casks. Prädikatsweine and dry wines receive the same, unadulterated, very reduced treatment without the superfluous use of technology. The wines are bottled unfined.