Heymann-Löwenstein - von blauem Schiefer
We are having Moselriesling. Made by Heymann-Löwenstein we drink "von blauem Schiefer" harvested in 2016
Riesling from the Mosel is certainly one of the revelations of my wine drinking experience to date. Slate simply gives the wine a kind of minerality that cannot be found anywhere else and often, even with wines that are clearly residual sweet, provides such a strong antipole that one almost forgets the sugar. But I digress, sugar is not really an issue today. We drink dry Mosel, a Riesling “von blauem Schiefer” - “of blue slate” from the Heymann-Löwenstein winery. Everything I have tasted from the winery so far has had strength and expression and the wine today should be no exception.
The first nose has a large amount of flint. A stinker that immediately reveals the minerality and power in the nose. Between all the clenched stone, the fruit has a hard time to break through within the first minutes after pouring. Somewhere relatively far away, you can perhaps detect some apricot or mirabelle plum. Bright, cool, not sweet and, enriched with time and air, with exotic notes. But above all, the mineral expression of the soil.
In the mouth the wine has a totally clear expression, full of extract and juiciness. At the end of every sip there is a note of honey. Not sweet blossom honey, something made from herbal flowers, we used to have honey from garrigue bushes. Something along those lines is in the wine. And it’s long, very long. The acidity is perfectly dosed, so that your mouth is watering and you want to keep drinking. Nevertheless it deserves time, the wine of blue slate. The ideal mixture of drinking wine and meditation. I get really carried away drinking it. That is why Riesling is cool.
On the second day there is a little less zing, a little less reductive flint, but a little more fruit, a little buttery forest honey, citrus, grapefruit and badly peeled pineapple, like if you catch a not cleanly removed eye with the fruit while eating. If you ask yourself why you should put up with all the acidity in wine, why the Moselle is often celebrated and how wine can really leave a lasting impression. Drink this.