Weiser-Künstler Riesling 2021

Location: Germany, Mosel

Winemaker: Konstantin Wieser & Alexandra Künstler

Grapes: Riesling

From us at M&L: The vineyards of Traben-Trarbach grow on highly steep, terraced cliffs, almost vertically up the mountainsides of the Mosel. Many of these vines are old and totally ungrafted, having never been replanted during the land reconsolidation efforts carried out in Germany after WWII. Konstantin Weiser and Alexandra Künstler are Weiser-Künstler (affectionately known as Wei-Kü); the couple leased their first holdings in this picturesque town together in 2005. Since the beginning, their wines have captured the ultimate dialectic between plant and being, a pure and effective communion that is joyous but also pristinely focused. Now operating just a few hectares, Konstantin and Alexandra have always worked completely organically without herbicides and pesticides, as well as tended to the vines entirely by hand. Its so steep here that any modern machinery would destroy the vines and rip up the soils; besides a simple hoe, the couple only uses an old-school device called a Wingertsknecht, or ‘vineyard farmhand’, that smooths and gently aerates the soil. It’s this dedication and humility towards the health of the vine and life of the soils that is signature Wei-Kü. All the fruit is hand-selected very carefully, even for their Kabinett wines, and their 2021 Riesling Kabinett shows all the complexities and dimensions that great wines bring—not to mention at insane value! This is like drinking a cool sunbeam, pure but charged with needle-thin electrodes of key lime, white peach, burnt hazelnut, wet stones…a texture comes through that puckers but also coats the palate with beautiful dewiness. Drinks juuuuuuust off-dry and deliciously with anything and everything.