Weingut Vollenweider ‘Kröver Steffensberg’ Riesling Kabinett 2021

Location: Germany, Mosel

Winemaker: Daniel Vollenweider & Moritz Hoffman

Grapes: Riesling

Soil: slate

Winemaking: early-harvested fruit fermented down to fruity levels of residual sugar.

Kröver Steffensberg Kabinett: Daniel and Moritz are, quite simply, among the greatest practitioners of Kabinett on planet earth, part of a very small and elite group including Julian Haart, Egon Müller, Keller, Weiser-Künstler and Willi Schaefer – the young Julian Ludes of Hermann Ludes may join the ranks soon enough, but right now these are my five. Try and buy as much of this as you can.

From the importer Vom Boden: On Friday, July 22nd, 2022, our friend, the Mosel grower Daniel Vollenweider, passed away. A tribute to this immutably strong man, a giant in Mosel and beyond, can be found here.

Daniel was diagnosed with late-stage prostate cancer in July of 2019. While most of Daniel’s close friends and colleagues knew that he was sick, it never felt like something he wanted discussed. He was an intensely private person and he wanted neither sympathy nor pity.

He wanted to work in his vineyards; he wanted people to taste the wines without distraction.

Daniel did, however, know that he would need help. Working around six hectares of steep vineyards alone through the rigors of chemotherapy would just not be possible. So he made the young Moritz Hoffman a partner of the estate nearly right away. From the very first time I spoke with Daniel after the diagnosis it was already obvious that he found a lot of comfort in the fact that the estate would continue – that it would have a future.

Everyone – from Daniel and Moritz to myself to close friends Konstantin and Alexandra (Weiser-Künstler) – thought that Daniel had more time. Though we all knew he was very sick, he was also an incredibly strong person. I saw him in August of 2021 and in March of 2022; he was skinnier of course and in March maybe he seemed more tired, perhaps a bit frail. But we texted with regularity and when I told him I was coming in July of 2022, he explained that he wouldn’t be able to attend the tastings. He had another round of chemotherapy that he had to push through. It would weaken him considerably, but the unspoken assumption was that this low would precede a period of renewed strength. The certainty of chemotherapy promised a healthy fall and winter. That was the hope.

We were all shocked to learn of Daniel’s passing. He was a giant and he shall be deeply missed; he was one of the first to believe in me and my silly new company. I am so thankful for his trust and his friendship. I have written my tribute to Daniel. I have tried to do my best for him and for his legacy.

Now, however, I have to pen an introduction to Moritz. Moritz very much deserves this… and Daniel would want nothing less.

I should acknowledge that this is a peculiar and uncomfortable position to be put in. I want neither to lionize Daniel nor underestimate Moritz’s role in the wines over the past few years – wines which I thought were among the greatest the estate ever made… I think both Daniel and Moritz would agree with this. At the same time, I don’t want to speak ill of the dead or appear to be cynically championing the new guard simply because they are the new guard.

So here is my plain-and-simple read of the estate and specifically the wines since the harvest of 2019.

Moritz did a lot more than I really realized. Already by the fall of 2019 – the harvest time – Daniel was undergoing a rather intense chemotherapy. So while Daniel helped as he could, Moritz was in charge of a lot in the vineyard and nearly everything in the cellar.

Moritz has the same humility that Daniel had. Right after he told me this, he said, almost embarrassed: “Well, you know we don’t do very much in the cellar.”

The truth seems to be that even if Moritz made only very small changes in the cellar, they are not insignificant.

The first important change was reducing to absolute zero the amount of botrytized grapes allowed in the dry wines. Daniel appreciated the glaze and density that a little clean botrytis could offer. Moritz did not want to include any and Daniel agreed.

With 2020, perhaps gaining in confidence, Moritz brought the picking time up a bit earlier and reduced the amount of skin-contact for the dry Rieslings. The 2020 dry Rieslings are far and away – for me personally – the best dry wines they have made. They simply have a more delicate touch; they feel clearer and more present and more alive.

My honest sense is that Moritz has a very, very good instinct for dry wines. On the other hand, there are few who are as gifted as Daniel was with Prädikat wines. Sure, there are people – Egon Müller, J.J. Prüm, Willi Schaefer, Julian Haart – who can make Kabinett as well as Daniel did; each has their unique style.

No one, however, can make a Kabinett better than Daniel could. That is as close to a fact as one can get in this subjective business.

Moritz knows this and said quietly to me: “My goal with the Prädikat wines will be to keep them at the level that Daniel achieved.”

This will not be a small task.

Yet over the past two years Moritz has proven himself to be a serious worker; he does seem to have a preternatural feel in the cellar.

The future for this insider’s estate seems to be in very good hands. It is my sincere hope that Moritz is able to build on the legacy that Daniel Vollenweider has left for us. I know his friends across the river at Weiser-Künstler will be there to help him; we’ll be here too to do whatever we can.

For Moritz of course, but also for Daniel.