Wein-Erbhof Stein ‘Palmberg’ Spätlese Feinherb Alte Reben 2020

Location: Germany, Mosel

Winemaker: Ulli Stein

Grapes: Riesling

Winemaking: practicing organic, hand harvest, native yeast ferments

From the Importer Vom Boden: ‘Palmberg’ Spätlese Feinherb is Stein’s equivalent of a ‘GG’ and it should be considered such, even it is barely off dry in 2020; it is the top bottling. It’s also worth noting here that Stein could make an ‘Auslese Trocken’. This would be 1) easy and 2) would be of a higher ‘quality’ level and therefore, at least in the the absurd realm of German wine pricing, validate a higher price. Stein, however, chooses NOT to do this. I don’t believe I have ever had an ‘Auslese Trocken’ from Stein. Ulli wants to focus on raciness and lift; an ‘Auslese Trocken’ is, for him, anathema to the very delicacy he seeks, even if he could earn more money by producing such a bottling.

No one – NO ONE – has met Dr. Ulrich Stein (‘Ulli’) without at least developing a slight crush on the guy. He is brilliant, passionate, incredibly fun, perhaps a bit manic and does nothing… nothing, that is easy or obvious.

Ulli is a true bohemian who lives in a beautiful inn on the top of a mountain overlooking the Mosel (pictured to the right) – he and his wife own the inn. While the inn doesn’t really function as an inn (you can’t actually book rooms there, unless you’re a friend) it is always filled with people, with a random assortment of thoughtful eccentrics, famous musicians and artists, a couple just back from photographing Jewish delis in New York, a family making a month-long sojourn from Berlin down to Sicily and back. The common thread? They all love Stein wine; they all love Ulli.

It’s interesting that while Ulli’s wines are not widely known in the U.S., he has nothing less than a fanatical following in Europe. He could likely sell every last bottle to his friends in Germany alone, yet there are places of some importance, like Noma in Copenhagen, that are dedicated Stein fanatics.

Ulli specializes in the absurd and the sublime. He farms meaningful parcels of land that have a few important things in common: They are not easy to work. They are commercially unknown and therefore (most likely) barely financially viable. Finally, and most importantly: Ulli has to love them.

Stein is more than a winemaker – he is a passionate advocate for the traditional, steep, slate vineyards of the Mosel. It’s perhaps difficult to speak of an overarching ‘style’ at Stein; or maybe it’s that the word, the concept, just doesn’t feel right. Winemaking with Ulli is refreshingly light on style, on some idea projected into the vineyards, and more about what the vineyards say to him. Certainly there is a focus on wines that are dry; lightness and zip are more important than gobs of fruit. Complexity is good, but not at the expense of the whole – better to be simple and well done than overdone and, well, a mess. Cut is more important than size.

Paramount to it all: A happy vineyard, a happy customer, a good bottle of wine, and laughing.