Prefer the old site?Launch →

Clemens Busch

Given the high humidity and near-interminable rain that prevailed until midsummer in 2016, I wasn’t surprised to learn that Clemens Busch, Germany’s pioneer in biodynamic Riesling viticulture, experienced an arduous several months during which he and his crew were almost continuously applying treatments – which on these steep slopes must to a great extent be carried on the back and sprayed by hand. On top of that, Busch’s vineyards were hit by spring frost. “It can be depressing,” he added, rather obviously, “when you work so hard while watching yields drop in front of your eyes, but in the end we were pleasantly surprised with how little of the crop we lost.” And more good news – which won’t shock anybody who knows Busch and has followed his wines – is that the quality is excellent. Picking commenced in early October and lasted for nearly six weeks, with both acid levels and must weights remaining stable, and the finished dry wines ranging from 10.5% to (in the case of the Grosse Gewächse) 12% alcohol. There was so little botrytis that no Auslesen were attempted. Somewhat more than half of this year’s dry wines underwent malolactic transformation, and it is evidence of high ratios of tartaric to malic acidity that total acidity did not drop very far in the process. All of these wines display a lively, bright, citric cast, even as the best of them offer alluringly rich, lees-inflected textures that are a hallmark of Busch Riesling. Similarly, the fact that 2016s are analytically relatively low in extract (a legacy of the dry, hot phase precisely when berries were developing) has not resulted in wines that lack a sense of stuffing. On the contrary, even the lowest-alcohol examples convey a positive impression of density.

As usual, alongside the majority of wines from his most recent harvest, Busch presented selected Grosse Gewächse from the preceding vintage that had been left longer in cask – in the case of the 2015s reviewed below, 15-16 months. Bush also essayed both a sulfur-free bottling and an extended-élevage, late-bottled orange wine from vintage 2015, on which I hope to report at a later date. And this year, for the first time, he unveiled a pair of wines (namely, the 2014s reviewed below) that had spent two full years on their lees before bottling. In addition to those 2016s that are earmarked for extended élevage, I have also not yet tasted this year’s 2016 Riesling Trocken Vom Blauen Schiefer. I usually taste that wine at 11 months even though it has not yet been bottled, but this year the final assemblage was still pending when I visited to taste in mid-September 2017. (For further background on this estate and its individual vineyards, consult the introduction to my report on their 2014s and my tasting notes on those wines.)

From Mosel Riesling 2016 Part 1: From Extremes, Equilibrium (Jan 2018) by David Schildknecht

Reviews

Wines

Sort by default

2016 Riesling trocken

Release Price: $22

Color: White

Subscriber Access Only

Clemens Busch

2016 Riesling trocken

2016 Riesling trocken Vom Grauen Schiefer

2016 Riesling trocken Vom Roten Schiefer

2016 Riesling Pündericher Marienburg Grosses Gewächs

2016 Riesling Pündericher Marienburg Grosses Gewächs Rothenpfad

2016 Riesling Pündericher Marienburg Grosses Gewächs Fahrlay

2016 Riesling Pündericher Marienburg Grosses Gewächs Falkenlay

2016 Riesling Pündericher Kabinett

2016 Riesling Pündericher Marienburg Kabinett

2016 Riesling Pündericher Marienburg Spätlese

2016 Riesling Pündericher Marienburg Spätlese Goldkapsel

2015 Riesling Pündericher Nonnengarten Fass 29

2015 Pündericher Marienburg Fahrlay Terrassen

2015 Riesling Pündericher Marienburg Grosses Gewächs Felsterrasse

2015 Riesling Pündericher Marienburg Grosses Gewächs Raffes

2014 Riesling Pündericher Marienburg trocken Fahrlay Reserve

2014 Riesling Pündericher Marienburg trocken Rothenpfad Reserve

Content

Engage

Vinous

Social