2013 Dhroner Hofberg Riesling Kabinett

From humble beginnings, Andreas Adam has in only a few short years extended his vineyard holdings to almost five hectares, including a monopoly in the Häschen site in Drohn with ungrafted Riesling vines on their own roots dating back to the early 1930s. As that name has yet to appear on a label, Adam remains best known for resurrecting the neighboring Hofberg vineyard. In old Prussian maps, it was always colored dark red as one of the finest sites on the Mosel, but by the time he returned to his family’s estate in the spring of 2006 after finishing his studies in Geisenheim, its reputation had fallen on hard times. From his first vintage there was so little wine that I mentioned them only in passing. In recent years, though, his production has now increased to almost 25,000 bottles. That is still not much, but at least there is some hope of finding a bottle or two. That is particularly important this year, as he literally pulled diamonds from the rough in 2013. While I can heartily recommend any Riesling from this estate, try to find the off-dry version that he calls In der Sängerei. It is one of the best of its ilk from the vintage.