2012 Riesling Kellerberg

After two revelatory samples from young Andreas and Maria Harm reached me last June courtesy of Markus Lang (also profiled in this report), I knew I would be scheduling a visit with them as soon as possible. They live high up in Andreas’ small home town of Krustetten, south of the Göttweiger Berg where his brother runs Biohof Harm (possible confusions with which--I myself showed up there accidentally--partly explain the odd choice of official name for Andreas’ and Maria’s estate).

The Harms’ 500-year-old vaulted cellar is in Krems-Stein, but their roughly ten hectares of vines spread from there to Dürnstein, Weissenkirchen, Mautern, Furth, and most recently even Viessling on the Spitzerbach, about whose far-flung location Andreas Harm admits, "okay, that was extreme, since we’re already logistically challenged!” Much of this choice acreage was leased long-term through family connections with the Schmidls of Dürnstein (better known for their bakery), and all of it over a five-year period.

A trained viticulturalist who is professionally active in advising on organic farming, Andreas Harm is a self-proclaimed minimalist in the cellar, including as regards the use of sulfur, and an advocate of slow pressing as well as long full-lees contact, often incorporating malo-lactic transformation. Bottling dates will remain highly flexible depending on perception of vintage and wine. Vinification and élevage have thus-far been entirely in tank, but some Ybbstal oak casks from Stockinger arrived in time for vintage 2015.

Given the quality of their wines and their relative obscurity internationally, I have taken the liberty of reporting here on all of the pre-2014 wines that Harms presented me, regardless of whether they are still on offer. And they all seem to be getting better with age, judging by the amazing virtues of their 2011s and 2012s against a background of growing conditions in theory far less advantageous than those of 2013. Since the Harms do not live in the Wachau, their wines from vineyards in that region would not qualify for use of the terms Smaragd and Federspiel even if they were so inclined to promote them. (On their price list and back labels, the Harms refer to their Rieslings from Hollerin and Kellerberg as “Reserve.”) However, they register their site-specific wines from Kremstal vineyards as DAC or DAC Reserve.