2014 Riesling Saar

Roman Niewodniczanski didn’t just rescue this estate when he acquired it in 1999. He also did much to revive an entire region, launching an unprecedented acquisition of prime Saar vineyard land (in one commune alone assembling 140 individual parcels) and making arrangements with scores of small growers farming old vines to purchase their fruit as long as his specifications were followed. Being able to afford a long-term view of the Saar’s potential to recover the fame and high prices that prevailed here in the late 19th and early 20th century, Niewodniczanski harvests meticulously and lives with extremely low yields. His stylistic vision is of wines possessing textures enriched by pre-fermentative skin- extended lees-contact. Early results struck many self-proclaimed Saar aficionados as lacking the brightness and focus thought to constitute Saar typicity. Under cellarmaster Dominik Volk, the wines have gained in clarity while sacrificing none of their textural allure. Although Niewodniczanski intentionally (and in my view wisely) refrains from printing the word “trocken” on any of his labels or price lists and instead simply leads his customers to expect a balanced and dry-tasting Riesling unless in rare instances a Prädikat is indicated, recent collections have tended toward slightly diminished residual sugar, so that nearly all of the wines are in fact legally trocken. Relative dryness is no doubt one of the reasons why many van Volxem 2014s come off as youthfully austere. In perhaps his most audacious move yet, Niewodniczanski recently teamed up with Markus Molitor of the Middle Mosel to clear and replant with vines nearly the entire scrubby, partly tree-covered Ockfener Geisberg, a cooler neighbor of the Bockstein that once enjoyed a similarly exalted reputation. Audacity is also reflected in the grand blueprint for a dedicated winemaking facility that should be completed in time to receive the first (likely 2019) crop from those Geisberg plantings.

Following limited pre-harvest culling, picking began in earnest here in early October 2014, with a large but experienced crew, empowered to make tough decisions on site, finishing up well ahead of this estate’s usually late date. Pre-fermentative skin contact was largely confined to the few hours it took to gently press, and the wines all hover around 12% alcohol (in one instance after chaptalization). This estate bottles only a small number of nobly sweet wines, usually in tiny quantities, and releases them late, so I have reviewed along with their 2014s a B.A. and T.B.A. recently released from the 2011 vintage.