2020 Heymann-Löwenstein Schieferterrassen Riesling

The Heymann-Löwenstein Schieferterrassen Riesling is a cuvée of premier cru vineyards in the family’s home village of Winningen, supplemented by a small proportion from the grands crus. These vineyards all have the strong character and identity of the Terrassenmosel. The composition of the wine is the same every year: parcels in “Erste Lagen” Hamm and Bruckstuck, combined with declassified grand-cru fruit. The vineyards are all terraced, steep and slate-driven, all farmed purely by hand with exceptionally low yields. Then you have the individual site’s contribution, such as Hamm’s floral characters but also earthy, slaty touch. To get this wine is to get this producer, as our pre-eminent wine scribe Ed Merrison is at pains to point out. “Equal parts intellectual and visceral – it is an estatic expression of the dizzying slate slopes of the Terrassenmosel”.