Melange

Clemens Busch has grown to become one of our favourite Mosel Riesling producers.  Previously, we’ve been enamoured with the like of Loosen and Schaefer, and their fruit sweet wines with low alcohols and higher residual sugar.  But the Good Doctor has been introducing us to the delights of the dry Rieslings – with a little more alcohol, and certainly less sugar, but with just as much minerality and possibly even better site and site expression.  That Clemens Busch ventured into the world of Grosses Gewachs is no surprise, but it is pleasing they still retain some of the fruit sweet pradikat wines – among SWMBO and my favourites being the GoldKap Pundericher Marienburg Spatlese.  And it is so pleasing to see the likes of Ernst Loosen enter the dry Riesling field with its Grosse Gewachs wines. 

With Clemens Busch, we are slowly coming to grips with the ‘Falkenlay’ and ‘Felsterrasse’ grey slate soiled wines, as well as the ‘Fahrlay’ and ‘Fahrlay-Terrassen blue slates soiled wines from the Pundericher Marieburg vineyard.  But what has taken our fancy are the red slate ‘Rothenpfad’ wines.  These Grosse Gewaches dry Rieslings show their distinct soil types, and there’s something about spiciness and richness with a warmth about ‘Rothenpfad’.  Tasting the 2013 Clemens Busch Pundericher Marienburg GG ‘Rothenpfasd’ Riesling demonstrated why.  It had the melange of extoticness, but at the same time it retained the crystalline clarity of Riesling, with freshness, acidity, cut and balance.  You couldn’t think any other variety, but the exoticism of the wine a standout and extremely individual.  The wine has a great heart and core, and it’s a great drink.  Our botlle didn’t last long.