Fritz Haag Juffer Riesling Grofles Gewchs 2019

Fritz Haag is one of the great addresses of the Mittelmosel, run today by Oliver Haag from the village of Brauneberg. The Juffer is the vineyard that gives the estate its most elegant dry Riesling, from steep blue-slate slopes above the river. Haag’s wines from the Juffer are known for being light-footed, balanced and clear, and the Grosses Gewächs is the top dry wine from the site, made with hand-selected berries and lightly filtered before bottling. The 2022, for example, has 12.5% alcohol, 3.5 g/L of residual sugar and 7.5 g/L of acidity, so it is dry, but with the poise that comes from the cool Mosel climate.

The result is a precise, dynamic Riesling. Crisp pear and white peach lead, with subtle herbal notes, wet slate and a whiff of white tea and geranium, then citrus zest, green apple and a flinty edge. The finish is long and taut, carried by salt, fine acidity and mineral drive. In youth it is finely detailed rather than powerful, and with age it develops the smoky, petrol-edged complexity Mosel Riesling is known for.