Organic. With Müller-Catoir’s Haardt Riesling, we hit the ‘village’ level of the German VDP classification. As in Burgundy, these commune-level wines can incorporate fruit from several sites, including declassified fruit from classified vineyards. Müller-Catoir’s version includes young-vine material from the legendary Grosses Gewächs Bürgergarten vineyard and the classified sites of Herzog, Mandelring and Herrenletten.
The fruit was slowly crushed (allowing for some skin contact) and raised in steel tank, resulting in a lithe wine with racy, salty/mineral personality. There’s a beautifully poised mouthfeel and lip-smacking tension; think of it as a scaled-up version of the MC Riesling with a touch more overdrive and sustain. We can’t really improve on Pigott’s note below, but will add that to drink this well, at this price, is far from common these days.