Haart to Heart, Riesling, 2008
The 'Haart' in the Riesling with the funny name 'Haart to Heart' is not a spelling mistake. In fact, it comes from the Haart winery, who make some of our favourite sweet Mosel Riesling. It also seems they like a good pun, at least if it comes to labelling their basic Riesling. The 'Heart to Haart' is the only Haart wine that comes with a screw cap and without the 'eagle logo' of the VdP, the elite club of German wine makers, that is proudly displayed on all other Haart bottles. This is because in some years at least part of the grapes for the Haart to Heart are sourced from other growers, but this does not appear to have been the case for a while now. So, as far as the Haart winery is concerned it does not get more basic than this. How basic is basic?
The colour is a clear greenish citrus with a pleasant golden shimmer, a little paler around the edges. The bouquet has lots of mineral in a herbal style with a decent dosage of menthol, almost bordering on minty sage; it is also yeasty and peachy, with a faint hint of petrol. Very easy to like, although not nearly as sophisticated and well defined as other Haart wines. On the tongue the Haart to Heart is fruity, with a pleasant though a little unfocussed mix of stone fruit and apple, with good acidity and a medium length finish that starts out spicy and then leans more towards juicy peach, all with some roughness to it.
The Haart to Heart is a very decent wine, easy to like, easy too drink, but lacks some of the complexity and elegance of its senior (and more pricey) brothers. I liked it better on the second evening when the juiciness in the finish came out much stronger and made it very quaffable. Not one to be stored, a wine to be drunk now.