Reinhold Haart, Piesporter Goldtröpfchen, Riesling Spätlese, 2003

It has been a while, way too long, actually, since I reported on a wine made by the lovely people from the Haart winery. The winery is based in the village of Piesport, a name that is infamous in the UK for cheap wine, but famous among wine lovers for the Goldtröpfchen (little drop of gold) vineyard, one of the best at the Mosel. The Haart family has been making wine since the 14th century and the sweet Rieslings of Theo Haart, who runs the family estate with his wife and son, have an excellent reputation. For me they are also the embodiment of what I love about the Mosel style of winemaking.

I opened a bottle of the 2003 Spätlese for a wine tasting hosted by David of the Elitist Review, where it was one of several Rieslings and Pinot Noirs (French and German) we tasted blind. This is what David has to say about the Haart:

A tits-out nose of gloriously sun-ripened fruit; this is distinctly exotic but still unmistakably Mosel Riesling. Its pineapple/grapefruit characters could suggest this is a Scheurebe, but it seems more like very ripe Riesling. Not over-ripe, but attractively voluptuous. The palate is a little short on acidity, but it has completely lovely fruit and an appealing sweetness. There is some prominent minerality showing here as well, and it is quite stylish, this was grown in a top vineyard. This is one of the best examples of 2003 German Riesling I’ve had, it is pretty balanced, has well-defined fruit and a quite grown-up vineyard character.

This is a very good description of the Haart, especially the emphasis on the balance (something Haarts do very well) to which I would just like to make three additions: peach. candied fruit. herbal aromas.

I adore the herbal aromas of the Haart wines, particularly those from the Goldtröpfchen vineyard. With this 03 the fruit was very prominent, so the herbal aromas were not as noticeable usually, but still a lovely addition.