Look down at your own peril! For those who clicked the link, what you just saw is a frightening vantage point from legendary “Erdener Prälat,” a precipitous Grand Cru micro-site that must be tended by farmers with one hand while the other clings to a wooden stake for dear life. Terrifying topography aside, seeking out a bottle of “Prälat” is an equally steep demand because the entire vineyard measures 1.5 hectares and is divided amongst 11 producers. Translation: there’s hardly enough wine to make and rarely enough to share!
Now imagine, if you can, locating one that’s decades old and you’re homing in on today’s mind-bending bottle. But there are still more perks to reveal yet! Firstly, Christoffel-Berres’ 1995 “Erdener Prälat” Riesling spent the vast majority of its life locked away in frigid, pitch-black solitude beneath the old streets of bucolic Mosel. And secondly, those three small asterisks on the front label? They are essentially Berres’ in-house “code” to represent their finest, most concentrated Spätlese bottling in ’95. So, please, when you drink this savory and flawlessly stored single-vineyard gem, please take a moment to process and appreciate all the pieces at play. Up to six bottles per person.
Documentation dating back to the mid-1500s proves that Christoffel-Berres is among the oldest estates in the Mosel, although a major shift came in 1997 when proprietor Otto Christoffel retired and the property was left heirless. Thankfully, their impressive wine library and few precious acres in the vineyards of Würzgarten, Treppchen, and Prälat were taken over by their long-time neighbors/friends at Weingut Karl Erbes, whom we have happily featured over the years.
“Prälat” is one of the most cherished sites in the entire Mosel Valley, renowned for its (1) incredible exposure on a hair-raising slope and (2) old, ungrafted vines buried in ancient slate soils. This hallowed vineyard produces wines that burst with unfathomably ripe tropical/stone fruits and bracing minerality. It truly does deliver some of the most opulent Rieslings in the Mosel; exposed to so much sun, that wines rarely are harvested at anything below “Spätlese” levels of ripeness. And then we have the terroir it sits on: weathered red slate that clings to a seemingly vertical hillside. The result is a fully-integrated Mosel Riesling of the highest quality. Fun fact: Several producers with ownership in Prälat use the same front label graphic of an amicable prelate (prälat, in German) admiring a glass of wine.
In traditional fashion, grapes were harvested by hand, fermentation was carried out via ambient yeasts, and maturation occurred in large, neutral barrels before bottling roughly one year after the 1995 harvest. This specific parcel then continued aging, without any disturbances, for nearly 26 years in Berres’ cellar before we purchased it at the end of last year.
Drinking an old Christoffel-Berres Riesling Spätlese is an entirely unique experience—just make sure it’s done right by using an ah-so opener and enjoying around 50 degrees in all-purpose stems. After a few swirls, this 1995 erupts with soft aromas of bruised apricot, honey, dried mango peel, ripe yellow peach, citrus peel, damp cellar, crushed slate, button mushroom, petrol, and delicate notes of exotic spice. On the palate, the wine is brimming with tension and subtle flavors that move from sweet to savory in an instant thanks to a cleansing rush of acidity. Some of you may see the 8% alcohol and expect a “sweet” wine, but I can assure you that 27 years of integration have placed it so very far in the background. Now, it’s all about the beautiful harmony of mature fruit and a strong, impossible-to-miss mineral core.
