In his opening remarks, George remarked that he had been friends with Johannes for over 30 years and what a pleasure it was to have him here in person to helm the tasting. At the conclusion of his remarks George turned the floor over to Johannes.
George's opening remarks |
Johannes Selbach |
Mosel has a northern continental climate and this, in combination with the river, provides a microclimate that is advantageous for grapegrowing. The river wends its way through the region and reflects the suns rays, supplementing the ripening effect of direct sunlight on the fruit. The river also serves as a store of heat during the day and releases that warmth back into the vineyards during the nighttime. The hillsides bordering the river are very steep -- up to 60% in some cases -- and mostly south-facing, allowing direct sunlight for the better part of the day.
By Friedrich Petersdorff - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8938732 |
The soil is rocky and meager, forcing the vines to send their roots deep in search of water and nutrients. The soils are endowed with slate stones which, like the river, provide both reflective and warmth-storage functions. These conditions, according to Selbach-Oster, permit a "long, gentle growing season and a markedly late harvest" with concomitant benefits to the fruit and wine.
Turning from the general to the specific, we see that Selbach-Oster owns five key sites on the right bank of the heart of the middle Mosel and, further, three highly rated crus within the first three of these. the details of these holdings are featured in the figure below.
Once Johannes had completed his overview of the Selbach-Oster environment, he pivoted to the actual tasting. I iwll cover that phase in a subsequent post
©Wine -- Mise en abyme
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