2021 Lauer, Peter - Riesling Fass 11 Schonfels Grosses Gewachs

Feils is a warm site; it is also sneakily steep. Convex like a spoon, the vineyard begins mildly as you walk through it heading down to the river. However, as one reaches center-slope the incline becomes quite severe. In the pictures in the gallery, you can see the roundness and dip of the site – especially in the second picture. The lowest third of the vineyard is extremely steep.

The wine this site produces is one of the most textural and luscious of the GGs; from the beginning it can show a rather broad range of fruit and spice. It also tends to drink earlier than Lauer’s other GGs, though obviously this can change vintage to vintage.

In a way, the Kupp GG is the final selection of the cherry parcels of the Kupp hill. As with Burgundy, most often Grand Cru, the best grapes, come from the mid-section of the hill – see the map in the gallery. The red-colored parcels are where Lauer sources the grapes: the middle section above Unterstenberg and below Stirn, as well as selected parcels both east and west.