The Romans planted vines in the Rheingau on slopes where the snow first melted in the spring, and the first recorded Spätlese was a Rheingau Riesling. But for almost fifty years, the region has stagnated, with the large, traditional estates consistently issuing unworthy, mediocre wines.

The Rheingau renaissance began in the 1980's, with producers like Robert Weil and Bernhard Breuer. In the 1990's another half-dozen small family producers joined them, with Peter Jakob Kühn heading the list of the very best. Peter farms biodynamically, without the labor saving benefit of herbicides, and ferments his Reislings on the natural, ambient yeast.

Though a very traditional winemaker, he is fearless in his willingness to adopt new methods when they are shown to yield better results. For example, after much of his 1999 harvest was spoiled by tainted corks, Peter Jakob Kühn joined the ranks of other courageous producers around the world, unhesitatingly adopting stainless steel caps and Stelvin caps in place of corks, even for his most expensive wines.

In 1991, Peter won the prestigious Feinschmecker award for the best dry Riesling in Germany. In March 2002, the Deutsches Weininstitut selected his Oestricher Doosberg Riesling Spätlese trocken 2000 to represent Germany at the European Wine Council Annual Gala Dinner held at Le Cirque in New York. The only source in America was Moore Brothers, so we sent three cases for the event.

Posted by Greg Moore