Kaseler Nies’chen, Riesling Spätlese Trocken, 2012, Bischöfliche Weingüter Trier, White-wine from Germany

6 points

Again another wonderful Riesling of „the“ Riesling area Mosel! Even though I like to be precise. Kaseler Nies’chen is one of Germany’s top vineyard but actually at the valley of the small creek Ruwer which is an inflow to Mosel. A little bit similar to Scharzhofberg this hill belongs to the very top estates and is shared by several wineries. One of them is Bischöfliche Weingüter Trier which I recently introduced at https://avdwineandfood.wordpress.com/2015/05/22/ayler-kupp-riesling-auslese-2012-bischofliche-weinguter-trier/. So I haven’t to write too much anymore about the vinery itself.

Kaseler Nies’chen isn’t the name of the wine but the vineyard. This is the reason why you can find some other Rieslings with the same name although the producers are different. Of course each producer would try to convince you that his ha in particular is the best. I honestly admit I would not recognize too many differences if there wouldn’t be some other aspects as well: how old are the grapes, when is the right moment of harvest and how much work is spend in the cellar. As some specialists are able to distinguish all diverse vineyards and would not just summarize like the majority of people would saying this is a “Mosel Riesling” I like to confirm that there are differences of course.

The soil of Kaseler Nies’chen is blue and grew schist which is the basis of unique taste of wines of this beautiful piece of earth. This wine is simply speaking very mineral combined with some fruity aromatic – but less intensive and less sweet than somewhere else along the Mosel. Due to the minerals the wine are of dense structure. I believe they will even become better if you store them some year. Although this wine is already three years old it is refreshingly sour – like red currant and some mirabelle.

This vinery is a very steep slope. Working there is really hard work: no machine, but all craftman’s hand work.

I found a charming but also corny story in the internet why this vineyard is called Nies’chen. It is very close to a small village called Kasel which is the explanation of the first part of the name. There was once a small girl called Agnes. Her parents owed a huge vinery in Kasel. The nickname of the little girl was Nies’chen – a belittlement of Agnes. Probably this girl wasn’t very beautiful and nobody wanted to marry her, her father assigned the vineyard to her daughter and – surprise, surprise – suddenly there were many men found to marry her. Saving the bitter taste the legend says that she selected the appropriate one, they became a wonderful couple which began to plant vine and worked the slope. They tied the shoots of their vine into a form of a heart. All people by then knew which vines belong to Nies’chen.

Here you find more about the wine as well as you can buy it: http://www.bischoeflicheweingueter.de/