Peter Lauer "No. 18 Kupp GG" Riesling, Mosel, Germany 2023

FROM VOM BODEN:

THE WINE: The Kupp is name of the main vineyard that Florian Lauer farms. It is also the name of one of the three Grand Cru dry wines that Florian Lauer produces – the other two are Feils and Schonfels. Note in German these are called “Grosses Gewächs,” translating to “great growth.” You should be able to find on the labels the letters “GG,” denoting the fact they are “Grand Cru” and dry. 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.

The Kupp GG is normally the most “complete” of all the GGs; it is a wine that shows both fruit and depth (like Feils) as well as a dense mineral core of slate and salt (like Schonfels). It is perhaps the most elegant of the wines, with fine layers and a suave, polished finesse. Kupp tends to have more structure than Feils, so it normally needs a few years in the bottle to begin to show. It also benefits from a serious decant.

THE PRODUCER: For purists, there is nothing like the Saar. The magic here is intensity without weight, grandiosity without size: rocks and acidity. Lauer is currently one of greatest estates in this sacred place. The style here is 180 degrees removed from his famous neighbors Egon Müller and Zilliken. The focus here is on dry and dry-tasting Riesling. While the source of most of the bottlings is the famed Ayler Kupp, Florian uses the pre-1971 vineyard names – Neuenberg, Stirn, Unterstenberg. Rigorous vineyard work, indigenous yeasts and spontaneous fermentations mean the wines find their own balance. The results are undeniable: depth, texture, dimension, clarity, CUT. For Lauer, the large site of the Ayler Kupp has many different terroirs rather than a single, defining character. Soil composition, exposition, altitude, and microclimate in combination with vine age all make contributions to the individual character of each wine.