Stein "Blauschiefer" Trocken Riesling, Mosel, Germany 2023

FROM VOM BODEN:

THE WINE: From his prime holdings in the village of Sankt-Aldegund from average vines of 60 years, ungrafted and on steep slopes. As the label indicates this wine is a calling card for Blue Slate (Blauschiefer), rocks pulverized into liquid form with a brisk and beautiful acidity. Totally dry or “Trocken”.

THE PRODUCER: Ulli is a true bohemian who lives in a beautiful 19th century inn – Haus Waldfrieden, photographed to the right from an old postcard – on the top of a mountain overlooking the Mosel. Ulli owns the inn; it is his home. While the inn doesn’t really function as an inn (you can’t actually book rooms there, unless you’re a friend) it is always filled with people, with a random assortment of thoughtful eccentrics, famous musicians and artists, a couple just back from photographing Jewish delis in New York, a family making a month-long sojourn from Berlin down to Sicily and back. The common thread? They all love Stein wine; they all love Ulli.

In my first profile of Stein, from ten years ago, I wrote the following line, which is fascinating as a document of a time since past: “Ulli’s wines are not widely known in the U.S.”

The fact that now, a decade later, Stein’s wines have never been more coveted and appreciated, is deeply rewarding to us. After a half-century of producing unflinchingly mineral wines, Ulli deserves the touch of stardom he is now receiving. Like Hofgut Falkenstein, another grower that consistently championed ruthlessly dry wines when the only avenue of commercial success seemed to be to make wines with a bit more schmalz and sugar, Stein has gone from near-total obscurity to some degree of fame.