FALKENSTEIN
Saar, Germany
Erich Weber first apprenticed under his uncle, then started his own domain in 1981. Today he farms about 8 hectares, and lives and works in a beautiful old slate house with cellar that once belonged to the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Gymnasium. It sits at the top of a little valley surrounded by his vineyards.
He likes to call himself “Winzer Weber” or “wine-grower Weber.” The point being that real wine is grown, not a product of cellar manipulation. He takes an ultra-traditional, non-interventionist approach. He ferments his wines in old wooden casks in a cool cellar, and bottles them, in most cases, unblended. The wines normally ferment to dry or a little off-dry.
The dry wines are uncompromisingly so, with high acidity. Even for experienced tasters, they can require a little re-calibration. But the balance is impeccable, the fruit is pure, and the mineral expression is unrivaled. They are incredibly addictive.
Lars Carlberg, the agent for the wines and a great font of vinous knowledge, explains the workings of the estate:
“The harvest is usually done in three stages—lower, middle, and upper sections of each hillock. The small harvest team then does three separate passes in the middle and upper parts. The crest of the southern slopes is the most privileged area. Erich likes to pick the gold-yellow grapes first, then those affected by botrytis followed by the rest. Yields are small because of a relatively low-density planting and strict harvesting from old vines.”
Whole grape bunches are directly put into an old spindle press (which is on its last legs and has now been replaced by a Slovenian NIKO pneumatic press in the 2013 vintage). The grapes are gently pressed for three to four hours and the resulting juice flows via gravity into the cellar below for a natural sedimentation in Fuder and then racked into another traditional 1,000-liter cask, where the must and later wine stays on its lees anywhere between three to nine months until bottling. All wines are fermented with ambient yeasts. He doesn’t use enzymes, protein stabilizers, clarifying agents; nor does he chaptalize, concentrate, or de-acidify his wines. “Kontrolliertes nichts tun,” he says. In other words, he does as little as possible.
Erich Weber also only sulfurs the casks, before putting the grape musts into them. He doesn’t sulfur during fermentation or at bottling. In addition, his various parcels are vinified separately in old Fuder.”
Wines
Press
Falkenstein - Lars Carlberg Mosel Wine
Falkenstein 2014 in John Gilman’s A View from the Cellar
Falkenstein - The Wines of Hofgut Falkenstein 205 Food
Point of Sale
Falkenstein General - ST
Falkenstein Riesling Krettnacher Altenberg Spätlese Trocken - ST
Falkenstein Riesling Krettnacher Euchariusberg Auslese - ST
Falkenstein Niedermenniger Herren Kab Trocken - ST
Falkenstein Niedermenniger Sonnen Spat Feinherb - ST
Falkenstein Niedermenniger Sonnen Spat Trocken - ST