AJ Adam - SpätBurgunder Rosé, Germany (2022)

TASTING NOTES

Full red fruit flavour with a lovely tangy acidity and saltiness. A little reduction and a spritz upon first opening quickly blows off to reveal an intense nose and palate of raspberries, texture and some tannnic grip. 

The Dhronerthal (Dhron Valley) is a small tributary of the Mosel, running south, just after Piesport. The steep, southwest facing Hofberg was given the top rating in Clotten’s 1868 Vineyard maps. In the 1950s and ‘60s, the wines of Dhron Hofberg were famous, gracing the tables of fine restaurants.

But, in the 1970s and ’80s, the new generation started to leave the vineyards and move to cities and most vineyards became relics of the past. Adam re-started his family estate while still studying at Geisenheim University and interning at some of the great estates in Germany – Heymann-Löwenstein in the Wininngen, St. Urbans-Hof in Leiwen, and Van Volxem in the Saar.  His first official vintage was in 2000 when he was just 21 years old, working a single hectare that was owned and farmed by his grandfather.

It was an area ripe for revitalization, as Andreas tells it: expanding with vineyard land in the Hofberg was “almost free” he says, paying less than 5 euros per square meter. Andreas Adam is almost single-handedly responsible for bringing the Dhroner Hofberg back to its former status as one of the great Grand Crus of the Mosel.

Joined by his younger sister Barbara in 2013, after her graduation from Geisenheim and a stint at Keller in Rheinhessen, the estate has taken its place as one of the very finest estates in the Mosel. The two siblings work side by side and are responsible for vineyards and cellar together. 

Harvest is always done by hand, with a heavy selection in the vineyards. The wines are fermented using only ambient yeasts in old fuder (around 1000 liters) and halbfuder (around 500 liters) and stainless steel with no additions of any kind.