Austria’s Wachau, some 90 kilometers west of Vienna (about an hour’s drive), is a dramatic region of steep, terraced vineyards looming grandly over the Danube River. The Alzinger estate, run by Leo Alzinger and his son Leo Alzinger, make some of the most delicate and finessed wines of this famous region.

The Alzingers farm some of the most famous vineyards in the region including the Loibenberg and Steinertal. With only around 11 hectares under vine, this is truly a father-and-son operation. The Rieslings tend to come from the highest vineyards, parcels rich in primary rock. Harvest often happens later than many in the Wachau yet the old vines here do not simply produce more sugar, they rather push the physiological ripeness to greater balance. Alzinger normally presses whole-clusters with a short maceration, then allows the must to settle for 24 hours. The estate is seeking not opulence or power, but finesse and delicacy.

Carolin Spanier-Gillot is a pioneering winemaker in Germany’s Rheinhessen, where her family has farmed the steep, iron-rich slopes of the Roter Hang for generations. Carolin is one of the founding members of Message in a Bottle, leading the charge in bringing terroir-driven viticulture back to the region. Since 2006 she has led the estate alongside her husband, H.O. Spanier, continuing an unbroken tradition of family matriarchs. An oenologist, businesswoman, mother and passionate advocate for nature, Carolin farms organically and biodynamically, producing Rieslings and Pinots from celebrated sites including Rothenberg, Pettenthal, Hipping and Ölberg. Her wines are defined by tension, minerality and patience, with spontaneous fermentation and extended ageing allowing each wine to express the character of its soil and place

Clemens is the fifth generation winemaker at his family estate. Living in a restored, half-timber house built in 1663, Clemens’ commute to his vineyard is simple: cross the Mosel River. The grand wall of vines, the Marienburg, rises dramatically on the other side of the river. Already in 1974 Clemens avoided herbicides and stopped fertilizing. He began practicing organically in 1984 and was certified organic by 1986. Since 2005 he has started incorporating some biodynamic practices into this vineyard management. In 2007, Clemens Busch joined the VDP. The estate is currently around 16 hectares in size. The Marienberg, as with so many vineyards, was expanded by the 1971 German wine law to encompass many other parcel names. Clemens Busch is beginning to reclaim these sites by making parcel-specific bottlings: the blue-slate Fahrlay, the red-slate Rothenpfad and the gray slate Falkenlay, to name the three key bottlings. The style at Clemens Busch is unmistakable; these are wines of texture, size and power. The estate produces top class dry and sweet Rieslings.

The Dönnhoff family came to the Nahe over 200 years ago. It was only with time that the estate began to concentrate more and more on wine, until that was the sole focus. Helmut Dönnhoff, one of the legends of German winemaking, took over the estate with the celebrated 1971 vintage. He has, in the years since, brought the estate to the pinnacle of German winemaking. Helmut’s son Cornelius has taken over from his father and currently runs the estate. One of the many assets of the estate is the diversity of terroir, from slate, sandstone, limestone (Hermannshöhle) to porphyry and loam (Brücke) to quartzite (Krötenpfuhl) and red sandstone (Höllenpfad). The estate’s style is grandiose, layer after layer of fruit that remains both pure and gossamer – a supernal elegance, perfect balance, a filigree that is simply ravishing. The estate is famous for both their Prädikat wines as well as their dry wines.

The Weber family farms around 10 hectares of mainly old Riesling vines (over 40% ungrafted) in a remote side valley of the Saar. Erich Weber and his wife, Marita, built up the property of the then-dilapidated Falkensteiner Hof (established in 1901) from scratch. The winemaking is old school; all the wines are vinified with ambient yeasts in old oak Fuder. Their top vineyard sites are located on various south-to-southwest-facing hillsides, including the once highly rated Krettnacher Euchariusberg and Niedermenniger Herrenberg. The soil is primarily gray slate, which is typical for the Saar. The father-and-son team of Erich and Johannes Weber believe in low yields (one cane per vine) to produce light-bodied dry, off-dry and nobly sweet wines.

Founded in the late 18th century, there can be no doubt that the Keller estate represents a pinnacle of German winemaking. Beginning in the 2000s, they refocused the winery on dry Riesling and have become a critical force in the renaissance of dry Riesling in Germany. In the last few years, Klaus Peter and Julia’s son Felix has brought his influence to the estate, expanding the focus to include sparkling wines, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir. Few estates in the world have achieved the level of critical praise or have inspired such a fanatical following. By this point Jancis Robinson’s quip, written in the Financial Times years ago, has become generally accepted: Keller’s wines are the “German Montrachets.”

While Moritz Kissinger-Bähr is a fourth-generation winemaker, he is only the second generation in his family to bottle his own wines; his father began before him in 1986. Yet the Rheinhessen is going through a renaissance, and Moritz and Jasmin Kissinger-Bähr are in the very heart of it all. While they have become quickly recognized for their sparkling wine and Chardonnay, in 2024 Moritz and Jasmin also acquired a number of tiny parcels in some of the most famous single-vineyards of the “Roter Hang,” including Kreuz, Orbel, Hipping, and Pettenthal. With the vintage 2025 they have secured a miniscule 0.10-hectare parcel within the famous Morstein vineyard in the southern part of the Rheinhessen. Yet for all of these fabled, historical names, they farm only, in total, in all of these sites, only 1.7 hectares. These are rare, rare bottlings and Rieslingfeier 2027 will mark the U.S. premiere of the Riesling Morstein.

Situated in the historic Rheingau on the right banks of the river Rhine, the Kühn Estate has been a cornerstone of German wine-making for roughly 230 years and has been passed down through 11 generations. Having grown into a 20 hectare estate, Peter Bernhard along with his wife Viktoria, his parents Peter Jakob and Angela, as well as his sister Sandra continue to both preserve the established traditions of their ancestors and to pursue modern viticultural techniques. In 2004 they made the decision to achieve certification as an organic and biodynamic winery. The belief and expectation of quality wine manifests itself in their memberships in the VDP (Prädikat Wine Estates), Demeter, and “La Renaissance des Appellations”. The result is a collection of exquisite and well-defined rieslings.

The Carl Loewen estate dates back to 1803 when an agent in Paris purchased a set of vineyards and buildings owned by the Maximin order. The estate has has grown over the past three generations from 1ha to 18 today. The estate is currently run by Christopher Loewen and his father Karl-Josef. In the late 1980s and 1990s, Karl-Josef was always looking for old vineyards and grew the estate by purchasing steep old vineyards (low yielding) that no one wanted to work anymore. Now the estate is spread over 4 villages – Leiwen, Longuich, Detzem, and Thörnich. More than 50% of the holdings are ungrafted, very old vines, from 60-120 years old, and on steep slopes. The Maximiner Herrenberg vineyard, originally planted in 1896, remains one of the oldest, if not the oldest, vineyard in the Mosel still in production.

The young grower was Julian Ludes (pronounced “LOOD-es”) took over his family’s estate in 2018. His grandfather Hermann Ludes had started the eponymous estate in the 1950s. For many years it had an old school, legendary-in-a-quiet-sorta-way reputation. The wines of this place, the village of Thörnich, and the vineyard of the Ritsch, are legendary for shaping wines that are raw and tensile; the wines of Hermann Ludes especially can be brutally structured. In other words these are not easy wines. These are truly old-school Mosel Rieslings – a style that has been nearly forgotten, pushed aside by the riper, fruitier, easier style of plush-and-giving Mosel wine. Yet Julian has proven himself to be one of the most uncompromising growers of this new generation. He is continuing this genre of unflinching, unapologetically structured, old school Mosel wines.

Weingut Egon Müller focuses on a single vineyard, the Scharzhofberg. Likely cultivated since Roman times, the vineyard was managed by monks until it was secularized by Napoleon in the late 18th century.

The history of the estate as we know it today begins in the late 19th century with Egon Müller the first – it was he who cemented the reputation of greatness at exhibits such as the 1900 Exhibition Universelle et Internationale in Paris. Egon Müller the second ran the estate for only a few years, dying in a tractor accident in the vineyard in 1941. Egon Müller the third returned from England as a prisoner of war in 1945 – this was his first harvest and he managed to bring in only 1,200 liters from 7.4 hectares. Egon Müller the third died in 1991, though his son Egon Müller the fourth had been working at the estate since 1985 and has since continued the legacy of greatness. Now, daughter Isabella has joined the family business and the journey continues.

The focus at the estate is Prädikat wines – Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese and (gulp) BAs and TBAs. These are widely considered to be among the greatest white wines in the world, with a combination of intensity, fine-ness and elegance that is simply incomparable.

The estate of J.J. Prüm is perhaps the most iconic winery in Germany. Although Prüms have been living in or around Wehlen since 1156, the history of the estate of J.J. Prüm begins in 1911. With a track record of winemaking that goes back over a century, any number of 20th century monuments have come from this famous cellar – the great wines of the 20s, 30s, 40 and 50s continue to drink well and the wines from the 60s, 70s and 80s, in some cases, may still be considered young!

Dr. Manfred Prüm took over the estate with the death of his father, Sebastian, in 1969. With over 30 acres of holdings in Wehlen, Zeltingen and Graach, the Prüms have an incredible arsenal of vines, of which nearly 70% are ungrafted. Manfred’s daughter Katharina has been working with her father for a number of years and is ensuring the continued high-standing of this estate for the future.

Weingut Willi Schaefer is a family affair: four hectares, farmed by Christoph and Andrea Schaefer. The total production is 2,900 cases. There’s never enough to go around.

While the estate does produces a little Wehlener Sonnenuhr, the Schaefers live in Graach and the foundation of winemaking here is based on two vineyards in Graach: the Himmelreich and the Domprobst. The former produces wines that are a shade more lithe, a little bit more delicate, the later forms Rieslings of a bit more toothsome depth, wines that can be chewy and rich, while never losing that Schaefer purity and finesse.

In 1875 the great castle of Lieser (Schloss Lieser) was built by the Baron von Schorlemer; in 1905 a winery was erected next door to the castle and by the mid-20th century the vineyards, the wines, of Lieser had achieved great fame. In the 1970s the estate was sold and quality began to decline. By the early 1990s, the estate was in bad repair, it had no clientele, its cellar of historic wines was emptied and its history of greatness nearly forgotten.

It was with the harvest of 1992 and the arrival a new general manager that things began to change. Thomas Haag, the eldest son of Mosel legend Wilhelm Haag (of Weingut Fritz Haag), had come aboard to change the direction of this estate. In 1997 Haag purchased Schloss Lieser and since then it has quickly risen to among the very best in Germany. With holdings in Niederberg Helden and Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr, Schloss Lieser’s style is unapologetically sharp. These are chiseled Rieslings of mineral and purity.

Daniel Vollenweider passed away rather suddenly in the summer of 2022. The young Moritz Hoffmann had been made a partner at the estate already in 2019 – two years earlier. Yet neither of them knew how quickly things would completely change.

Mourning the loss of his friend and, suddenly, with the weight of the estate on his shoulders, Hoffmann boldly pushed forward. He has fine-tuned any number of details at the estate, including taking on a friend and partner Vinzent Ewest in 2025. The two of them have something of a magic touch. At the moment, this is one of the most exciting, most dynamic estates in the Mosel. People are noticing. For the very, very serious taster, these wines will be a revelation. Daniel must be as thrilled.

Konstantin Weiser and Alexandra Künstler are perhaps two of the most uncompromising growers in the Mosel: They farm organically (certified) in a very wet and humid place, in the steepest slopes where there can be no mechanization, receiving meager yields because they farm some of the oldest vines in the Mosel, including 80-100+ year-old, ungrafted vines. This is a small estate, only around four hectares under vine, shaping wines of extraordinary complexity and calm. They are celebrated for both their dry and off-dry Rieslings.