Barbara Rundquist, Owner of renowned Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch - Erben Mueller-Burggraef, was in town (Washington DC). I enjoyed a winemaker dinner with her and her wines at Lyon Hall in Arlington, Northern Virginia.
Lyon Hall's new Excutive Chef Paul Stearman, previously Executive Chef at Robert Wiedmeier's gourmet temple Marcel's on Pennyslvania Avenue, prepared an outstanding menu that went very well with the Mosel wines, ranging from dry to fruity-sweet.
Barbara Rundquist was in the US with the so-called Derek Vinnicombe group. Derek Vinnicombe is a wine broker and US importer, based in Germany. He comes annually to the US with a group of 10 to 15 winemakers and tours the US extensively for about 10 days. Well known in the Washington DC region are the tastings of his group at finewine in Gaithersburg.
At the dinner, Derek Vinnicombe also present 3 wines of Weingut Bollig-Lehnert. In fact, Owner/ Winemaker Stefan Bollig is his brother-in-law.
Annika Collins, Wine Director, Northside Social, organized and managed the dinner.
Finally, Frank Heyden, Owner and Winemaker, Weingut Dr. Heyden, joined us later in the evening and presented one wine after he had finished his tasting event in near-by Northside Social.
Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch - Erben Mueller-Burggraef: Old and New
Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch - Erben Mueller-Burggraef is at the same time a very old and a very young wine producer.
The wine-growing tradition of the Thanisch family can be traced back more than 350 years. In 1636, the name was mentioned for the first time in the registers of Bernkastel-Kues. The quality of the family’s wines soon extended their excellent reputation far beyond the Mosel valley. At the end of the 18th Century, the Thanischs acquired the Berncasteler Doctor vineyard, a very steep site with deep devon slate structure, situated behind and overlooking the rooftops of the quaint old town of Bernkastel. The Doctor name originates in a legend about Prince Boemond II of Trier who fell sick and then was cured by a wine from this vineyard. Medicinal powers of fine wines are today being re-discovered! The Doctor Vineyard is one of the most famous German sites.
In 1988, the Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch was split up into two parts: Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch - Erben Thanisch and Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch - Erben Mueller-Burggraef.
Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch - Erben Mueller-Burggraef and Barbara Rundquist-Müller
“Wwe” is the short version for the German word “Witwe” which means widow. The viticultural tradition of the family dates from 1650. Dr. Hugo Thanish, a Prussian deputy, established the estate ́s international reputation, primarily by the spectacular awards and high prices for his wines at auctions. In 1895 his wife Katharina took the responsibilities of the estate and since then women have been running the business.
"Erben" means heirs. In 1988, the Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch was split up into two parts: Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch - Erben Thanisch and Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch - Erben Mueller-Burggraef. Margrit Müller-Burggraef, a granddaughter of Dr. Hugo Thanisch, became the owner of Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch - Erben Mueller-Burggraef.
In 2007, Margrit Müller-Burggraef passed the estate on to her nice, Barbara Rundquist-Müller. "As my aunt and her husband, Walter, my father's brother, remained childless, they decided many years ago to adopt me as their daughter," explained Rundquist-Müller, so heritage and donation taxes were therefore avoided. "One of the reasons was certainly to ensure the succession of the estate."
Barbara Rundquist-Müller and her husband Eric Rundquist had joined the family business in 1983 before the split-up of Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch, managing international sales and marketing.
Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch - Erben Mueller-Burggraef
Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch - Erben Mueller-Burggraef is in the Middle Mosel in the charming town of Bernkastel-Kues. The vineyard area totals 15 hectares of prime steep Riesling sites, with the most prestigious and famous being the Bernkasteler Doctor vineyard.
Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch - Erben Mueller-Burggraef also has plots in the Bernkastler Graben, Bernkastler Lay, Bernkastler Badstube, Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr, Graacher Himmelreich and Wehlener Sonnenuhr. Annual production averages 7000 cases.
Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch - Erben Mueller-Burggraef got 2 grapes (out of 5) in the Gault & Millau WeinGuide Deutschland 2018.
Interestingly, Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch - Erben Thanisch is about half the size of Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch - Erben Mueller-Burggraef and got 3 grapes in Gault & Millau WeinGuide Deutschland 2018.
During the dinner, Barbara Rundquist-Müller talked about her way of growing grapes and making wine. A lot of what she said was summarized very well in a Huffington Post article by Brad Haskel, from which I am quoting below (Dr. H. Thanisch - Erben Mueller-Burggraef: Refining Tradition in Mosel Riesling).
Barbara Rundquist-Müller: Viticulture in the Mosel valley is dictated by the unique countryside. The character of the growing area is formed by the special geological, topographical, and micro-climatic configuration. Over a period of 15 million years, the Mosel dug into a slate filled mountain range full of minerals that developed 400 million years ago. The slate erodes easily and its components decay and enrich the soil, which are dissolved in the ground water and absorbed by the vines. Due to the sheltered position of the Mosel valley, it is part of the warmest climactic zones in Germany. The capability of the Mosel River and the soil to store heat and reflect sunlight, minimizes photosynthesis, making winegrowing possible in this, otherwise very cool region.
Barbara Rundquist-Müller: We grow on legendary sites. Many of our vineyards have a slope gradient of more than 60%. Handwork is necessary all year around from the cultivation of the wines until the harvest. The valuable combination of steep slopes, soil characteristic, and climate presents our vines with the best possible conditions for development. The natural and necessary interplay between terroir and vines creates continuously impressive and unique taste compositions of our wines.
Barbara Rundquist-Müller - Sustainable farming. Doing the Right Thing in the Vineyard: We use careful pruning of vines to restrict yields (Average yield is less than 5000 litres per hectare). We use no artificial fertilizers. We only bring back into the vineyard what has been taken out of the vineyard. We work the cuttings from prunings, skins after pressing, etc...back into the soil. No use of herbicides. No use of pesticides. No use of insecticides. We use pheromones instead. No irrigation. Careful canopy management. We pick by hand, selectively over several weeks with each vineyard harvested 3 to 4 times, to ensure the grapes will be harvested at optimum ripeness.
Cellar
Barbara Rundquist-Müller - Doing the Right Thing in the Cellar: We gently press destalked whole grapes at very low pressure. There is skin contact in the juice for many hours to extract as much vineyard character as possible. No use of enzymes. We cool and extract the clean juice. We clear the must only by sedimentation. We do a slow and cold fermentation with natural yeast; either in stainless steel or in traditional wooden barrels. The choice is a winemaker decision. Natural yeast helps focus the character of the terroir of the vineyards. After fermentation many of the wines are left to settle and mature for several months in traditional old wood barrels, which gives more complexity and structure to the wines.
Bernkasteler Doctor
Bernkasteler Doctor is one of the most famous vineyard names in the world, although the wines that are currently made there do not have the reputation any more that they used to have. The Doctor is a small (3.3 hectares) plot – south-facing, and with an extremely steep slope of between 45% and 60%.
The Berncasteler Doctor was owned by Count von der Leyen until 1760, and in 1794, under French rule, declared community property. During most of the 19th century, the Doctor was leased to the Thanisch family and it eventually became the property of Dr. Hugo Thanisch and his wife Katharina.
As part of the 1971 German Wine Law, the Bernkasteler Doctor’s boundaries were extended. The owners of the original vineyard understandably objected, and the matter was not settled in court until 1984. As a result, the vineyard boundary remained extended to the west, encompassing what was once part of the adjacent Graben vineyard, but not to the east. By way of appeasement, this land was renamed Alte Badstube am Doctorberg.
The vineyard is planted exclusively with Riesling vines, about 45% of which are ungrafted. Today, the Bernkasteler Doctor is divided up among the following owners:
Weingüter Geheimrat J. Wegeler - Gutshaus Bernkastel
Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch – Erben Thanisch
Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch – Erben Müller-Burggraef
Patrick Lauerburg
Weingut Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt (0,06 hectare leased from Wegeler)
Heilig-Geist-Stiftung (owns 0,26 hectare, leased for 10 years in 2006 by Weingüter Wegeler and Weingut Witwe Dr. Thanisch – Erben Müller-Burggraef)
The Doctor's Wife
(by Ben Giliberti, CW Director of Wine Education)
Ben Giliberti: Barbara Rundquist-Müller doesn't mind it a bit that her husband is the most famous Doctor in the little German village of Bernkastel. Fortunately, neither does her other husband, Erik, the engineer. That's because the "Doctor" is not a person, but the most celebrated vineyard in all of Germany, the legendary Berncasteler Doctor. Like France's Romanée-Conti, the Doctor is as much a national treasure as it is a working vineyard. In 2007, after a long drawn-out journey through the torturous German laws of inheritance, Barbara finally acceded to sole ownership of a priceless 2.5 acre portion of the gem-like 7.6 acre cru. ...
One might reasonably assume that wine from the "Romanée-Conti of Germany" would sell for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars a bottle. Indeed, as late as the 1960s, Doctor Riesling did sell at DRC prices. Today, however, like almost all German Rieslings, Berncasteler Doctor is astonishingly underpriced -- only $39.99 during our Special Sale (details below). I can't think of another wine that offers the unforgettable experience of tasting the very best the world has to offer at a price so modest.
Although the Doctor of Bernkastel undoubtedly couldn't get into medical school today, his name comes from his putative healing powers. According to legend, in the 14th century the visiting Prince of Trier fell ill with a severe fever during his stay at a nearby castle. No medicine or any of his eminent doctors were able to cure him. Fortunately, he had had been supplied with a small barrel of wine from a nearby vineyard, and after ample consumption, made a miraculous recovery. Summoning the winemaker to thank him, the Prince gave him the vineyard and pronounced, "the very best Doctor grows on this Moselle mountain." From that day forward, the vineyard has been known as Berncasteler Doctor.
While the source of the Doctor's healing powers is subject to debate, the source of its greatness as a vineyard is not. It is warmer than the surrounding area. Its steep, southwest facing slopes form a perfect natural amphitheater that captures the last warming rays of the sun as it sets over the arched steeples of the sleepy village below. The salubrious effect of the Berncasteler Doctor's unique microclimate is illustrated in this winter lithograph (right). The warmth of the vineyard's soil has melted away the snow, while the sites on either side with less favorable positioning have remained snow-covered.
The name Thanisch is inseparably linked to the Doctor. The Thanisch family acquired the 7.6 acre vineyard at the end of the 18th century. During the 19th century the estate achieved its worldwide reputation under the leadership of Hugo Thanisch, a Doctor of Philosophy and a member of the county government. Capable of producing some of Germany's greatest Rieslings, the Doctor wines were quite expensive in the past. For example, as late as the 1960s, the 1959 Doctor Spätlese sold for $10.25 while the 1959 Ch. Petrus could be purchased for only $7.95.
The Mosel Fest Wine Dinner
Reception
Belgian beer battered gulf shrimp, honey balsamic
NV Weingut Fitz-Ritter, Riesling Sekt
Dinner
Fluke & vegetable crudo, shallot ginger vinaigrette, EVOO
2016 Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch – Erben Müller-Burggraef, Riesling Dr. Thanisch
Diver scallop & ham, spinach, chervil beurre blanc
2015 Weingut Bollig-Lehnert, Piesporter Goldtröpfchen, Riesling Spätlese
Weingut Bollig-Lehnert is located in Trittenheim along the Mosel River. Bolling is a fine example of the new generation of Mosel vintners. The family has been producing wine since the 17th Century, but new cellars and house have been built on the outskirts of Trittenheim.
Wild mushroom tratine, juienne apple
2015 Weingut Bollig-Lehnert, Trittenheimer Apotheke, Riesling, Kabinett
Virginia lamb loin with dill & mustard, potato gratin, chiffonade brussels, Riesling lanb jus
2014 Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch – Erben Müller-Burggraef, Riesling, Spätlese Trocken
Humble fog, apricot compote, candied hazelnuts
2014 Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch – Erben Müller-Burggraef, Bernkasteler Badstube, Riesling, Kabinett
Add-on: Frank Heyden and Weingut Dr. Heyden Silvaner
Frank Heyden, Owner and Winemaker, Weingut Dr. Heyden, joined us later in the evening and presented one wine after he had finished his tasting event in near-by Northside Social.
2016 Weingut Dr. Heyden, Silvaner, Alte Reben, trocken
Lyon Hall and Excutive Chef Paul Stearman
Zagat: “Tasty Alsatian dishes” like “great mussels” and oversized pretzels paired with a “great beer list and lots of wines by the glass” keep the trade brisk at this French-German brasserie in the heart of Arlington featuring art deco decor and “novel bathrooms” where opposite sexes share the sink; “friendly” service adds to the charm, ditto the “affordable happy hour.”
Paul Stearman has been the Executive Chef of Lyon Hall since January 2018, after working with Robert Wiedmeier for 20 years at Marcel's on Pennsylvania Avenue, in the last 7 years as Executive Chef.
Derek Vinnicombe Heading the Caravan of Winemakers
Derek Vinnicombe is a wine broker and US importer based in Germany.
Derek Vinnicombe was, as he puts it, raised “on the bottle”, and thus followed the family tradition. William Frederick Vinnicombe, his great-great-grandfather, established a wine merchants company in Torquay (England) back in 1857. After completing college, studying German, Chemistry and French, Derek joined the Landes Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt für Weinbau und Kellerwirtschaft in Veitshöchheim near the city of Würzburg in Germany. The appreciation of fine German wines began. Following practical experience in Germany and Switzerland, he became a wine-broker and later established his own company in 1985, concentrating on the finer wines from Germany.
The winemakers spend about 10 days at the East Coast annually and visit the large cities to promote their wine. Tastings at wine stores, wine dinners, shows with sales representatives and so on takes this group from Washington DC to New York, Chicago and to other centers.
Bye-Bye
Thanks to all of you for an outstanding evening.
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Wine Caravan from Germany Visiting the East Coast, US: Dr. Fischer, Fitz Ritter, Bolling-Lehnert, Schneider, Dr. Thanisch
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