Friday, February 28, 2025

Mainlust Desche Otto (a Traditional Apple Wine Tavern that also has a good Wine List) and East Grape (a Leading Wine Bar) in Frankfurt: Trade Tasting with the Wines of Weingut Seehof, Weingut Siegloch and Weingut Rinklin (February 2025)

I was invited to participate in a most interesting trade tasting with Claudia Orlinsky and Louie Hoelzinger (Desche Otto - a traditional hard cider tavern that also has a good wine list) and Ralf Müller-Arnold (East Grape - a leading wine bar in Frankfurt) of the wines of Weingut Seehof, Weingut Siegloch and Weingut Rinklin. Excellent wines!

This was on the day before I flew back to Virginia, USA, after spending a month in Munich and in Frankfurt. While in Frankfurt, I spent, with a few exceptions, every evening at Desche Otto, always with one or two bottle(s) from my cellar.

Weingut Rinklin

Baltic Weinkontor: Das kleine Familienweingut Rinklin am südbadischen Kaiserstuhl arbeitet nach Bioland-Richtlinien. Winzer Friedhelm Rinklin schafft hier auf natürliche Art und Weise bio-vegane Weine mit unkomplizierter, frischer Stilistik. Es war der Vater von Friedhelm Rinklin, der den Betrieb schon 1955 (!) auf biodynamische Bewirtschaftung bzw. 1971 auf biologisch-organischen Weinbau umstellte. Sein Sohn führt das Erbe seines Vaters und Bioland-Mitgründers heute fort. Zum Pflanzenschutz wird auf eine ausreichende Belüftung des Weinbergs geachtet, damit die Reben schnell trocknen und so weniger anfällig für Mehltau sind. Kräuterauszüge, Schwefel und Gesteinsmehl kommen unterstützend zum Einsatz. Die Düngung erfolgt natürlich durch Verrottung organischer Substanzen, die so ihre Nährstoffe an die Reben abgeben. Auf rund 6 Hektar, unter anderem in der Einzellage „Herrenbuck“, werden neben klassisch badischen Rebsorten verschiedene Mehltau resistente Neuzüchtungen angebaut.

Weingut Siegloch

Falstaff: Under the motto "Wine like us", brothers David and Martin Siegloch have been producing wines since the 2014 vintage that avoid the monotony of the mainstream, but without becoming too extreme in their experiments. They are individualistic growths that have retained their down-to-earth character. The brothers set the course for this in the vineyard, in the cellar the path from grape to wine is only accompanied. Most of the wines are fermented spontaneously and bottled unfiltered. The 2019 Riesling, which has even more certain ageing potential, impressively demonstrates how well the reserves have grown-up.

Weingut Seehof

Vom Boden: Florian Fauth is comfortable in his own skin.

Which is saying something these days for a winemaker in the Rheinhessen. The winemaking landscape here, after all, has undergone a nearly inconceivable, 180-degree sea-change in last two decades.

In one sentence, this region has gone from being the armpit of German wine (remember, this was the land of “Liebfraumilch”) to being the white-hot, super star in the spotlight. Winemakers and estates that have been largely ignored for decades, now have people knocking on the door and clamoring for appointments.

There is, really, one major reason for this drastic turn of events: Keller.

Klaus Peter Keller is the most famous practitioner of dry German Rieslings and he’s from the Rheinhessen. More importantly, Keller currently works vineyards in the Rheinhessen. It’s funny: sites that were, only a short time ago, all but unknown to the general public (Abtserde, Kirchspiel, Morstein, etc.) are now mentioned with reverence and awe.

The fact that Keller’s wines have achieved jaw-dropping prices has inspired a small cottage industry of critics, media folks and yes, importers, to ask the all-too-obvious question: “Who is the next Keller?”

In this tense atmosphere, it’s easy enough to understand the jostling and positioning. It’s easy enough to understand the logic of the wines that have grown (in direct relationship to the winemakers’ egos?) in alcohol, texture, richness, alcohol… The goal, one sometimes feels, is not great wine; the goal is to be noticed.

Thus in this context, Florian Fauth, who has continued over the last decade to make wines of clarity and balance, has assumed an surprisingly radical stance. Florian’s good-natured quality, his ease, his sense of proportion and his firm grip on what’s really important: you can see this, you can taste this, in the wines. It’s not that the wines don’t have ambition – far from it. Rather, it just feels like the wines are content in being really good, or in being great, or in being whatever it is they are… without having to shout about it.

What makes this all the more impressive and confusing and interesting is the fact that Florian’s sister is Julia Keller, which makes Klaus Peter Keller his brother-in-law. Seehof is only about a 10-minute drive from Keller; Seehof holds a good number of parcels in some of the aforementioned hallowed vineyards, including Kirchspiel and Morstein. (We know you can’t read the map below, but it’s one of the cooler breakdowns of the vineyards around Westhofen and Flörsheim-Dalsheim. Trust us.)

For the wines of the Rheinhessen, the key is limestone. This is what gives the wines their glycerin-induced sexiness. This is also what gives them the flair of acidity, a presence strong enough to counter the lavish extract and to keep the wines from feeling gooey or too heavy. It’s a delicate balance, to be honest, but when you nail it… well, it’s impressive.

At this moment I don’t know of an estate that makes a more profound “basic” estate wine than Florian at Seehof. The wines, both the dry and off-dry, are crystalline and pure with buoyant fruit and plenty of energy. For the money, you just can’t find anything better.

While Seehof’s Morstein “R” Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc) delivers everything, everything you’d want from this profound vineyard, the Riesling Steingrube is a tour-de-force of minerals and acidity.

Florian Fauth is not the next Keller – he’s family. The more interesting question, anyway, is where are the hidden, as-of-yet-overlooked vineyards… Steingrube would be up there.

Tasting

The Wines

Mainlust Desche Otto: February 14, 2025 to February 25, 2025

Mainlust Desche Otto in Schwanheim, owned and run by partners in life and in business, Claudia Orlinsky and Louie Hölzinger, is my place to go when I am in Frankfurt. In February, while in Frankfurt, I spent, with a few exceptions, every evening at Desche Otto, always with one or two bottle(s) from my cellar.

See: Stopover in Frankfurt: 3 Nights at Zur Mainlust Desche Otto in Frankfurt/ Schwanheim - From Washington DC (USA) to Nantes (France) for 2024 Loire by ombiasy WineTours, led by Annette Schiller