Monday, April 3, 2017

Family-style Wine-pairing Lunch at Weingut Hans Lang - Kaufmann, with Owners/ Winemakers Urban Kaufmann and Eva Raps - Germany-North Tour 2016 by ombiasy WineTours

Picture: Family-style Wine-pairing Lunch at Weingut Hans Lang - Kaufmann, with Owners/ Winemakers Urban Kaufmann and Eva Raps

Weingut Hans Lang - Kaufmann was founded in 1953, in the post World War II era. Johann Maximilian Lang, son of the founder, converted the winery to organic viticulture and became member of the Ecovin Association for Organic Viticulture in 2012. Dry wines have a long tradition at the estate and account for 90% of the portfolio. Recently. Weingut Hans Lang -Kaufmann was sold. Eva Raps, the former Managing Director of the VDP, the association of about 200 German elite winemakers, and her partner in life, Urban Kaufmann, a cheese producer from Switzerland, are the new owners.

Picture: Annette Schiller, Eva Raps and Urban Kaufmann at the Riesling Gala 2015 at Kloster Eberbach in the Rheingau, Germany. See: Riesling Gala 2015 at Kloster Eberbach in the Rheingau, Germany

We toured the winery and enjoyed a wine-pairing lunch, cooked by Eva Raps. Urban Kaufmann and Eva Raps, with assistant winemaker Eckart Waitz, were our hosts. When we visited the winery, there was major construction work going on.

Pictures: Arriving at Weingut Hans Lang - Kaufmann

Urban Kaufmann and Eva Raps

For years, Swiss entrepreneur Urban Kaufmann traveled through some of Europe’s best wine regions in search of the ideal place where he could realize his dream of owning a wine estate. During his search, he met with Eva Raps, the longtime managing director of the VDP, who brought him to Hans Lang in the Rheingau. After 40 years as a passionate winemaker, the experienced Rheingau vintner was looking for a successor with the right instinct to carry on his life’s work. And thus, a remarkable project came into being: an excellent portfolio of vineyards, the search for something new, a soaring fantasy, and a craftsman’s brilliance go hand in hand with the long-standing values of the Rheingau.

Pictures: Urban Kaufmann and Eva Raps

About Weingut Hans Lang

This house has always had holdings in top Rheingau vineyard sites. They are the basis for everything that is produced in the estate’s cellar. “Our sites are the focal point of our future work,” says Urban Kaufmann, who took over the estate with Eva Raps in 2014. “For me, being able to produce Riesling wines in the heart of the Rheingau is a dream come true,” admits the novice vintner. He was previously the managing director of one of Appenzell’s most renowned cheese dairies.

Apart from being congenial culinary partners, wine and cheese have much in common as the site-specific aromas and flavors of their terroirs unfold during development. “Whether it’s a perfect Appenzeller or a perfect Wisselbrunnen Grosses Gewächs, both require the same degree of hard work and ambition.”

Pictures: Cellar Tour

A Feeling for Riesling and Pinot

Kaufmann’s partner, Eva Raps, is no stranger to the German wine scene. For many years, she was the managing director of the Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP, or Association of German Prädikat Wine Estates), a position she pursued with great commitment. As for her new job she says: “For me, it’s wonderful to finally be able to implement the quality philosophy of the VDP at a wine estate of my own. Fortunately, we have just the right sites in our portfolio to do so.”

Pictures: Family-style Wine-pairing Lunch at Weingut Hans Lang - Kaufmann

While the new Hattenheim team are devotees of the Rheingau’s classic grape, Riesling, they are also Pinot enthusiasts: Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris, and especially Pinot Noir, the variety with which the estate has attracted considerable attention in Germany for over twenty years.
Continuity

The decision to run a wine estate meant a change in careers for Urban Kaufmann and Eva Raps and an opportunity to implement their ideas. Yet, both appreciate the importance of continuity, not least to maintain the estate’s traditional principles and high standards. Therefore, Hans Lang will provide advice and support to help the newcomers successfully make the transition. Uniting his invaluable experience as a cellar master with the impetus of the new owners ensures that this family-operated estate will continue to produce top-notch, handcrafted wines.

Hans Lang has always been open to new ideas, be it the production of dry Rieslings, his pioneer work in the German Barrique Forum or his uncompromising pursuit of quality. By the early 1990s, he had already banished mash pumps from his cellar and had reverted to labor-intensive harvesting by hand to continually improve wine quality.

Picture: Christian Schiller at Weingut Hans Lang - Kaufmann with Johann Maximilian Lang

Weingut Hans Lang, Hattenheim in the Rheingau: Eva Raps, Managing Director of VDP, and Urban Kaufmann, Swiss Cheese Producer, Take Over, Germany
A Wine Feast in the Rheingau, Germany: The Grand Wine Convention 2010

Long a proponent of ecologically friendly viticulture, Hans Lang has consistently strived to come even closer to nature by cultivating his grapes organically in recent years. Today, the estate numbers among the few members in the Rheingau branch of EcoVin. “Already we can clearly see a refinement in our wines, but we’re certain that this is only the beginning,” says Eva Raps. “The benefits of organic viticulture will become even more apparent in the future. We’ll definitely be able to further improve the aromatic finesse of the wines from Wisselbrunnen, which is doubtlessly our finest site in Hattenheim.”

The Wines

Wen went through an extraordinary range of wines during the lunch, both from the new and the old team of Weingut Hans Lang - Kaufmann, both white and read and still and sparkling.

2015 Weingut Hans Lang - Kaufmann rheingau riesling VDP.Gutswein
2015 Weingut Hans Lang - Kaufmann kabinett rheingau riesling VDP.Gutswein


2015 Weingut Hans Lang - Kaufmann tell
2015 Weingut Hans Lang - Kaufmann hattenheim riesling VDP.Ortswein

Robert Parker/ Stephan Reinhard (88): Friedrich Schiller's Tell is godfather of Urban Kaufmann's 2014 Rheingau Riesling trocken Tell (AP 2015), a selection from top parcels in Hattenheim. The wine with the red circle and the white crosslines on the golden label opens with an intense, ripe, elegant and nicely mineral bouquet that indicates a certain depth. Full-bodied, round and fruit intense, this is a well balanced and juicy Riesling with a mice mineral acidity and grippy finish. Since the wine is not bone dry, it goes very well on its own, although it is made to be enjoyed at the table.


2014 Weingut Hans Lang - Kaufmann wisselbrunnen rheingau riesling VDP.Grosse Lage


2012 Weingut Hans Lang - Kaufmann wisselbrunnen rheingau riesling VDP.Grosse Lage


2002 Weingut Hans Lang - Kaufmann hattenheimer schützenhaus spätlese vdp lagenwein


2016 Weingut Hans Lang - Kaufmann uno burgunder


2012 Weingut Hans Lang - Kaufmann spätburgunder


2011 Weingut Hans Lang - Kaufmann spätburgunder johann maximilian


2014 Weingut Hans Lang - Kaufmann rheingau pinot noir


NV Weingut Hans Lang - Kaufmann riesling brut sekt


Bye-bye

Thank you very much Eva for a delicious lunch. And from the bottom of my heart best wishes for the future.


Post Scriptum

The visit of Weingut Hans Lang - Kaufmann was the last event of the Germany-North Tour 2016 by ombiasy WineTours: Quintessential German Riesling and the Northernmost Pinot Noir. This posting is the final write-up on the 2016 tour. In the meantime, the construction work has been finished. I am adding a more recent picture of Weingut Hans Lang - Kaufmann below.


Pictures. Weingut Hans Lang - Kaufmann During our Visit and now

Postings: Germany-North Tour 2016 by ombiasy WineTours: Quintessential German Riesling and the Northernmost Pinot Noir

Germany-North Tour 2016 by ombiasy WineTours: Quintessential German Riesling and the Northernmost Pinot Noir

Tour and Tasting at Weingut von Oetinger, Rheingau, with Achim von Oetinger – Germany-North 2016 by ombiasy WineTours

Lunch and Tour: Kloster Eberbach in the Rheingau – Germany-North Tour 2016 by ombiasy WineTours

Bourgogne in Riesling Land: Tasting at Chat Sauvage in Johannisberg, Rheingau, with Winemaker Michael Städter – Germany-North Tour 2016 by ombiasy WineTours

Cellar Tour, Tasting and Dinner at Wein- und Sektgut F.B. Schönleber in Östrich-Winkel, Rheingau, with Ralp and Bernd Schönleber - Germany-North Tour 2016 by ombiasy WineTours

Vineyard Tour, Cellar Tour and Tasting at Weingut Leitz in Rüdesheim, with Johannes Leitz – Germany-North Tour 2016 by ombiasy WineTours

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Tasting at the Legendary Weingut J.J. Prüm with Amei Prüm – Germany-North Tour by ombiasy WineTours 2016

The Wines of the Berncasteler Doctor, Bernkastel-Kues in the Mosel Valley, Germany

Wining in Bernkastel-Kues in the Mosel Valley: Wine Tavern “Spitzhaeuschen”, Germany

Tasting at Weingut Schloss Lieser in Lieser with Owner/ Winemaker Thomas Haag – Germany-North Tour by ombiasy WineTours 2016

Schiller’s Favorite Wine Taverns in Trier, Germany

Cellar Tour and Tasting at Weingut Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken with Hanno Zilliken - Germany-North Tour 2016 by ombiasy WineTours

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Tasting at Weingut Schäfer-Fröhlich in Bockenau, Nahe - Germany-North Tour 2016 by ombiasy WineTours

Wine-pairing Dinner at Weingut Kruger-Rumpf's Wine Tavern Altes Rathaus in Bingen, with Stefan Rumpf - Germany-North Tour 2016 by ombiasy WineTours

Tasting with Martin Tesch at Weingut Tesch in Langenlonsheim, Nahe: Riesling and Rock 'N' Roll - Germany-North Tour 2016 by ombiasy WineTours

Cellar Tour and Wine Pairing Lunch at Weingut Hans Lang in Hattenheim, Rheingau, with Urban Kaufmann and Eva Raps

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