(Alter)native Riesling
⏳ Drinking Window
Typically best enjoyed within 2–8 years of the vintage release to appreciate its vibrant natural character and evolving textural complexity.
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
roasted pork belly, aged hard cheeses, spicy Thai curry
✨ Technical Specifications
The (Alter)native Riesling by Clemens Busch is a captivating departure from traditional Mosel winemaking, representing a bridge between ancient techniques and modern natural wine philosophy. The name itself is a clever double entendre: 'Alter' (meaning 'old' in German) pays homage to ancestral, skin-contact white winemaking, while 'alternative' highlights its status as a low-intervention, avant-garde expression. Sourced from biodynamically farmed parcels in the steep, slate-rich slopes of the Pündericher Marienburg, this skin-contact (orange) wine undergoes extended maceration and spontaneous fermentation in traditional oak Fuder casks. Bottled without filtration, fining, or added sulfur, it reveals a deeply textured, amber-hued side of Riesling, rich with herbal complexity, dried stone fruits, and a vibrant, mineral-driven structure that challenges and redefines the classic Mosel archetype.
🍾 About the Producer
Weingut Clemens Busch is a benchmark biodynamic producer established within family lineage since 1802 and headquartered in a 1663 half-timbered riverside estate in Pünderich, at the threshold of the Terrassenmosel. Celebrated as early champions of ecological viticulture in Germany, Clemens and Rita Busch converted to organic methods in 1984 and later embraced biodynamics, now managing roughly 20 hectares alongside their son Johannes. Viticulture is dominated by ungrafted, steep-slope Riesling vines perched on the dramatic Pündericher Marienburg amphitheater. The estate meticulously isolates individual historical parcels—such as Fahrlay, Falkenlay, Felsterrasse, and Rothenpfad—categorized on capsules and labels by bedrock typology across blue, grey, and red Devonian slates. In the cellar, natural fermentations proceed spontaneously in traditional neutral wooden Fuder casks with prolonged fine lees contact. The resulting dry Grosses Gewächs and pristine Prädikat dessert bottlings deliver structural depth, saline minerality, and profound textural complexity.
🍇 Grapes
Riesling
🍷 ABV
11.5-12.5%