Winninger Schieferterrassen Riesling Auslese
⏳ wine.drinking_window
Typically best enjoyed 10–30 years from the vintage release, though exceptional vintages can cellar for half a century.
🍽️ wine.food_pairings
blue cheese, fruit-based tarts, spicy glazed duck
✨ wine.spec_sheet
Hailing from the dizzying, gravity-defying cliffs of the Terrassenmosel, the Winninger Schieferterrassen Riesling Auslese is a testament to extreme viticulture. The grapes are harvested from the estate's steep, slate-terraced vineyards in Winningen, where ancient Devonian slate soils absorb the daytime sun and radiate warmth back to the vines at night. This Auslese is crafted from meticulously hand-selected, botrytis-affected grapes. In the cellar, the Löwenstein family employs low-intervention methods, allowing spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts in traditional large oak casks. The result is a noble sweet Riesling of profound complexity, where luscious notes of honeyed stone fruit, exotic spices, and candied citrus are brilliantly balanced by a striking, mineral-driven acidity and a distinct smoky, salty slate finish that reflects its dramatic origin.
🍾 wine.about_producer
Established in 1980 by Reinhard Löwenstein and Cornelia Heymann-Löwenstein in the historic village of Winningen, the Heymann-Löwenstein estate is a pioneering force in Germany's Terrassenmosel region. Renowned for championing terroir-driven, bone-dry Rieslings from breathtakingly steep, slate-terraced vineyards, the winery focuses on capturing the distinct mineral signatures of legendary sites like Röttgen and Uhlen. Their low-intervention winemaking philosophy relies on spontaneous fermentation with wild yeasts, extended lees contact, and traditional large oak casks, resulting in highly complex, structured, and age-worthy wines. Today, under the guidance of daughter Sarah Löwenstein, the estate continues to produce some of the Mosel's most profound, expressive Rieslings, ranging from powerful Grosses Gewächs to exquisite, botrytis-affected noble sweet styles. Address: Bahnhofstraße 10, 56333 Winningen, Germany. Website: https://www.heymann-loewenstein.com