Winninger Uhlen Riesling Auslese R
⏳ Drinking Window
2023 - 2050
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Blue cheese, foie gras, fruit-based desserts
✨ Technical Specifications
Clinging to the dizzying, near-vertical terraced cliffs of the lower Mosel, the legendary Uhlen vineyard is a geological marvel, and its 'Roth Lay' parcel—denoted by the 'R'—is its crown jewel. Here, the vines dig deep into a unique vein of iron-rich red slate, a terroir that imparts an unmistakable smoky, spicy minerality and a deep, structured complexity to the wine. The Winninger Uhlen Riesling Auslese R is crafted only in exceptional vintages when noble rot (botrytis) develops perfectly under the autumn mists of the river canyon. Heymann-Löwenstein employs a low-intervention approach, allowing spontaneous fermentation with ambient yeasts to run its course in traditional large oak fuder. The resulting Auslese is a breathtaking tightrope walk between opulent, honeyed tropical fruit sweetness and a searing, slate-driven acidity, embodying the wild, dramatic spirit of the Terrassenmosel.
🍾 About the Producer
Weingut Heymann-Löwenstein was founded in 1980 by Reinhard Löwenstein and Cornelia Heymann-Löwenstein in Winningen, revitalizing centuries of familial viticultural heritage in the Terrassenmosel. Championing the dramatic, steeply terraced slopes along the lower Mosel, the estate tends approximately 14 hectares of dry-stone wall vineyards tilted up to 80 percent gradients. The viticultural terroir centers on heterogeneous Devonian slate formations, distinguished into blue-gray slate, iron-rich red slate, and fossil-infused calcareous slate. Winemaking adheres to an uncompromising, artisanal ethos: hand-harvested grapes undergo native-yeast fermentation in traditional wooden Fuder casks without additions, followed by long contact with fine lees and late bottling up to 24 months post-harvest. Member of the VDP since 1997, the estate excels in dense, bone-dry, age-worthy Grosses Gewächs bottlings from benchmark crus like Winninger Uhlen—divided into Roth Lay, Laubach, and Blaufüsser Lay—as well as Röttgen, Kirchberg, and the harmonious regional cuvée Schieferterrassen.
🍇 Grapes
Riesling
🍷 ABV
7-9%