The Mosel’s Magnificent 2023, Plus Dipping Into Margaret River: Weekly Tasting Report (Oct 29-Nov 5)

We rated 531 wines from six countries over the past week, with Senior Editor Stuart Pigott leading the charge in Germany's Mosel Valley, where he tasted the 2023 vintage from some of the region’s most famous producers, and some of those who bottle late. The tastings hammered home the greatness of the 2023 vintage.

At the same time, Stuart said, the much more difficult 2024 harvest was just finishing, and not only are quantities well down but high quality was also much more difficult to achieve in 2024 than the year before. In the Saar and Ruwer sub-regions the situation was extreme, with yields of around just five hectoliters per hectare due to severe frost damage in the spring. This also meant the crop was mostly from shoots that grew from secondary buds that sprouted after the frost, which pushed back ripening.

In contrast to this dramatic situation, the top wines of the 2023 vintage are shining stars. The only problem is the small quantities produced from the greatest of them. Stuart often had to ask producers how many hundreds – not thousands – of bottles of a highly rated wine were produced.

The Immich-Batterieberg Riesling Mosel Zeppwingert Reserve 2023 is an incredibly concentrated dry resling with all the depth and mystery we expect for from ancient ungrafted vines, but there are just 300 bottles of this extraordinarily graceful giant.

Thankfully, the other single-vineyard dry wines from Immich-Batterieberg are also stunning, and they are more plentiful. For Gernot Kollmann, one of the first German winemakers from a non-wine background, taking this historic winery back to the top is a huge achievement.

When Stuart and James started tasting German wines intensively in the 1980s, Joh. Jos. Prum was one of the few star producers for nobly sweet riesling Auslese, and under the direction of Katharina Prum it has remained at the very top.

Back then, wines destined to be marketed through the annual auction of the VDP producers association were always very limited production, and this still applies. There are only a couple of hundred bottles of the perfect Joh. Jos. Prüm Riesling Mosel Graacher Himmelreich Auslese Long Gold Cap (Auction Wine) 2023, which is astonishingly succulent and silky with an almost supernatural freshness and focus.

It was at Joh. Jos. Prüm that Stuart realized that one major difference between 2023 and the equally great 2019 vintage is that very top wines like this were made in much larger quantities in 2019. Stuart thinks the brilliant Joh. Jos. Prüm Riesling Mosel Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese 2023, which was generously produced, deserves a special mention. In recent years, wines of the Spatlese category have been out of fashion in many markets. 

The white peach and white flower aromas and salty minerality tingle on your palate, then flicker at the nearly endless finish. Is the touch of grape sweetness a good reason to dismiss this beauty? Only if you are against sweet wines on principle.

You could walk from Joh. Jos. Prüm to the equally imposing Markus Molitor winery, the reputation of which has been steadily rising since the early 1990s. Although the Molitor wines – often from old vines with the grapes basket-pressed – have a style of their own, there’s nothing revolutionary about their taste. However, Molitor is another producer with many limited-production sweet and dry wines.

For us, anything produced in a quantity under one full Mosel fuder barrel – 1,000 liters, the equivalent of four barriques – is a very limited-production wine. That’s true of the perfect dry Markus Molitor Riesling Mosel Erdener Prälat *** (White Cap) 2023 with its totally enveloping aroma of mango plus overwhelming concentration, the whole illuminated by a fabulously elegant acidity. It is also very expensive.

It’s hard to pick out another wine from this range, because Stuart tasted 57 different bottlings from almost 20 different vineyard sites. We agree that making sense of the vast Molitor range is a challenge, but there is a wealth of excellent and amazing wines there. The price range is also huge.

From the 2023 vintage, the lusciously sweet Auslese and higher-level dessert wines that the sub-regions of Saar and Rower are famous for are in very short supply, and those Stuart tasted won’t come up for auction until next autumn.

For this reason, and because of their inherent strength, the dry wines, plus the riesling Kabinett and Spatlese categories, deserve the most attention. For example, the Egon Müller-Scharzhof Riesling Mosel Scharzhofberger Kabinett 2023 is a Saar masterpiece of sleek and silver elegance, totally pristine on the light-bodied, super-focused palate. Here is a relatively affordable introduction to the sensational wines of this legendary producer.

In the Spatlese field, the Zilliken Riesling Mosel Rausch Spätlese 2023 has striking aromas of tropical fruit and flowers. The power is deftly underplayed on the very refined and elegant palate.

The Zilliken family has been making sparkling wine for a long time, but with their new release they have dramatically upped their game. Although the Zilliken Riesling Sekt Mosel Saarburger Rausch Brut Nature 2018 is bone dry, it is also fantastically harmonious, with an incredibly sensual texture that caresses your palate.

Also in the Saar, the Peter Lauer winery has been producing sparkling wines for decades and have deep stocks. That means the astonishing Peter Lauer Riesling Sekt Mosel Grand Réserve Brut Nature 1984 is still available. It has mind-blowing aromas of dried porcini mushrooms, candied orange and savory. It has gained a lot of weight through almost four decades of maturation on the lees, but is still very alive with a gigantic finish. This will be difficult to track down, but winemaker Florian Lauer also has excellent young sparkling wines. Scroll down to find them.

DIPPING INTO MARGARET RIVER

Associate Editor Ryan Montgomery was in Australia over the past week, crossing the Nullarbor Plain to find out why the remote wine region of Margaret River has earned a strong global reputation for producing some of the finest New World chardonnays and cabernet sauvignons.

When it comes to Australian chardonnays, Vanya Cullen showcases how Margaret River can be farmed both biodynamically and dry-grown while maintaining exceptional quality and precision. Her Cullen Chardonnay Margaret River Kevin John Fruit Day Legacy Series 2021 is deeply fruit-driven, with complex aromas of preserved lemon, lanolin, beeswax, ocean spray and gun smoke. Its profound flavor stems from a two-day skin soak in amphora before barrel fermentation, adding to its remarkable depth and character.

Some producers in the region are pursuing wines with heightened minerality, tension, and reductive notes through earlier picking, and they also do some partial malolactic fermentation in the winery, which gives the impression of higher acidity. Leeuwin Estate, for one, has embarked on a more refined yet powerful style of chardonnay, featuring restrained strength that unfolds over time. This is highlighted in the Leeuwin Estate Chardonnay Margaret River Art Series 2021, which boasts all the hallmarks of one of the finest New World chardonnays.

Similarly, Jo and Chris Davies at Windows Estate are championing their own new-age wines through the use of biodynamic and organic principles in their vineyards, which Chris Davies planted when he was just 19. Their wines have a pure, refined character, as evident in the Windows Estate Chardonnay Margaret River Petit Lot 2023. This wine showcases an alluring and complex nose with mineral hints of flint and granite, along with lemon peel, salt brine, lemon blossom and lime curd.

While chardonnays draw much of the spotlight in Margaret River, the region is also known for exceptional cabernet sauvignons. Vasse Felix, the founding winery of Margaret River, planted its first vineyard in 1967. They honor the legacy of the man who planted their vineyards, Dr. Tom Cullity, with the Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec Margaret River Tom Cullity 2020. This wine features a beautifully complex and aromatic nose with blackcurrant, violets, wild blackberries, graphite, and eucalyptus, blending 81 percent cabernet sauvignon, 16 percent malbec and 3 percent petit verdot. With a seamless, long finish, it stands as one of Australia’s finest Bordeaux-inspired wines.

– Stuart Pigott and Ryan Montgomery contributed reporting.

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated during the past week by James Suckling and the other tasters at JamesSuckling.com. They include many latest releases not yet available on the market, but which will be available soon. Some will be included in upcoming tasting reports.

Note: You can sort the wines below by country, vintage, score and alphabetically by winery name. You can also search for specific wines in the search bar.