St. Urbans-Hof Weingut Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Germany

This 35 hectare estate has been owned by the Weis family for three generations. Increasingly they are receiving the national and international recognition they deserve. The family has been quietly important to many drinkers of Ontario wine for two decades. It was Hermann Weis who founded Vineland Estates Winery. Moreover, his nursery business also produced enough stock of the excellent Weis 21 Riesling clone to supply many of the quality riesling vineyards in Ontario and British Columbia. Today at the St. Urbans-Hof winery in Leiwen, on the western section of the Middle Mosel, Hermann's son Nik is amongst that group of young winemakers who are determined to produce the thrilling Rieslings that are possible from this region. Nik was recently awarded VDP (Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter) membership - this is official confirmation that St. Urbans-Hof belongs to the best of Germany.

Estate Riesling QbA 2007 Grapes for this wine are harvested from the vineyards surrounding the estate. It is always a high quality wine that offers exceptional value for money. The same dedication and effort goes into making this wine as for the vineyard designate wines. This includes intensive soil cultivation, precise shoot positioning, leaf thinning, crop reduction, selective hand-picking and late harvesting. All are fundamental steps and are taken in order to ensure that the wine reflects the character of the land on which it is grown. This estate Riesling is a blend from flatter sites around the winery in Leiwen as well as from Wiltinger Schlangengraben on the Saar. It shows white peach and ripe apple aromas. Soft and juicy, full and satiny on the palate, but it also preserves a crisp edge of citrus and apple peel. It finishes clear, juicy and invigorating, with delicate florality, smokiness and slate stone and salty minerality. A terrific value. An excerpt from Bruce Sanderson's June 2008 Wine Spectator online article, "Exploring Terroir with Nik Weis of St. Urbans-Hof" "We began the tasting with the 2007 Estate Riesling, a QbA that Weis fashions in a slightly drier style than other estates. He prefers to stop the fermentations by tasting and feels that if the wines are drier, they show better out of the gate and will age equally well, with less residual sugar. The Riesling QbA comes from vines in the Wiltinger Schlangengraben and Leiwener Klostergarten vineyards. It shows floral, grapefruit and stone notes, and is fresh and balanced, with nice length (89 points, non-blind)." "Needs a little air to reveal its floral, apricot and slate aromas and flavours. This is beautifully integrated, with a lingering, stony, savoury finish." 90 points, Wine Spectator, Nov 15,2008

Visit St. Urbans-hof Weingut

All wines are available by the unmixed case to Licensees and Private Consumers, subject to availability.

Read the small print for more information.