2001 Darting Ungsteiner Herrenberg Riesling Spatlese

[Innkeeper]

Conventional wisdom has it that if you took three Riesling Kabinetts from the three principal German districts, the M-S-R would be driest, followed by Rheingau, with Rheinhessen being the sweetest. In reality this all varies from producer to producer, vineyard to vineyard, row in vineyard to row in vineyard; as well as to the climate in given year, and many other factors.

When we lived in Sembach just north of Kaiserslautern we drove up to Oppenheim in Rheinhessen just south of Nierstein one Saturday. We drove down the main drag of town and stopped by a house that had wine bottles in the windows. We knocked on the door which opened to the Heinrich Noll Weinbau. Heinrich, his wife, and a son who was studying to become a doctor became good friends. Every year Heinrich made twelve wines from eight Oppenheim vineyards. They were all planted with Riesling only. He owned anywhere from two to six or eight rows in the vineyards, sometimes at opposite ends. This is how he made twelve distinctive wines. They ranged from an almost bone dry Troken to a very rich but not too sweet Spatlese. Each vineyard had colorful names such as Herronweiler, which means “frog well.” This was in the ’66 to ’68 timeframe and without getting into a big discussion on exchange rates and such, let me just say that the wines ranged in price from $.65 to $1.50.

These wines provided all of our vinous needs for two years. We even got into the then German practice of drinking the richest white wine (the $1.50 Herronweiler Spatlese) with steak! So, whenever I hear someone say “Rheinhessen! Yuk! They are too sweet for me;” I can only look back on those days and remember the full range of Reislings our old friend Heinrich made.

Unfortunately the Heinrich Noll Weinbau is no more. I’ve unsuccessfully tried to track them down after having briefly been in touch with them for a few years after returning stateside. My guess is that the old folks died, and Doctor Noll sold the rows to one or more of his dad’s colleagues. And as I sit here typing this, a big tear is running down.