2022 Rita & Rudolf Trossen ‘Schieferblume’ Riesling Trocken, Mosel, Germany

Grapes are hand harvested and whole bunches are fermented in 500-liter stainless steel tanks with indigenous yeast. The tanks are cooled by ambient air and fermentation takes place over about 7 months. The wine ages for about 11 months and is bottled without fining or filtration and zero sulfur is added.

Rita and Rudolf Trossen decided to break with modern winemaking practices in 1978, when they converted their entire estate to Biodynamics in 1978. They have been crafting wonderful Mosel Valley Rieslings ever since. Then in 2010, encouraged by many of their sommelier clients, they began to delve into the world of natural winemaking with their Pur’us line of wines, which have no intervention whatsoever. These wines have zero additives, not even sulfur, and are unfined and unfiltered. There are some winemakers working organically in Germany, but the vast majority of winemakers in Germany are steadfast users of sulfur to stabilize and preserve their wines, so the Trossens are real pioneers in their area. They allow the wines to sit on the lees for extended periods of time “until all biological processes have come to an end.” For us, the wines were the first German wines we ever tasted that made us sit up and notice something different was happening. The depth of character and expression Riesling can reach without additives is truly amazing.