PRESS RECOGNITION and AWARDS

Wine Buying Guides and Wine Books recommeding MFR

Current press recognition

Matthew Jukes: The age of Riesling

"I had a tremendous tasting at Dirk Richter's winery and he opened a 1967 vintage Riesling for me to have a go at. For a light, aromatic style, these rieslings can live for an eternity - it was awesome. The acidity is the crucial element and it acts like a battery pack for the wine. My chosen 2003 Mülheimer Sonnenlay Riesling Kabinett, 'halbtrocken' or 'half-dry'. This simply means that the wine id offdry, but not medium. The lush fruit is exotic on the palate and then the wonderful dryness comes along and cleanses your taste buds - delish!"

Germany 2003: Extreme Riesling, Jan. 2005

"A significant portion of Dr. Dirk Richter's roughly 10,000-case annual production goes to the U.S., a fact that, along with his excellent reputation and diverse top-flight terroirs, should really have brought me here long ago. In fact, the Richter family has among the longest traditions of este bottling on the Middle Mosel form their early days were better known in export markets than at home. Richter's father ist still in the vineyards daily at age 87, and Walter Hauth has run the cellar for 36 years.
The style here is unabashedly old-fashioned, with wines matured in cask and silghtly oxidative. Picking in 2003 was largely in late Ocotber and early November - 'as usual', according to Richter. "Before that the grapes weren't ripe. And the acidity? Lack of acidity has never been a problem here - if anything, the opposite. My grandfather never harvested before All Saints Day, at the brinning of November."

"Dr. Dirk Richter's wines are very fine, expressing what many of us would like to believe is terroir. I keep finding the word "minerality" cropping up in my tasting notes usuallay apositive thing, although I don't think there is a direct connection between minerality in wines and the composition of vineyard soil."

The wine anorak online wine magazine

2003 Veldenzer Elisenberg Riesling Auslese***, cask 60

"Full green-gold. Lovely crunchy melange of cool springtime woodland and orchard scents. Great presence and charm here, with the sense of incipient aromatic power that betrays great wine in the early days. Vivid, mouth-filling, enchanting, with the roundness and balance of the perfect (idealised, platonic, Eden-like) apple: bravo!"

AJ (18/20)

21030 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett, 2001 (89 pts.)

Wonderful clarity and vivid stucture set the stage for the floral, apricot and slate flavors in this delicate, expressive Kabinett. The mouthwatering finish draws you back. Drink now through 2012. 400 cases made. (BS)

Press recognition archive