Richard Bocking Alte Reben Trarbacher Burgberg 2013

Richard Bocking Alte Reben Trarbacher Ungsberg 2013 is 100 percent Riesling. 

This close-to-dry wine displays the perfect balance between pure, rich fresh fruit (pineapple, lemon and peach) and mineral flavors. Noticeable is a round and rich texture supported by focused slate. This wine can be enjoyed now and through 2015.

Alcohol 12% vol
Residual sugar 10.8 grams / liter,
Acidity: 7.0 grams / liter TA
High bearing potential

Fruit: 100% Riesling Appellation: Traben Trarbach, Germany Vineyard: The fruit for this wine comes from our sustainably farmed vineyards covered in blue and brown slate and quartz. The Ungsberg is known for the extreme pitch of the slopes high above the Mosel River. This wine comes exclusively from old vines (40-60 years old) and from a single vineyard. Vines have been grown on this spot since the 16th Century. Harvest Dates: November 2, 2012; after the first frost. Production Notes: The fruit for this wine is deep, rich and intense, produced only from the best and oldest vines in this vineyard (40-60 years old). It is carefully hand picked later in the season to allow for ideal ripeness. All fruit is painstakingly hand sorted to allow only the best grapes to be crushed for the Single Cru. The juice is fermented by natural occurring yeast only- no added cultures- slowly at cold temperatures until the perfect balance of acidity and fruit is reached. The wine was aged sur lies for 10 months, then aged 100% German in oak barrels. This wine was bottled at the End of July 2013.

Review:

Bottled with 18 grams of residual sugar and 12% alcohol, the 2013 Trarbacher Schlossberg Riesling Alte Reben opens with an intensely floral and concentrated bouquet, whereas its pure, deep, ripe and concentrated fruit aromas (maracuya) emerge only slowly but very precisely. There is a certain relationship to the Chenin Blancs from Svennières, perhaps. Full-bodied, powerful and complex on the palate, this remarkable rich but pure, delicate and well-balanced Riesling from ungrafted, 80-year-old vines on grey and blue slate with quartzite inclusions, reveals a persistent and salty finish which makes this, maybe, the most impressive (but also most powerful) wine of the recently revitalized estate, so far. - Robert Parker 90 Points
 

The Weingut Richard Bocking Winery

The Weingut Richard Bocking Vineyards
The character of the wines is shaped by the distinctive Grand Cru, steep slope vineyards of which Richard Böcking has 15 acres under cultivation. The plantings are 95% Riesling and 5% Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir). Of the five vineyards: Ungsberg, Burgberg, Schlossberg, Huenerberg and Taubenhaus, four are classified as Grand Cru with vintage vines up to 80 years old. The age of the vines force the roots of these grape vines deep into the ground for water and nutrition. Thus, the vines are constantly absorbing their nutrition, even during unseasonably dry periods. The constant nourishment provides vines that are strong, disease resistant, and produce small, compact grapes with an unusual concentration of fruit. 

Richard Böcking develops their wines by hand, from the vineyard to the bottle. Unadulterated; with an originality that can be produced only in a natural vineyard environment. From this tenet springs Böcking's fundamental philosophy—a philosophy of allowing a wine to develop naturally. In the steep-slope vineyards, this philosophy means the small vineyard parcels are cultivated individually and by hand. All wines are developed as bio-dynamically as possible, using naturally occurring yeast and introducing only the sparest amount of sulfur. This meticulous attention to natural agriculture and production creates beautifully finished wines while sustaining the vineyards for the future.