At the most recent international bonvinitas Wine Award, the examiners assessed them with 91 to 93 bonvinitas points in blind evaluation – wonderful wines, if you like it sweeter or very beautiful where it fits well, from the Martin Conrad wine estate in Brauneberg / Mosel. Orange dots mean category 3, wines with more than 9 g/l residual sugar and purple noble natural sweet (the rating system). I, Dieter Simon, publisher of bonvinitas, always taste the best wines to present them here: Fresh alive:
2023 Mühlheimer Sonnenlay Riesling off-dry, Deutscher Qualitätswein Mosel, 11% alcohol, 20.6 g/l residual sugar: Fresh lively fragrance with notes of candied lemon peel, ripe peach with a hint of caramel; on the palate you will encounter an equally cheerful and lively drink, subtly salty; with an equally vibrant finish, where mineral notes emerge and fade into caramel. A good six to eight years of future and fits well with chicken fricassee or curry chicken as well as with 5 o'clock tea. Rated with 91 bonvinitas points. The Mülheimer Sonnenlay site rises next to Brauneberg from a glacial valley.
Lush, warm-ripe sweetness:
2023 Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Spätlese, Prädikatswein Mosel, 8.5%, 56.8 g/l residual sugar: Elegant scent of lemon juice and walnuts and a dab of mint; on the tongue you can feel warm-ripe sweetness, which develops into elegance with hints of rock candy and candied fruit. A nice dessert wine, rated with 91 bonvinitas points. The Brauneberger Juffer is one of the 'Grand Cru sites' of the Moselle, which rises steeply from the river bank opposite Brauneberg.
Mysterious:
2023 Brauneberger Juffer Riesling off-dry ‚Goldkapsel‘, Deutscher Qualitätswein Mosel, 11.5%, 18.6 g/l residual sugar: Mysterious scent reminiscent of roasted almonds, crème brûulée and candied pineapple; on the palate, a highly elegant fruity sweetness from which mineral notes flash; soft-warm finish, from which the crème brulée notes emerge again. Goes well with strong smoked fish, smoked pork with sauerkraut and, of course, fruit desserts - rated with 93 bonvinitas points.
Opulent Abundance and Fruit:
2023 Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Beerenauslese, Prädikatswein Mosel, 7.5% and 151.5 g/l residual sugar: Even on the nose, a multi-layered ripe fragrance comes towards you with notes of grapefruit, pineapple, mango and dried fruits such as fig and apricot; on the tongue a fully ripe opulent fullness and fruit with notes of caramel and dried fruit, which culminate again in the finish in fruit, in which the mango and pineapple notes celebrate once again vigorously. All with great maturation potential over years and a wonderful dessert wine as well as for toasting at occasions. 93 bonvinitas points. The sundial is the prime piece of the Juffer site, rises directly from the river bank and is framed by the Juffer.
Wine Estate Martin Conrad
The 5.5 ha wine estate is also managed by Martin Conrad, who proudly looks at its prime sites with soils that come from the primordial ocean. "Because I’m very close to nature, the ecologically sensible and sustainable balance between viticulture and environmental protection is important to me. In the cellar, we do not add selected yeasts, enzymes and fining agents to underline the natural complexity of our wines. We have been practicing organic viticulture for years in accordance with the EU Organic Wine Regulation and so from 2022 our wines will carry the organic certificate DE-ÖKO-039 of the Society for Resource Protection (GfRS)"; says Martin Conrad.
Text: Dieter Simon, publisher and editor-in-chief of bonvinitas. Lead montage: bonvinitas; photo credits: bottles: Christopher Arnoldi, from Beerenauslese: eShot AG. other photos: pr