Axel Pauly Mosel Riesling Trocken

Tasting Notes

This wine is pale yellow in colour with youthful hints. The nose reveals aromas of fresh hay, peach and exotic fruit. The palate is fresh and medium-bodied, with a striking mineral character and clear tropical fruit notes on the long finish.

Producer

Axel Pauly is one of the dynamic young stars of German wine. He took over the Pauly estate from his father after having done vintages in California, New Zealand and other parts of Germany. Most of the ten hectare estate is situated in the village of Lieser in the heart of the Mosel Valley, with the exception of a small parcel in neighbouring Bernkastel. Fittingly, the label features the Mosel hills which, when turned on their side, reveals the ‘Tres Naris’ (or ‘three noses’) of Axel, his father and his grandfather.

The grey and blue slate soils of Lieser are cooler than the red slate in Bernkastel, which results in more minerally wines than those from its more famous neighbour. The Pauly vines cling to steeply sloping, vertigo-inducing vineyards, where Axel uses crop thinning, leaf plucking and grape selection at harvest to ensure a ripeness of flavour in the fruit that he preserves through to the final wine.

Vineyards

Grapes for the `Purist` Riesling were harvested from the Pauly family's steeply sloping vineyard in the Lieserer Schlossberg region. The soils are predominantly blue slate and stone, which lend elegance and minerality to the wine. The vines are over 50 years old and are stringently managed to ensure that the grapes attain excellent flavour concentration. This wine is made in a Kabinett style, with the fruit harvested slightly later in the season to create a more complex Riesling than the earlier-picked styles.