Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler Winery

We wanted to visit this Mosel Valley winery because of its excellent Doctor Heidemanns-Bergweiler wine. Well, it turns out that label is strictly for export, but the winery offers a different line, Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler, from the mother estate.

The 4-acre Bernkasteler alte Badstube am Doctorberg is the winery’s prime vineyard. The vines are over 80 years old and are some of the last remaining self-rooted grapevines in Germany. The grapes grow in stony blue-grey clay slate, which gives the resultant Rieslings a high mineral content. Incidentally, this vineyard is a neighbor to that of the famous Bernkasteler Doctor, whose Riesling is consistently ranked among the world’s top wines.

Its other vineyards are just as unique. The “Roman Spa” vineyard is characterized by medium-deep clay-slated residual soil, the “Sundial of Wehlen” vineyard is steep and ideally south-facing with blue slate soil and the largest, the Ürziger Goldwingert vineyard, has volcanic clay and red slate cliffs.

In all the vineyards, the grapes are selectively handpicked then aged in stainless steel.

We tasted a variety of Rieslings, ranging from dry to very sweet. The cellar was generous with its pours and array of samples offered. I was surprised by the strong aromas, which I’d only previously experienced in subtle doses: hot tar, ink and unique, sharp minerality. Some of the poured wines were from 2009, the best recent year.

We had a tough time deciding which ones to buy, but settled on an array of trocken (dry) since they are more versatile and go well with food. The sweeter ones are strictly summer wines and need to be consumed alone. Since my husband sent a glass flying with a flick of his forearm partway through the tasting, we felt compelled to walk away with many, many bottles! I think we bought enough to make up for the mess of shards since the proprietor insisted on pouring us yet more wine, including ice wine (the grapes are picked when on a -10 C night and processed immediately – the result is akin to a sugar high) before we departed.

The winery also produces a few red wines, but we did not sample those.

Gestade 15, Bernkastel-Kues

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