The 2023 Weiser-Künstler Mosel Riesling Feinherb is a white wine from the Mosel region in Germany, renowned for its Rieslings that beautifully express the terroir of steep slate vineyards along the Mosel River. Weiser-Künstler is a small, family-run estate known for its dedication to producing high-quality, terroir-driven wines with a focus on traditional methods and organic viticulture.
About Weiser-Kunstler
Konstantin Weiser and Alexandra Künstler are two immensely passionate people farming a tiny, but fantastic, plot of vines. These are micro-estates with only around 4 hectares total. Everything is done by hand and they farm everything biodynamically. The Rieslings they make vibrate with cords of tense minerality and acidity stretched across an incredibly pure and crystalline palate filled with salt-tinged floral and citrus fruit notes.
As soulful and authentic as their Rieslings are, Weiser-Künstler is a relative newcomer releasing their first wine in 2005. Their holdings are in Traben-Trarbach, just downstream from the more famous section of the Middle Mosel. This charming town was the heart of the Mosel wine scene at the turn of the 20th century with Art Nouveau architecture that proudly harkens back to that prosperous time. Weiser-Künstler is largely inspired by that era and, in fact, designed their owl-adorned label in that style. The owl represents wisdom, which is a reference to the literal meaning of Konstantin’s last name, Weiser.
While the unending onslaught of German labelling terms can appear belabouring, there's a brilliance to the madness. If you look up a technical definition of feinherb, it will prove unrewarding. It might read "delicate sweetness", but this loose translation less than delicately abandons the beauty of the term. Feinherb is the kinky German safe word that helps the winemaker escape from their prison of legal labelling jargon. Unlike with Halbtrocken, which is legally defined by law as a wine with less than 18g/L of residual sugar, with Feinherb, the winemaker is entirely in a state of lawless artistic levity. Or in another sense, the winemaker can allow nature to make its own decisions about when to be done fermenting without regard to what the label needs to say. The term is akin to the cheeky English suffix -ish, as the wines are "Dry-ish". Occasionally the term may follow Kabinett or Spätlese in order to indicate they are slightly drier than one might expect for the style, or Spätlese-ish.
Enter Wiesler-Künstler, or Wei-Kü as the trade lovingly calls them, an estate that has revived the historic Grand Cru sites of Traben-Trarbach. This is downriver from the famous sites of Urzig, Zeltingen, Graach, etc. We could tell you that this is the next Willi Schaefer, but I am afraid that ship has sailed. The wines are already very difficult to get any quantity on. What I can tell you is that this delicate, beautiful citrus blossom Riesling Feinherb from Wei-Kü is as light, bright, and tender as a butterfly kiss and it will be gone before you know it. At a dry-ish 9% ABV, this is the perfect aperitivo and food pairing wine. - BRANDON KERNE, MASTER SOMMELIER
