A.J.Adam Dhroner Hofberg Kabinett Riesling 2021

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

About A.J.Adam

Our winery in its current form has only existed since the 2000 vintage. After our grandparents lacked the family continuity after generations of viticulture, we grandsons have gradually given the winery new splendor and revived the vineyards of the Dhroner Hofberg. Forgotten, but still present was the monopoly site Dhroner Häs’chen. The steep terraces of the Mosel bank pile up powerfully. With the 2014 vintage, the time had come: our portfolio of sites was expanded by one site in sole ownership.

Just south of Piesport in a small side valley lies the steep, south-facing vineyards of Dhron, named for a tributary of the Mosel. The Dhronerthal (Dhron Valley) is a small tributary of the Mosel, running south, just after Piesport. The steep, southwest facing Hofberg was given the top rating in Clotten’s 1868 Vineyard maps. In the 1950s and ‘60s, the wines of Dhron Hofberg were famous, gracing the tables of fine restaurants. In the 1970s and ’80s, the new generation started to leave the vineyards and move to cities – a generation of Moslaners left their birthrights and many famous but small vineyards were left untended and became relics of the past.  Growers in the village abandoned winemaking for work in larger cities, including Andreas’ parents. Adam re-started his family estate while still studying at Geisenheim University and interning at some of the great estates in Germany – Heymann-Löwenstein in the Wininngen, St. Urbans-Hof in Leiwen, and Van Volxem in the Saar.  His first official vintage was in 2000 when he was just 21 years old, working a single hectare that was owned and farmed by his grandfather.

It was an area ripe for revitalization, as Andreas tells it: expanding with vineyard land in the Hofberg was “almost free” he says, paying less than 5 euros per square meter. “The sites were steep and very hard to work, so the land was very inexpensive. There was no demand because everyone had abandoned vineyards and Dhron didn’t have a famous name like Würtzgarten.”  Andreas Adam is almost single-handedly responsible for bringing the Dhroner Hofberg back to its former status as one of the great Grand Crus of the Mosel.

Joined by his younger sister Barbara in 2013, after her graduation from Geisenheim and a stint at Keller in Rheinhessen, the estate has taken its place as one of the very finest estates in the Mosel. The two siblings work side by side and are responsible for vineyards and cellar together. Andreas & Barbara farm 45 separate parcels on the Hofberg, Häs’chen and Goldtröpfchen in Piesport, in a full spectrum of styles from dry to sweet. Recently they acquired vineyards in Häs’chen (.25ha) and additional land in the Piesporter Goldtröpfchen, specifically a site called Laychen. “Lay” is the old word for slate, and “chen” is the diminutive, referring to the small, broken slate soils here. The small new section of 700 square meters in Laychen was planted in 1908 and is completely ungrafted.

In the Vineyard

Andreas says of his philosophy: “I sustain my vineyards by intensive soil work to bring out the essential nutrients up from the primary rock, the natural compost of a vineyard. This completion of the bond between elemental soil and the work of the vintner is another piece in the puzzle of terroir… I think in Germany we see terroir as a unity of grape, climate, soil, and the mentality of the person who works the vineyard. But the essence of that mentality is a knowledge that the geology of his terrain indeed creates the flavors in the grapes which grow there.”

Vineyard area: 5 hectares

Drhoner-Hofberg

The Hofberg is not a classical Mosel wine location but rather a location in the Dhron valley. The south and south-west facing valley parcels are shaped by the last kilometres of the stream “Dhronbach” before entering the Mosel. Cool and fresh winds coming from the nearby Hunsrück determine the climate of these parcels. When the vines have already started to bloom at the parcels closer to the Mosel, nature needs a few more days to reach the colder Hofberg. We’re growing our Riesling and Pinot Noir grapes on grey, rocky slate that’s streaked with ferric oxide. We’re especially fond and proud of our old vines in the Hofberg valley. Our parcels have been spared from land consolidation which allowed us to keep a steep terrace culture with dry walls that enables a good biodiversity of flora and fauna that’s typical for the river landscape.

Dhroner-Häs’chen – Monopole.

Winemaking on a miniature scale but absolutely precious for our location portfolio. The Dhroner Häs’chen, a location that is entirely in our posession, measures only 2,677 qm. The terraces are steep and almost monumentally reaching for the sky. Extreme heat and direct sunlight are unknown to the Häs’chen. Facing east, this location is especially well situated during the growing impact of the climate change. Ungrafted Riesling vines from the 1930s create delicate, aromatic wines that radiate an inner balance. weathered Devonian slate.

Piesporter Goldtröpfchen

An amphitheater for Riesling vines. Vines as far as the eye can see, from young to ancient. Most vineyards have been replanted during the land consolidation in the 90s. Just a few old parcels remain untouched and left in their original state. Since 2009, one of those parcels with partly ungrafted vines aged up to 110 years, located above the village Ferres/Piesport, is part of our vineyard portfolio. A streak of woodland above the Piesporter Goldtröpfchen secures the water supply for the vineyards below. The slate differs from the Dhron valley, as it’s more weathered and reaching deeper into the ground. The location is warm, allowing us to grow rosemary, lavender and wallflower on the site. Our wines from Piesport are powerful, wild at youth and often times present themselves with dark fruit.

In the Winery

Harvest is always done by hand, with a heavy selection in the vineyards. The wines are fermented using only ambient yeasts in old fuder (around 1000 liters) and halbfuder (around 500 liters) and stainless steel. The wines are often left in contact with the lees for an extended period of time after natural fermentation, but nothing is done by rote at the estate.

There are no additions of any kind: no cultured yeast, enzymes and no süssreserve.

The 2020 Vintage at A.J.Adam

Although from the 2019 vintage the video below shares some thoughts prior vintages and gives insights into Barbara and Andreas’ thinking.

Andreas Adam is truly satisfied with the 2020 vintage: “The vintage started with a remarkably early bud break and we got hit a little bit by frost in May, during the spell of cold known as the ice saints and our vineyard for Eiswein was essentially gone. The weather also proved a bit cooler in June, which affected a little bit the flowering. But then, the vintage seemed a remake of 2019 as the summer proved scorching hot. Once again, as in 2019, we started our Riesling harvest early, on September 15, and were ready to do a speedy harvest to ensure that Oechsle degrees would still be reasonable. But then, suddenly, the weather changed and became definitively cooler and much less sunny. We stopped and used this period to clear the grape area from all leaves on the sunny side of the grape. With the more average weather, this proved key to give the grapes the chance to ripen further. We restarted on September 20 and the miracle proved that the sugar density in the grapes hardly moved until the end of the harvest 4 weeks later. Except for a little Auslese, all grapes were brought in with 80-89° Oechsle. This cooler weather and the little rain proved our saving. The wines are superbly filigreed and not overly powerful. I find it a remarkable vintage for Kabinett and for dry Riesling, as acidity levels were not outrageous.”

The Estate was able to produce its usual range of wines right up to an Auslese in 2020. The portfolio saw one addition, a wine called Zwischen den Reben and which is made of a blend of Bacchus, Müller-Thurgau, and Riesling from grapes picked in some Hofberg vineyards which the Adams erroneously thought were planted with Riesling. The Estate joined the VDP as of this vintage but this led to no changes to the portfolio of wines. Visually, the three top dry wines from the Häs’chen, Hofberg, and Goldtröpfchen are now GGs … and will be reviewed after their official release. The Estate also earmarked two wines to release via the annual Trier Auction which will take place in November (a novum as of this year): A Hofberg Kabinett Alte Reben and its Häs’chen Spätlese. Besides its 2020 portfolio, the Estate also released its 2019er Hofberg Reserve which saw more extensive aging on its lees.

Well, the début vintage as a member of the VDP Mosel has been quite an inspiration! The Estate completely nailed the vintage and produced a wine array of gorgeously balanced dry wines and a truly remarkable off-dry Sengerei, easily one of the finest of its genre in 2020. The fruity-styled and sweet wines are pure things of beauty. The Kabinett wines are truly remarkable, above all the Goldtröpfchen, one of the finest ever from anywhere. But also, the Spätlese and the Auslese are modern-day legends in the making. The depth of quality is truly awe-inspiring and A.J. Adam should be on the buying list of any lover of filigreed Mosel Riesling. The wines are that good! Besides the Riesling, we cannot recommend the Rosé enough, one of the finest of the regions and a great filigreed expression of lightness of being. What a great collection!

Mosel Fine Wines

Where in the World is A.J.Adam?

A.J Adam’s home base is in Neumagen-Dhron on the Dhron river that runs off the Mosel in the horseshoe below Piesport. Here you’ll find their Holfberg vineyards. They also own the monopole Häs’chen and plots in Piesporter.