Clemens Busch Riesling Vom Rotten Schiefer 2022

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

“The personable family produces mainly Riesling with the main focus on expressive, full-bodied, dry or medium-dry grands crus harvested as late as mid-November and characterised by their depth, density, concentration and complex (merciless) minerality”
Stephan Rheinhardt, The Finest Wines of Germany

About Clemens Busch

I had the incredible pleasure of meeting Clemens Busch just prior to the 2020 pandemic hitting Australia. Tasting with him and listening to his carefully thought out responses to my typically probing questions was exhilarating. We may have been in a pokie, slightly stuffy room, his wines still transported me to another place.

A maker of mostly dry wines in the Mosel is not common. Historically those I have tried, even at GG level, have generally lacked that something special, the spark that takes you from solid to stunning.

I’ve often thought it to be in the élévage, the wines have been too raw, unfinished, lacking harmony.

Clemens wines were a revelation! Crystalline & translucent with incredible depth and length, elegance and refinement, yet wines of substance of flavour and texture. Sophisticated, yet, worldly.

They are a wonderful contrast to the richer styles from regions like the Rheinhessen, once again showing the diversity of styles Riesling offers.

Clemens started working in his father’s 2-hectare estate in 1975. He stopped using herbicides in 1976, then in 1984 he and wife Rita converted to organics. They were among the first in Germany to begin consciously growing grapes this way and they became instrumental in the movement establishing an association of organic growers in 1986. While farming organically they began using various preparations from the biodynamic toolkit, finally converting entirely in 2005. Today Clemens is recognised as pioneer of both the organic and biodynamic winegrowing movements in Germany and has mentored many other young growers, including his son Florian who now works with him and Rita.

Since Clemens and Rita assumed responsibility of the estate it has grown significantly and now comprises 18 hectares. 16 of those are on the ‘First Growth’ Marienburg vineyard that rises steeply from the Mosel, opposite the town of Pünderich. Vine age ranges from 35 to over 100 years, the single site Grosses-Gewächs (GG) range is produced exclusively from vines older than 65 years. The Marienburg vineyard comprises all three types of Mosel slate – red, blue and grey – and several unique parcels within the vineyard. This allows them to make a large range of distinctively different, site-driven Rieslings which are distinguished using the traditional names of the parcels. These names were largely abandoned in the ‘70s after the new German Wine Laws brought in the über-vineyard name of Marienburg. Thanks to the clear-cut differences between the individual sites; the wines are a great exercise in the transparency of Riesling, especially for the dry cuvees.

The estate is unique among its middle-Mosel peers as it produces around 80-90% dry wines, although many are now following Clemens’ lead. The traditional production methods are thoughtfully adjusted according to the vintage and include late harvesting, maceration before pressing, long slow natural ferments and extended lees aging in ancient 1000l fuders (the youngest of which is 57 years old!). The wines are unfined and unfiltered with small doses of sulphur just before bottling. All this ensures that these are among the richest, most concentrated, textural dry Rieslings produced in the Mosel today.  They retain great purity, striking acidity, deeply concentrated fruit, with nervosity and off-the-chart minerality.

In the Vineyard

Before you can work the vineyard, first you must become a skilled mountain climber! Everything here is done by hand!

In the Winery

It’s all pretty simple. Grow good fruit. Nudge it here or there during the making process. Pay attention to the details and get it into bottle in one piece! Large old oak, wild ferments, and a touch of sulphur at the right time. Job done. It’s as hard as that.

The 2022 Vintage at Clemens Busch

Clemens Busch was quite surprised by the elegance of his 2022 vintage: “On paper, 2022 was a very hot and very dry vintage and I must admit that I did not expect such elegance! The real issue of the vintage was the drought during the summer although only our youngish vines, aged between 8 and 12 years, did really suffer. The effect of this drought was that it led to the vines shutting down and this delayed the maturation process and kept Oechsle degrees down. The bit of rain at the end of August therefore only gave a welcomed push in the development of the grapes. We started comparatively late, at the beginning of October, and finished five weeks later. We took our time because selecting the right grapes and discarding dodgy ones were key. The wines took quite a while to finish their fermentation, and some are still fermenting [Editor’s note: in December 2023] and this makes them more backward than usual. I did not expect such a beautiful vintage which reveals both a nice touch of creaminess and yet also a lot of elegance. Nature never stops surprising us!”

The Estate was able to produce its full portfolio of dry wines and fruity-styled wines but did not produce any Auslese: “The conditions were not there, there was not enough good botrytis for the type of Auslese we aim for.” On the news front, the Estate has launched a Nonnengarten 1G, which means that this vineyard is now classified as “Premier Cru” (and no longer as “Grand Cru”) by the VDP Mosel. The Estate produces a memorable collection in 2022 which shines through superb elegance and precision. Its top GGs are as good if not better than ever and the new Nonnengarten 1G is a roaring success. But the Estate also produced a smashing set of fruity-styled and sweet wines with, as jewel in the crown, a magnificent and remarkably airy Spätlese GK. Given all these successes, it is very easy to oversee that the Clemens Busch Estate is also one of the finest sources of natural wines in the Mosel and its latest releases do not disappoint, on the contrary. In short, Clemens Busch underlined once more why he is one of the finest Riesling growers in the world!

NB: The 2022er Felsterrasse GG and 2022er Raffes were not yet ready for tasting.

Where in the World is Clemens Busch?

Clemens Busch is in the middle-Mosel with the majority of his production coming from the Pündericher Marienburg vineyards.

The German VDP has an excellent interactive map covering the wine growing regions of Germany. Click on the Map to go to the live version. For context, Pünderich is much further north up the Mosel from the vineyards of Wehlen and Graach.