References 2011 & 2012

http://www.stuartpigott.de/

Stuart Pigott, Berlin, 17. April 2012.

RIESLING PEOPLE Nr. 1 – Martin Tesch, Riesling’s Man in Black

“Truth in wine is a scarce commodity. If a wine is more than 50% true then that‟s already quite

something.“

„Sometimes you have to go through the door; other times you have to go through the wall.“

Those are just two of my favorite sayings by Dr. Martin Tesch, Riesling‟s Man in Black, which I

scribbled down on odd scraps of paper and tucked away in what is now a bulging file. Needless to say

the wines made by someone who spits out that kind of stuff all the time are controversial. “Have you

tasted the wines?” people in the wine scene often ask me excitedly, and they‟re either knocked out by

the sheer vitality of the Tesch wines, or they‟re shocked and incredulous that anyone could possibly

think these Bladerunner dry Rieslings were good to drink. Nobody who knows them sits on the fence

or lacks an opinion.

Tesch is a German winegrower who from the first time I met him didn‟t fit into any of the existing

categories. Though he was born in the sleepy small town of Langenlonsheim in the Nahe winegrowing

region and still feels very much at home in the vineyards and forest where he grew up, he‟s equally

happy standing in the spotlight on stage with rock musicians in Berlin telling the crowd his story, “the

time is right for dry Riesling.” In fact, he loves the world of rock music whether he‟s on stage in a

Hamburg night club, back stage at the Rock am Ring open-air festival, in the audience at a U2 concert

in a Frankfurt football stadium or driving in his jeep with the Tote Hosen, his favorite punk band,

pumped up so loud the windows rattle. More about them later.

Wherever I meet him he‟s almost always dressed in black. In a black suit and black shirt he cuts an imposing

figure in the fermentation cellar he calls „yellow submarine“. To be honest, even though the mini-U-boot

size steel fermentation tanks Martin Tesch inherited from his father Hartmut are painted yellow the place

reminds me more of the submarine in the Matrix movies than the Beatles cute psychedelic cartoon, but that

fits Tesch too. If he didn‟t already exist, then a cartoon artist would have to invent him and like Batman he

would be surrounded by deep shadows. The gleaming Brave New Wine World of modern cellar technology

and the cosy Grand Château nostalgia of serried oak barrique casks don‟t suit him or his dry Rieslings.

That‟s why he turned his back on those possibilities long ago.

“Doc Martin” as one Berlin wine groupie calls him was a University research scientist until he got bored with

bio-chemistry and returned to Weingut Tesch in Langenlonsheim back in 1996. The scientist is definitely

still one side of him, though that might seem hard to square with the rock „n‟ roll. Some people say he‟s the

Mad Scientist of German Wine, but he‟s the person I ring up if I can‟t understand some new winemaking

technique or if I‟m lost in the labyrinth of wine chemistry. I always get a clear, concise answer and I always

learn something from him.

Through those conversations I got many glimpses of the rigorous way he thinks through the internal logic of

his wines and the minimalist methods he uses to produce them. Then there are the times he calls me with

very different questions relating to the world of wine marketing and media, though I don‟t know if I was able

to help him much with those things. If Tesch‟s creativity in the cellar has mostly been about reinterpreting

old winemaking ideas to give them a thoroughly contemporary form, then his creativity in the field of

marketing has had exactly the same goal, even if it often looked way more radical than that sounds.

This first became strikingly obvious back in the spring of 2002 when he launched a wine called Riesling

„Unplugged‟. The name referred to the MTV series of concerts at which famous rock musicians play acoustic

instruments without amplification or electronic effects. In terms of winemaking at Weingut Tesch it means

not adding sugar to the fermenting wine to increase its alcoholic strength, nor using any chemistry to reduce

its acidity content (both of which would tend to make the wines taste rounder), much less manipulating the

wine in any of the numerous other ways modern cellar technology make possible. Apart from adding a small

amount of sulfur* to stabilize the wine „Unplugged‟ is a totally straight, bone-dry Riesling.

In spite of that, many of Tesch‟s older customers were incensed by the new wine with its austere black label

and they abandoned him in droves, some even writing vicious letters denouncing him as a German Wine

Heretic. A year later he reduced the rest of his range of dry Rieslings to just five vineyard-designated wines

each with a package in an in-your-face color. (See below). Then with the 2003 vintage he released „Deep

Blue‟, a dry white made from the red Pinot Noir grape with a gracefully-swaying aqueous beauty that was

the exact opposite of the strict linearity of his dry Rieslings.

All this action provoked a bunch of wine critics to ambush Tesh according to the simple Germanic motto,

Verboten – forbidden, you can‟t do that! But that failed to faze Doc Martin according to the equally

Germanic motto, “that which does not kill me makes me stronger” (thank you Friedrich Nietzsche) and with

each year since he has become more and more successful.

Completely unexpected for me was the publication two years ago of Tesch‟s book „Riesling People Vol. 1′,

even though I posed for one of the black and white photographs which almost completely fill its 176 pages.

There are only three words in the entire book, if you except the brief introduction to the Tesch wines at the

back and they are a pun: COOL CLIMATE WINES. That‟s a perfect description of Martin Tesch and of what

he‟s achieved with them.

He‟s not the kind of guy who could ever be completely satisfied with what he‟s done though, so last year

„Riesling People Vol. 2′, a German language audio book appeared (on which my voice can also be heard),

and the Tesch & Tote Hosen joint venture wine „Weisses Rauschen‟, or white noise, was released. It was, of

course, a totally straight, bone-dry Riesling.

„Still confused, but on a higher level.“ Martin Tesch

UNITED COLOURS OF TESCH RIESLING Black is black, I want my Baby back…and she’s Riesling ‘Unplugged’. This is the one if you want to stick to the straight and narrow of dry Riesling, and if you’re strong enough to lick the blade. Sap green is for the dry Riesling from the Löhrer Berg, or empty hill, vineyard site. It is full of discretely juicy green apple and lime flavors, the acidity is moderate for a Tesch’s Greensleeves Riesling. Lemon yellow is for the Riesling from the Krone, or crown, vineyard site. If a princess ever kissed me then I hope to turn into the king frog on this label. I always think of sun-ripened lemons. Summertime and the living is easy. Turquoise blue ain’t normally a wine color, but it certainly fits this playful joust of dry Riesling from the Königschild, or king’s shield, vineyard site. Girls just want to have fun…just like some of the boys. Brick red is the color of the stony soil in the Karthäuser, or red hill, vineyard site. There’s iron in that soil and in the soul of this dry Riesling. Those who are patient will be rewarded with herbs and minerals that tingle your senses. Deep orange is the color of the magma beneath the volcanic outcrop which is the St. Remigiusberg, or St. Remi’s hill, vineyard site. So expressive, so compelling and 100% Tesch. Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!

A summer wine for savouring with friends By Anthony Gismondi, Special To The Sun June 25, 2011 The Tesch Unplugged Riesling 2009 from Nahe is a much-welcomed wine style to the market. The antithesis of Germany's complicated grading and labelling system, all of the Tesch wines are finished dry or trocken led by the ingenious 'Unplugged' label. Could there be a better moniker for a Riesling that sees no new wood and is finished completely dry? Honey, slate, floral, spicy, apricot, chalky aromas rule as does its fresh, full, dry palate with ginger, honey, floral, green apple, quince and lemon flavours. Good intensity and length. Made for food and most Vancouver restaurant wine lists. Tesch Unplugged Riesling 2009, Nahe, Germany Price: $ UPC: 4015276102309 Score: 89/100 Remarks: Could there be a better moniker for an unwooded, dry Riesling? The original vineyard site of the Tesch Karthäuser Trocken 2009 belonged to the Carthusian Order, also called the Order of St. Bruno, monks at Laubenheim, Nahe, Germany, where its ancient sandstone soils face southeast. Look for light petrol, lemon rind, honey, clover, spicy, green apple notes of oyster shell and slate aromas. So fresh and delicate, its juicy, creamy palate is awash in pear, lemon, grapefruit, floral, honey and petrol flavours all with very fine intensity. Clean, correct, dry and delicious. For serious Riesling aficionados. Tesch Karthäuser Trocken 2009, Nahe, Germany Price: $ UPC: 4015276102217 Score: 90/100 Remarks: Clean, correct dry and delicious Riesling. For serious aficionados. Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/summer+wine+savouring+with+friends/5005568/story.html#ixzz1QSajAc8H

Fabulous Tesch Rieslings screw with cap tradition

By Jurgen Gothe, August 23, 2011

A brilliant, new (to us, anyway; the winery has been at it since 1723) trio of Rieslings has strolled into town, and like the proverbial western stranger, has raised all kinds of dust. Time to shake hands with the Tesch trio. My colleague Anthony Gismondi recently called it “the antithesis of Germany’s complicated grading and labeling system”, going on to give the Tesch concept and operation “a perfect 100 points”.

There is indeed much to like in this brace of Rieslings from vineyards along the Nahe (the sometimes all-but-forgotten German wine river, what with the Moselle getting all the attention). Two are specialty listed (both available through LDB stores) and one is speculative, available only from a central purchasing outlet. None is cheap, and all are Stelvinized (topped with screw caps).

I still recall the day—it wasn’t too many years ago, at a wine event in Victoria—when I asked a somewhat pompous German wine heavy (is that redundant?) when his country would make the move to Stelvin screw caps. “Never!” he thundered. If he’d worn a monocle it would have fallen out. “Cork always. Forever!” I don’t remember who he was or if he still is. But thank heavens he, like many of his ilk, has fallen off one of the flat edges of the earth! Many others have seen the light—certainly Martin Tesch and his dedicated crew. The dinovinos are disappearing in the dust.

To table, then, glasses akimbo!

Tesch Riesling Trocken Unplugged 2009 (specialty, $19.99) Trocken, of course, means “dry” and Unplugged means unplugged, further elucidated on the back label by winemaker Martin Tesch as coming from “the rock and pop scene” as being an “appreciation of manual craftsmanship and for the realization that not every innovation and trend automatically make (music) better. At Tesch we have transferred this idea to our subject: Riesling.”

So what you get is big, mouth-filling, gulpable, fruity, fresh, ripe but dry dinner wine; pale, with lime-green glints in the glass, lots of mineral edges. It wants delicate dishes, favouring simple fish with fresh herbs, steamed potatoes, asparagus, and mellow cheese.

Tesch KarthAuser Riesling Trocken 2009 (specialty, $27.99) Lush and bright, super-fruited with citrus and some grapefruit and lime, not remotely sweet but also not so austerely dry as many trockens—neat trick, that! A treat with twice-baked potato salad and Debreciner sausage steamed with hot peppers and fresh rosemary, Dijon mustard on the side, and cherry tomatoes with rock salt and black pepper for dipping. Baguette and butter if you need it.

Tesch Langenlosheimer Königsschild Riesling Trocken 2009 (speculative, $27.99) Bracing and dewy fresh, the dry aspect is downplayed, and there’s a slight smokiness at first whiff. All three carry about 13 percent alcohol, which on some Rieslings could overwhelm the palate, but here, it all knits together beautifully with the fruit, the sweetness (or relative lack of it), and the acidity. For olive oil poached tuna fillets à la Lucy Waverman, prawns and asparagus wrapped in prosciutto on the grill, Italian bread salad, sashimi; let your imagination run free.

Like our own visionary Tilman Hainle of Peachland’s Working Horse Winery, Tesch likes to make a solid statement, leading off with über-dry. And he’s proud of his Stelvin statements.

http://www.straight.com/article-436276/vancouver/fabulous-tesch-rieslings-screw-cap-tradition