Notes from Bowler Wine:

"The grapes for this wine grow, as the name suggests, on the steep slopes of the Pündericher Marienburg, where grey slate is the predominant soil structure. The soil gives the Riesling its distinctive saline minerality and flavors reminiscent of white and yellow peaches. The grapes get handpicked at the end of October at about 85-90° Oechsle. They get pressed very gently and will ferment spontaneously in old “Fuder” barrels. In the cool cellar, fermentation often lasts until summer. After around 10 to 11 months on the lees in the barrel the wines get bottled with minimal sulfur.

Stone dust and lemon/lime flavors surge through the nose and palate in a wine of extremely fine purity and energy.

Clemens is the fifth generation winemaker at this estate (all the previous ones were also named Clemens; ever the iconoclast, he named his son Florian). Clemens started working in his father’s 2-hectare estate in 1975 and has spent his career expanding the acreage and breadth of his holdings to 18 hectares, almost all on the slopes of the Marienburg.

He stopped using herbicides in 1976, then in 1984 he and wife Rita converted to organics. They were among the first in Germany to commit to organic viticulture and led the movement establishing an association of organic growers in 1986. The estate converted to biodynamics entirely in 2005, earning certifications from the EU and Respekt-Biodyn. Clemens holds a permanent place in history as a role model and beacon of change among German winemakers."