Harzer Weingut Riesling Traminer 2019

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 From a no wine region in Germany comes this Riesling Traminer which can be a pretty good surprise for the ones who try it. 

I have to confess that saying that this wine comes from a no region is not really that innocent. Even though it may be included in the Saale-Unstrut region, it is already out of it and, in fact, can not be included in any official region.

 In fact, the story of Matthias Kirmann is pretty interesting and it can be checked here: https://www.vinum.eu/de/yoopress-news/portraits/2019/harzer-winzer-mit-herzblut/ ( the article can be read in both German and French).

 From the initial passion to the problems concerning distribution and recognition even from the local gastronomy companies, this is a story of perseverance and dedication to wine coming from a region which is famous for many reasons but not for its wines.

I have came across it as my wife is from a close by village and I have seen the vineyards on some of the walks we took around. 

I have then started a small quest to find a place where to buy it as when I went to the village they had their shop closed due to the whole pandemic regulations.

After a couple of days I have managed to find it in a small shop in another village around. Unfortunately there were only the monovarietal Riesling and this Riesling Traminer. I have to confess that I was particularly interested in trying either the Dornfelder or the Cabernet Mythos but there was no place I could find it. 

Still, going to this Traminer Riesling, I found it a pretty well done wine, in many aspects better than most Saale-Unstrut in the same range of prices. And this taking in account the predominance of Traminer which gives it a rather sweet involvement and a strong yellow colour almost giving the impression that it had some wood contact. 

In the mouth it is fresh and fruity, with interesting notes of spices recalling long summer evenings and with a high gastronomic potential, being a perfect match for many local dishes such as wild mushrooms or even something more complex such as wild boar.

For me, I have to confess that being a Riesling fan, I was expecting some more acidity in it but it is only my personal opinion.

Interesting is also the producer's connection to the lunar cycles in what concerns the wine production. This is quite fascinating as I will soon have a tasting which has been organized according to it. For more information about it, I definitely recommend you to have a look at this article: https://blog.vinfolio.com/2016/11/05/tasting-wine-moon-phases-lunar-cycles-change-flavor-wine/

Along with it The discomfort of Evening  by the Dutch poet Marieke Lucas Rijneveld  which I have recently came across in this article.

Good readings and great tastings!




Everything inhabitable

Never lost that resistance, that primal jostling with sorrow and joy,
or given in to pulpit preaching, to the Word that says what is
right or wrong, never been too lazy to stand up, to face
up to all the bullies and fight pigeonholing with your fists
raised, against those riots of not-knowing inside your head,


tempering impotence with the red rag in your eyes, and
always announcing your own way with rock-solid pride,
watching someone reduced to pulp and seeing the last
drop of dignity trickling away, you are against craniometry,
against bondservice, against all of humankind’s boxing in.

 

Never lost that resistance, that seed of wrestling free, your
origin is dressed in mourning attire, your origin was fortunate,
it had an escape route, not that your experience is aligned,
not that you always see that the grass on the other side may be
withered and less green – the point is to be able to put yourself

in another’s shoes, to see the sea of sorrow behind another
person’s eyes, the rampant wrath of all wraths, you
want to say that maybe you don’t understand everything,
that of course you don’t always hit the right chord, but that
you do feel it, yes, you feel it, even if the difference is a gap.

Never lost that resistance and yet able to grasp when it
isn’t your place, when you must kneel for a poem because
another person can make it more inhabitable; not out of
unwillingness, not out of dismay, but because you know
there is so much inequality, people still discriminated against,

what you want is fraternity, you want one fist, and maybe your
hand isn’t yet powerful enough, or maybe you should first take the hand
of another in reconciliation, you actively need to feel the hope that
you are doing something to improve the world, though you mustn’t
forget this: stand up again after kneeling and straighten together our backs.

 


15,5/20
Country: Germany
Region: Harz
Grapes: Riesling, Traminer
12,5%
Winemaker: Matthias Kirmann
Website: https://www.harzer
-weingut.de/

Location: Hamburg, Germany

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