2020 Riesling "Perlmutt" 
2020 Riesling "Waldportier" 

I think it captures something special, a feeling.

Tennstedt's practice (and I use this term very intentionally) is the most singular, the most deeply personal, and certainly the most introverted and mysterious in the Mosel. Jakob farms, on his own, just over one hectare of old vines tucked away into a rather deep, side valley of the Mosel. (There is an excellent Google Earth tour of Jakob's sites on his importer's page, you can find here; scroll to the bottom.)

While we are only a few kilometers away from the Mosel's busy tourism, the vineyards feel remote, as if we had slipped into some secret garden.

On a beautiful day the valley feels idyllic, a garden of Eden with only forests as far as the eye can see. With storm clouds on the horizon and the wind rattling the leaves, it can feel foreboding, even dangerous. (See the photo of the vineyards and the valley, above.)

Either way, being alone, being on one's own path, this is a meta-theme for Jakob.

I think you can sense that in the photograph.

The Wine Advocate's Stephan Reinhardt wrote the following in 2020 and the words remain poignant to me, years later.

"I have hardly ever drunk a more rested, deeper and more expressive Mosel wine... These are clear, profound and terroir-shaped Rieslings, which are of a calmness and digestibility that I don't know anywhere else in the Mosel. The prices are reasonable in view of the effort and the yield and of what they hopefully give to you as well."

Here we offer two new arrivals, both of them from 2020, both of them bottled in late 2023 and only released this year to the U.S. We have only a few cases for the country.

To my palate, these two 2020ers are among the greatest wines Jakob has made. They have absolutely spellbinding layers, great detail, and they flaunt, more than I've tasted before, the difference of site, from the cool-toned "Perlmutt" to the deep and complex "Waldportier."

While we provide more details on each bottling below, these are unique wines of meditation. I don't know how else to explain these wines - or their hold on me (and many others).

All this to say: This offer is worth the leap of faith.

Given the extreme singularity of these wines, I think it's important to give these wines their space, both contextually and in the experience of drinking them (while they are zero-sulfur-added wines, I have found they open and develop positively for a number of days, as my notes below suggest).

Contextually these wines are to the Mosel what Selosse is to Champagne, or what Emidio Pepe is to Montepulciano.

Which is to say that they transcend the normal expectations of what the appellation might suggest. (Robert has mentioned the wines of Edoardo Valentini and Maison Valette as comparisons. Jakob is in fact an ex-chef who worked widely in Italy; when wine became the fascination he worked for a while at Chateau de Béru before finding the Mosel and making it his home.)

The grapes are picked later, bucking nearly every current trend (the dry Rieslings can have 13% alcohol) and Tennstedt will include healthy botrytis. Both wines were in barrel (old Fuders) for over three years - always topped off - before being bottled without sulfur. The wines then spend another 6+ months in bottle before being released.

I have extensive and time-based tasting notes below and they include an almost staggering diversity of descriptors: butter, brown butter, fresh cream, fresh sawdust, paraffin, beeswax, lanolin, spearmint, lime, rock candy, melon, green apple, lemon pith, mandarin orange, citrus oils, quince, plum, cassis, ginger, plantains, yogurt, flan, pine needle, resin, verbena, tobacco, nutmeg, etc. and so forth.

Yet for all this, there is a wet-stone minerality that washes over everything; the overall effect is calming, like a winter stream. I think this is what Reinhardt tries to get at with his "rested" descriptor.

The truth is that because so many of Tennstedt's wines’ obvious characteristics are so different (in fact exactly opposite) from what I am normally attracted to in Mosel wine (high-toned citrus, salt and acid!), I’ve had to really reflect on what, exactly, I find so compelling in these wines – why I keep coming back.

Part of it is just the astounding quality.

I loathe this word but the wines have “breed.”

What I mean is that they have a very obvious balance, a near-perfect seamlessness, a shimmering quality. These wines present easily, naturally, like the greatest of great white Burgundies.

Beyond just the obvious quality, there is something deeper and more important with Jakob's wines – and more elusive. I don’t know how else to say this: There is something about the conviction of these wines, the authenticity, that I just find very moving.

More than most wines, these are just bottles you have to experience. Then you can make your own judgment.

Stephen and Robert

2020 Riesling "Perlmutt" (Trarbacher Taubenhaus)
The "Perlmutt" is sourced from a tiny site called Taubenhaus on the Trarbacher side of Traben-Trarbach. This is a relatively cool site - Tennstedt tries to indicate something of the vineyard with the labels and you'll note that "Perlmutt" is written in a cool-toned blue. This is always one of my favorite wines; it is perhaps the most "Mosel" with its bright register - mandarin orange, citrus oils, tart plum, pine needle, a spicy florality along with freshly cut hay, grasses, resin, lanolin and beeswax. Right out of the glass it is reticent, yet with only twenty to thirty minutes (and warming up from my rather too-cold fridge temperature) the wine reveals more depth, darker shades and flavors like fresh sawdust, tree bark, tobacco.

The next day, nearly 24 hours later, and the wine has gained more expressiveness, it feels more saturating and even clearer, yet I can't honestly say the flavors or essence of the wine are different, they are just more present. I have the sense this wine could remain open for a few days and develop even more. Note this Fuder from 2020 represents the last vintage Jakob made from the Taubenhaus. He had told me it was just too much work; he couldn't handle all of the sites and he had to choose. For me, it's a bit of a shame as this has been one of my favorite wines, year after year. 

2020 Riesling "Waldportier" (Trarbacher Hühnerberg)
The "Waldportier" is sourced from the Trarbacher Hühnerberg, deep into the side valley on the Trarbacher side of Traben-Trarbach - this is, roughly, the site photographed below. My sense is that this is the heart of Tennstedt's collection, sourced from the Hühnerberg, the site deepest within the valley. Compared to the "Perlmutt," the "Waldportier" feels not exactly darker, but smoother, more creamy and restful. As much as I personally like the "Perlmutt," the "Waldportier" is undeniably more complex, wider, deeper... more complete. This is not a big wine, yet it feels like "more" wine; it is more texturally plush, with tart banana-cream vibes, at times custardy and complex, then showing an exuberant and ripe fruit, from honey-tinged melon to darker notes of guava and even cassis. Yet while it's relaxed, "restful" as Reinhardt suggests, there is considerable push, a vibrant core of acidity and pushes this along and gives the wine tremendous length. A day later this wine is only just beginning to open and I realize my mistake.

I should have opened both of these bottles two or three days ago; tasting over only 24 hours feels like reading the first few lines of a great long masterpiece. A mistake I won't make again.

This offer is now closed. If you need help finding the wines please email orders@sourcematerialwine.com.