Vineyard Notes
ZÜM is a mouth-watering and food-friendly Riesling from Germany’s famed Mosel river valley. ZÜM is made from grapes grown in steep slate hillside vineyard plots surrounding the ancient town of Bernkastel — overlooking the famous Landshut castle signified on the label. ZÜM represents the best of old world winemaking tradition.

Tasting Notes
Racy notes of lime, apple, honey, and lively slate minerality. Vibrant acidity is balanced by just a touch of sweetness that will leave your palate satisfied and refreshed.

2011 Vintage Notes
Many Surprises with a Happy Ending
In 2011 Germany's Mosel valley saw perhaps the driest spring since the start of weather recording: high temperatures and little precipitation led to a very early bud break in late April. Summer was quite cool and rainy slowing down vegetation and compensating for the 3 week head start from April. On August 26 The Middle Mosel region was hit by perhaps the most devastating hail storm in history. Hail the size of tennis balls caused severe damage in some areas, destroying about 10% of the crop.

September was gorgeous: warm weather led to an unusually early Riesling harvest. Picking of the first Riesling grapes started around October 4. Must weights were high from the get-go with decent yields. Unlike the previous year, grapes continued to ripen nicely, leading to ideal acid levels lower than in the 2010 harvest. It was decided not to rush with this year's harvest. Instead the harvest proceeded slowly and steadily. We were able to select grapes strategically and in phases in the best vineyards. The harvest concluded in late October.

The result: quality 2011 Rieslings are very aromatic and delicious! We look forward to ZÜM 2011 reaching US shores soon, and will keep you posted.

2010 Vintage Notes
2010 was a “vintner’s vintage” — offering very ripe grapes but with much higher acidity than usual. The challenge for vintners from picking and vinification through bottling was months of careful efforts to ensure balance. Yields were low due to cool weather during blossoming — causing a very poor fruit set. Substantial portions of what could have turned into grapes, did not, referred to as durchgerieselt.

However, the excellent ripeness levels achieved at harvest, when combined with careful vinification yielded some beautifully balanced and dense 2010 Mosel Rieslings, though again with unusually low production. The result for 2010 ZÜM was similar to the 2009 in terms of ample density in the mid-palate, but with brighter acidity.