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Clemens Busch

Together with his wife Rita, Clemens Busch has made the family winery one of the most distinguished in the entire Mosel region. Since he took over the management of the winery in the 1980s, he has consistently implemented his convictions in terms of natural practices in the vineyard and cellar. This is the only way to achieve the ultimate expression of terroir.

The majority of Clemens' vines grow on the extremely steep Pündericher Marienburg vineyard. This steep slope is 25 hectares in size and stretches across the entire hillside vis-à-vis the village of Pünderich on the Moselle. With a south/southwest exposure and location directly on the river, this vineyard is generally considered one of the best in the Moselle region. Of Clemens' vineyards, 16 hectares are located here, with only 2ha coming from his father's inheritance.

Marienburg

Marienburg in spring. Photo © Clemens Busch Winery

In the 1980s, more and more winegrowers gave up their steep vineyards to concentrate on mechanisable cultivation of vines in the flat areas. Clemens Busch took advantage of this trend by buying parcel after parcel from his neighbours. Thus he gradually became the owner of many wonderful monopoly vineyards within the (present-day) Marienburg site. Until the beginning of the 1970s, the vineyard with the name Marienburg was much smaller, embedded in a complex network of several individual vineyards with different names.

It was only in the course of the so-called land consolidation that the whole hill was renamed Marienburg.

However, Busch never agreed with this decision. As representative of the fifth generation of vintners of his family, he knew, of course, that the hill is by no means homogeneous but consists of several differentiated terroirs. Besides different soils, microclimatic aspects play a role. They are influenced, for instance, by vineyard walls, the slope or orientation. Thus, the winery produces the individual wines under the original names of the vineyards.

The individual vineyard sites

The original Marienburg single vineyard is oriented to the south/southwest and is dominated by grey slate. The wines "»vom grauen Schiefer" and "»Marienburg GG", among others, come from there.

The Rothen's Path consists entirely of red slate - a real rarity on the Moselle. Until 2006, this piece lay fallow and was overgrown by undergrowth. Today, old and younger vines are growing here on about one hectare. The »vom roten Schiefer" and »Marienburg GG Rothenpfad" are produced here.

Falkenlay is dominated by grey slate and lies between the Rothenpfad and Fahrlay. These parcels are considered by some connoisseurs as the "fillet piece" of the hill and provide the best grapes for noble sweet wines. A special selection of the best grapes from old vineyards is bottled under the name "»Raffes".

The Rock terraceLast but not least, is a tiny parcel and Clemens' favorite vineyard. The soils consist of thick grey slate and are particularly difficult to work.
Vinification

The majority of the wines are vinified in very old Moselfudern. These are wooden barrels that hold 1000 liters, the youngest of which is 48 years old. Many of them were made by Rita's father.

Nothing is added to the wines except a small amount of sulphur during bottling. Any finings also have no place in this cellar. The fermentation of noble sweet wines is stopped by cold and filtration. Thus, even here the sulfur requirement is comparatively low.