Riesling: six soils, one grape variety

Hello,

No grape variety transmits the soil as directly as Riesling. On slate it tastes of flint, on granite cool and taut, on limestone of salt and tension. The grape steps back and lets the soil speak.

When I want to show someone what terroir means, I like to do it through Riesling. Six glasses, one evening, Riesling from six different rock types. That convinces more than any amount of talk about terroir.

Six rock types, from the Mosel to the Kamptal: blue and red slate, red sandstone, limestone, granite, gneiss. Each appears twice — as an everyday bottle and as a Grosses Gewächs from the same origin. One click adds the entire case to your basket; individual soils can be swapped out there.

Blue Slate · Roter Hang · Sandstone · Limestone · Granite · Gneiss

The Two Cases

The entry-level case shows what a soil is capable of. The Classic case shows what it can achieve when the finest parcel of the site meets a great winemaker: six wines to lay down, give as gifts, or open for a dinner you won't forget.

1 · Blue Slate — Mosel

Devonian slate, steep slopes of up to 60% gradient, the river as a mirror for light. Blue slate lends Riesling a flinty, smoky core beneath the fruit. Pale yellow in the glass, vibrantly taut on the palate.

Estate Wine Entry · ca. 15 € Weiser-Künstler Riesling 2025 One of the most exciting young addresses on the Mosel. Dry to off-dry, delicate: lemon, green apple, a streak of wet stone. The Mosel as an introduction. View wine →

Grosses Gewächs Classic · ca. 44 € Clemens Busch Marienburg GG „Fahrlay“ 2023 Biodynamic, blue Devonian slate from the extremely steep Fahrlay site. Busch prizes tension over power: crystalline precision, flint, a finish that simply refuses to fade. Uncompromisingly dry, with barely thirty bottles remaining. View wine →

2 · Red Slate — the Roter Hang

Near Nierstein the slate shifts to a rusty red: Rotliegendes, iron-rich and warmed by the sun. This makes the Riesling fuller and broader, with yellow fruit and a pleasantly bitter edge. The same slate as on the Mosel, only red.

Erste Lage Entry · ca. 26 € Kühling-Gillot Nierstein Erste Lage 2023 Roter Hang as a village wine. Generous yellow fruit, peach, a precise bitter finish. Erste Lage quality at a village wine price — tremendous provenance for the money. View wine →

Grosses Gewächs Classic · ca. 61 € Kühling-Gillot „Ölberg“ GG 2023 Grosses Gewächs from the Niersteiner Ölberg. Floral and bright, with a smoky undercurrent and fine, saline tension. The Roter Hang in its most elegant expression. View wine →

3 · Red Sandstone — Pfalz

Germany's warmest corner, almost Mediterranean. Red sandstone — Buntsandstein and Rotliegendes — absorbs the day's warmth and releases it at night. The Riesling becomes yellow-fruited and spicy, generously built, yet with a dry, pleasantly bitter core.

Estate Wine Entry · ca. 11 € Michael Andres Riesling Buntsandstein 2025 Pure Buntsandstein, dry and straightforward at 12% abv. Bright fruit, citrus, a green herbal note. The outstanding value of the case. View wine →

Birkweiler Classic · ca. 29 € Rebholz Birkweiler vom Rotliegenden 2022 Ökonomierat Rebholz, a VDP icon of the southern Pfalz, here from the red Rotliegendes. Ripe apple and quince, with orange and grapefruit, carried by vibrant acidity. Full of character, with years ahead of it. View wine →

4 · Limestone — Wonnegau

Beneath the thin topsoil of the Wonnegau lies limestone, the fossilised bed of an ancient sea. Limestone draws Riesling long and lean: plenty of tension, little richness, a citric blade.

Estate Wine Entry · ca. 12 € Battenfeld-Spanier Riesling Eisquell 2025 A dry, slender entry at 12% abv. Lemon, green apple, a touch of herbs, clean and precise. Terroir at an everyday price, without compromise. View wine →

Grosses Gewächs Classic · ca. 61 € Battenfeld-Spanier Kirchenstück GG 2023 Grosses Gewächs from the 400-year-old Hohen-Sülzen site, pure limestone. Bitter lemon and mint up front, followed by deep, juicy fruit and a chalky grip. Powerful, and built to last for decades. View wine →

5 · Granite — Alsace

Over the Vosges and into Alsace. Granite, weathered ancient rock, gives Riesling a bright, almost weightless fruit and a taut line. Granite divides opinion: those who love slate may find it austere at first — give it air and a year or two, and it blossoms.

Terroir Series Entry · ca. 30 € Zind-Humbrecht „Roche Granitique“ 2019 A biodynamic legend, granite from Turckheim. Give it air and the fruit opens up in an instant: citrus, white peach, a clear, almost metallic note. Not an everyday wine — more the quiet star of the case. View wine →

Grand Cru Classic · ca. 64 € Trapet Schlossberg Grand Cru 2021 Grand Cru Schlossberg, granitic with a touch of greywacke, biodynamic. Lime and candied citron, ripe apricot, a long cool finish. A wine for the next ten to fifteen years. View wine →

6 · Gneiss — Kamptal

Austria's Danube, crystalline gneiss on the terraces. Here Riesling becomes taut and long-lived: apricot and nectarine over a stony framework, with Pannonian warmth at its back.

Kamptal DAC Entry · ca. 13 € Loimer Riesling Kamptal DAC 2024 Fred Loimer, biodynamic, Gföhler gneiss and loess, a light 11.5% abv. Poached pear and apricot, citrus, a hint of anise. The unfussy Danube Riesling for every day. View wine →

Erste Lage · 1ÖTW Classic · ca. 34 € Loimer „Ried Steinmassl“ 1ÖTW 2022 Erste Lage from ancient bedrock (paragneiss, mica schist), aged in steel and wood. Apricot and nectarine, a hint of butter cake, with saline tension and stony grip. Crystalline, with a long future ahead. View wine →

The Two Cases

As always, a suggestion rather than a fixed set: individual bottles can be swapped, removed, or mixed between the two tiers in your basket.

Prefer to browse yourself?

We stock over 200 further Rieslings — from delicate off-dry Kabinett to great dry Gewächs, from the Mosel to Austria.

Warm regards from Berlin,

David & the team at
Living Wines

P.S. — The right glass

Zalto White Wine

Set of 2 · ca. 90 €

Riesling's acidity calls for a slender bowl that concentrates the aromatics rather than dispersing them. This glass is designed precisely for that purpose.

View Zalto White Wine →