Rita and Rudolf Trossen were among the first German winemakers to practise biodynamic viticulture. They started making wine in 1978 in the Mosel region, farming 2 hectares of old, ungrafted vines. Rita was determined to run a small-scale operation to maintain a high level of quality and care, and to this day the winery functions with a small team and outstanding bottles. For Rita and Rudolf, organic farming not only means rejecting artificial fertilisers and other chemical treatments, but an ‘attitude of responsibility that acts locally but thinks globally’. Work in the vineyard is entirely manual and deeply rooted in biodynamics, centred around an understanding of nature’s cycles, the vitality of the soil and our relationship to the cosmos we live within. They grow mostly Riesling on steep slopes, producing expressive, elegant wines with great structure and herbal notes. The soft, Devonian slate retains the heat of the day, releasing it slowly overnight. This slate is essential for the water drainage Riesling requires but also gives the vines an element of positive stress during the hotter summer months, forcing the roots deeper into the earth and between rocks where they draw minerality and the signature elegance of these Mosel wines. Once in the cellar, the wines are fermented slowly and stored in large, traditional old barrels known as Moselfuder.
Schieferblume ’23, which translates as Slate Flower, is made with grapes from two vineyards: Hubertuslay, a steep vineyard on the opposite riverbank to the winery in Kinheim, and Langfuhr, a cool climate plot in Kindel between woodland and meadows. One of the Trossen’s older and more classic wines, Schieferblume has a little sulfur at bottling and, unlike the other wines we have featured to date, is lightly filtered. For this wine we’ve made an exception, given its quality and the desire to share a Trossen bottle with you but, for zero-zero enthusiasts, be sure to check out the Purus line, begun in 2010.