Off the train at Ingelheim am Rhein and it’s a pleasant walk through the town to AdamsWein. Not a new estate, as they go back generations, but Simone Adams took over when her father passed away in 2010, while finishing her PhD in the premature aging of Riesling. She started changing the winery (while not growing Riesling): going organic in 2017 and biodynamic in 2020, then using 100% whole cluster for the single-vineyard Spätburgunders. Lots of evolution, but far from a novice.
We start with the 2024 Ingelheim Grauburgunder, which is not a simple wine and not your typical Grauburgunder. Stays on the skins to develop texture and color (but far from orange), nutty, citrussy, still lively and very pretty. A nice take on the grape.
Something also unconventional was the 2024 White Wedding Cuvée. A blend of grauburgunder, weissburgunder and viognier (planted by her father, to be funny). I think the blend varies from year to year and may sometimes include chardonnay. A simple wine for people who want fruity flavors (lots of aroma from the viognier, to lift the body of the Weiss and the Grau). Not my style, given other options, but well made.
Things get more interesting with the 2024 Lohpfad Chardonnay and the 2024 Auf dem Haun Chardonnay. Lohpfad is a sub-parcel of Schlossberg, and Simone uses that name to honor the specific terroir. Plus, it seems like every village in Germany has a ‘Schlossberg’ vineyard… Lohpfad is an east-facing clay marl vineyard and the wine is generous, open, delicious, while also being finely-knit and precise. A very nice wine that I would have been happy to drink, until I moved to the Auf dem Haun and found my style. This is a west-facing limestone vineyard, on the highest part of the slope, that gives much more focused structure, but still plenty of creamy generous fruit. Gorgeous.
It’s also worth noting that 2024 in the Rheinhessen was much warmer than the bracing wines coming out of the Mosel in 2024. On the other hand, 2023 in the Rheinhessen was much more balanced than in other regions.
Now we move to the main event (for me), as I was ready to taste her Spätburgunders. A very unique style in Germany, in part because of using 100% whole clusters, but also the quality and tone of the fruit. This reflects her farming, but also the clones. She avoids both French clones (would ripen too early) and the various coarse German clones that dominated in previous decades. One of the benefits of an older family estate is access to the old Ritter clones (remember Ingelheim Spätburgunder was famous – and expensive – in the early 20th century) and she has moved to selection massale in all parcels. The results are marvelous.
We begin with the 2023 Ingelheim Spätburgunder, which is only 30% whole cluster and very juicy, fine, crisp and fresh. In the same mold as a 2022 I had tasted in Nyc, but in a better drinking zone right now. Open and enjoy.
Moving to the single-vineyard wines, which are all 100% whole cluster and 18 months in barrel, treated the same way, allowing the differences to create a vivid display of terroir in the glass. 2023 Heerweg Spätburgunder, is a west-facing limestone vineyard at the bottom of the slope. Warmer and the friendly modern juicy fruit is there, but with such a gorgeous fine ‘old fashioned’ character to the nose and the structure from the whole cluster approach. A very friendly and accessible wine for drinking now.
2023 Auf dem Haun Spätburgunder is directly above Heerweg on the hill, darker and less scrutable, driven by structure like the Chardonnay from the same vineyard. But, lovely lovely fruit, juicy small succulent berries and the whole cluster freshness.
2023 Horn Spätburgunder comes from the upper portion of the vineyard and is the most restrained, poised and elegant of the single-vineyard wines. But not tight or difficult. I love the clarity of the style, even with all the tightly-packed material, and the nose is heavenly. I look forward to seeing how it evolves over time. This is a GG vineyard, but as AdamsWein is not a VDP member, there is no GG on her label.
2023 Pares Spätburgunder is the big boy, the complete package. There is a wildness and a depth to the fruit, layered, but still with the lovely clarity and freshness that runs through all of these wines. This too is a GG vineyard, which she cannot label as such. It is the most famous Spätburgunder site in the village, but she found a plot that had been fallow for decades. She replanted and it is impressive, but presumably will only get more impressive as the vines age.
Overall, Simone was a generous thoughtful winemaker who is producing delicious wines with her unique point of view. And as a long-time fan of the grape, I really like the diversity of Spätburgunder profiles that are getting more prominent across Germany. Sadly, very little of AdamsWein arrives in the US, but there’s always room for that to change!
