A.J. Adam

People |

Andreas Adam & Barbara Adam, his sister

Focus |

Pure, cutting, mineral Rieslings from newly-revived Grand Cru sites. The dry wines are a real winner here, but the sweet ones offer so much pleasure.

Country |

Germany

Region |

Mosel 

Village |

Dhron

Climate |

Cool Continental

• Defined as very cold winters, hot, short, fairly rainy summers, with long, cool, dry autumns.
• Autumns in Germany are key and in many ways can make or break a vintage. The warm days and cool nights can extend a growing season up to 8 or even 10 weeks. The hope is precipitation waits until the very end, ensuring healthy, clean fruit.
• Until climate change this was the very northern edge of where grapes could ripen fully, but only about 7 out of 10 years.
• Now: winters are usually not as cold, summers are much hotter, drought is a serious problem 4 or the last 5 years, and autumns start later and are often much wetter than they used to be.
• The unpredictability is what makes Mosel wines especially vintage sensitive and creates havoc (and high costs!) for winemakers.
• Cool climate wines are high in acid, low in alcohol, light in body, and often show a lot of mineral flavors rather than fruit.
• Usually white wines are made, but some light reds, like Pinot Noir can also ripen enough.
• Warmer vintages: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2015 produce wines with lower acidity, higher alcohols, and richer fruit flavors.
• Cooler vintages: 2021, 2013, 2010, 2008 produce what are now considered “classic” cool-climate wines
• 2022 is an enigma. It was hot and very dry for most of the growing season, but rain and long cold fall ended up giving us wines that taste more like “classic” cool-climate wines than rich, ripe wines.

 

Vineyards |

6 hectares total, started with 3 parcels from his grandparents

• Dhroner Hofberg: A Grand Cru, abandoned after the 60’s as too steep and expensive to work. Rocky, gray slate with veins of iron oxide. Dhron is a tributary that empties into the Mosel on its right bank before the curve into Piesport. The vineyards are planted on a southwest facing slope for 5 kilometers upstream into the Hunsrück forest and gets colder on the way in. Wines are picked weeks later than the Mosel sites and have a much lower sugar ripeness. Perfect for the changing climate and those who appreciate thrilling, tense wines.

• Dhroner Häs’chen: First purchase during expansion. A terraced, east facing, 3,000 sq meter monopole with ungrafted vines planted in 1930s. Soils are weathered Devonian slate with quartzite and combined with the cooler site make for super filigreed, aromatic wines.

• Piesporter Goldtröpfchen: One of the most famous sites in the Mosel along with Bernkastler Doktor and Wehlener Sonnenhur. This perfect, mainly southern exposition amphitheater sucks in the day's heat, for intensely concentrated wines. The majority hillside was replanted in the 90’s but a few choice parcels were kept and Adam has a 700 sqm plot, planted in 1908, ungrafted, of course. Weathered Blue slate, clay, sandstone, these are dark fruited wines that still matter to show a regal, liquid gold like of opulence, balanced with a purity hard to achieve anywhere but the very best vineyards. Even in these warmer vintages Goldtröpfchen is proof that terroir trumps all.

• Wintscher Ohligsberg: newly purchased site 8 kilometers from the winery. The first wine released in from the 2023 vintage
• Im Pfarrgarten: a tiny little church garden-vineyard next to the winery. Low lying with a gentle slope for juicy, easy going wines. Perfect for summers at the beach.

Grape Varieties |

• Riesling: 
• The King of White Grapes. 
• High acid, semi aromatic
• A huge variation in style potential from very light and dry, sparkling to the most unctuously sweet wines on the planet. 
• Divisive for its high acidity and sugar retaining capabilities
• Perfect in its dynamic nature, ability to transmit the slightest nuance of terroir and being capable of aging for hundreds of years. 

• Pinot Noir: ​​
• German Pinot Noir wines are vinified as dry red wines with complex cherry aroma with subtle hints of smoke and almond, slight tannins, and high acidity, with a long finish.
• Had a poor reputation thanks to high yielding, work-horse, clonal material.
• Now Burgundy clones dominate vineyards for the best producers showcasing this incredible variety's true potential.

Farming |

Sustainable

• Natural compost for fertilizer
• No herbicides
• Fungicides when necessary
• Careful cultivation of the soil

Cellar Work |

Low intervention

• Only ambient yeast
• No enzymes
• No süssreserve
• Fermentation in old Fuder (1,000L) and Halbfuder (500L) barrels or stainless steel
• Extended lees contact after fermentation

About the winery |

The Adam’s, like most families in the Dhron valley, were polycultural farmers for generations. Andrea’s grandparents farmed 1 hectare of vines across three parcels on the Grand Cru of Hofburg. As late as the 60’s, the wines from this special vineyard could be found on the great wine lists of the world. But as fortunes turned and wine prices bottomed out, his father, like many of his generation, was not interested in the back breaking labor and meager returns from farming these ancient, steep sloped sites. 

A generation later Andreas' heart pulled him back to the land. He studied at Geisenheim (The UC Davis of Germany) and interned with Heymann-Löwenstein, St. Urbans-Hof, and Van Volxem. In 2000, at the ripe age of 21, he decided it was time to revive the old family business. 

Hofburg (and all the non-famous Grand Crus at the time) was in such disrepair, lacking a champion, that vineyards were practically being given away. Farmers would sell the vertiginous parcels for 5€ a square meter. He started purchasing choice sites, forming a signature style, perfecting his craft, and garnering some attention for his efforts.

In 2013, after his sister Barbara graduated from Geisenheim and a stint at Keller, he asked her to join him. Together they work the vineyards, now with 43 parcels across 4 incredible, mostly old vine sites, and share all of the cellar work.

Their hard work has paid off, Hofburg is now a name being uttered by Riesling geeks around the world, a feat which they have almost single handedly been responsible for. These are some of the best, lighter bodied, brighter wines in the Mosel, and they get better every year.

What do the wines taste like?

Clean, clear, crisp, balanced, sharp, cutting acidity, with just ripe fruit. Warmer sites will give slightly more opulent character and richer fruit character, but their steely texture is a theme that carries through.

One of the best things about these wines is that each has a slightly different purpose: Juicy, summer-centric Im Pfarrgarten, to the insanely mineral Has’Chen, Kabinett for pure pleasure, GG’s for long term aging, Goldtropfchen for luxury and Hofburg for contemplation. Don’t forget the Pinot Noir, both the rosé, always a favorite for barely there berries and stoney texture and the Pinot Noir (cuttings from a certain Burgundian whose name might start with Rou and end with ier) is one of the BEST in Germany. I would pay anything for it. The point is, there is something for everyone in the AJ Adam line up.