This is living history in a bottle. Elbling, a historically little known grape internationally, fell almost entirely out of existence and most likely would have had it not been for the likes of the Hild family and the few other long-time growers of the Ubermosel (Upper Mosel - a kimmeridgian-limestone riddled region some ~12 miles south of some of the worlds most expensive white wines (Egon Müller, anyone?)). This bottling is so unbelievably rare it is hard to put into words - from a .15 Hectare, old-vine, terraced-vineyard site, Matthias (Matz) and Jonas Hild grow their balanced-on-a-knife's-edge-of-the-world 10 comma zero, or Zehnkommanull (referring to the wine's ABV: never above 10% and still bone-dry) into perfection.
Tasting Notes: from Vom Boden's wonderful website and their amazing profile on the Hilds/Ubermosel:
"This is an ultralight white, a quivering, angelic, porcelain wine with glossy, razorsharp edges and a laserbeam lemonskin citrus. The structure, the saturating acidity, the tapering finesse and needlepoint fineness of the wine showcase its relation to that “other” grape of the Mosel."
Vinification: 100% Elbling hand-harvested from 70+ year-old vines grown in kimmeridgian limestone soils, the vines treated according to Lutte Raisonnée. Once harvested, the grapes go through a 21-day cold-ferment in stainless steel tank in addition to full malolactic fermentation. Unfined, unfiltered, minimal to no additional SO2 at bottling. >10,0% ABV
