2018 Biebelhausen FEILS Riesling Grosses Gewächs Q.b.A. trocken Faß 13

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: Tasted from the vat in June 2019, the 2018 Feils Fass 13 (Biebelhausen Feils GG) is pretty flinty and ripe on the precise, coolish, crunchy and herbal-scented nose with cassis notes. Lush yet pure and fresh on the palate, this full-bodied and elegant wine reveals enormous salinity and vitality and a spectacular long finish with great tension. In this baking oven of the Saar, the grapes were picked pretty early (end of September) yet with around 97° Oechsle already. This gives a ripe and full-bodied yet terribly fresh and vibrant Riesling with lots of tension and finesse. Very promising. To be released in September this year. - Stephan Reinhardt, Aug. 2019

Mosel Fine Wines: The 2018er Feils Fass 13 GG, as it is referred to on the consumer label, offers a beautiful and complex nose of pineapple, citrus, grapefruit, tar, green herbs and smoke. The wine is packed with spicy, zesty and sharp elements on the quite tight and intense palate. It leaves a superb sensation

Vinous: From the first whiff, it’s clear that this will be a unique expression of its site. The vines in this steep, cobbled, fast-warming riverside site clearly shut down at the height of summer. “When their canopies began to wilt, I knew that was the case,” noted Lauer, “but maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing, as I find the resulting wine a bit more austere [karger] but also a bit more precise than usual. I only took grapes for this Grosses Gewächs from vines where at least some foliage remained,” he added with a grin. Dill and cilantro on the nose correspond to an impression of herbal infusion on the firm, full-bodied (at 13% alcohol) palate. More site-typical smokiness and an aura of crushed stone add intrigue. There is an invigoratingly tart if slightly detached apple skin edge to the gripping finish, making for a livelier impression than the wine’s analytically low acidity would suggest. How it will age is really anyone’s guess; I’ve speculated very conservatively. (For details concerning the many names under which wines from this vineyard have been bottled, consult my review of the corresponding 2016. And for more on the site itself, consult prior reviews of “Feils” or “Saarfeilser” wines from Lauer, Nik Weis or the Lochs of Weingut Herrenberg, who have to label their rendition as “Wiltinger Alte Reben.”) - David Schildknecht, Juli 2020