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Wine Tasting Adventure

2024 Axel Pauly, `Tres Naris` Mosel Riesling Trocken - Liberty

£14.49 GBP
£14.49 GBP

Axel Pauly is a dynamic young star of German wine. After many years honing his craft across Germany, as well as in California and New Zealand, he took over the Pauly family estate, in the Mosel, from his father. Most of this 10-hectare estate is situated in the village of Lieser, at the heart of the Mosel Valley, with the exception of a small parcel in neighbouring Bernkastel. Fittingly, the label features the Mosel hills which, when turned on their side, reveals the ‘Tres Naris’ (or ‘three noses’) of Axel, his father and his grandfather.

Lieser's grey and blue slate soils are cooler than the red slate in Bernkastel, resulting in more mineral wines than those from its more famous neighbour. The Pauly vines cling to steeply sloping, vertigo-inducing vineyards. Axel uses crop thinning, leaf plucking and grape selection at harvest to ensure a flavour ripeness in the fruit he preserves to the final wine.

From the quaffable and dry ‘Tres Naris’ and the pristine and steely ‘Purist’, to the traditional medium-dry ‘Generations’, the stunning quality and great purity of the Pauly range are enhanced by Axel’s approach in the winery. Indigenous yeasts are used until they begin to struggle towards the end of fermentation. At this stage, Axel introduces cultured yeasts to preserve the expression of the vineyard’s character in the wines. The fruit for his two single-vineyard Mosel Rieslings is sourced from the steep slope of Niederberg-Helden top site. While the more delicate `Lieserer Niederberg-Helden` off-dry Kabinett is charming and lively, the dry ‘Helden’, whose name means ‘Heroes’, is sophisticated and elegant with wonderful concentration.

Tres Naris Riesling (‘Tres Naris’ means ‘Three Noses’; turn the label on its side and the hills of the Mosel become the noses of Axel, his father and his grandfather) was harvested from the family’s steeply sloping vineyard in Lieser. Here, the soil is predominantly blue slate, which is cooler than the red slate of neighbouring Bernkastel and seems to give more mineral driven wines than the latter. Stringent crop-thinning and leaf-plucking ensured excellent flavour concentration in the ripe grapes. The vines are aged between 22-42 years old.

The 2024 vintage faced extraordinary challenges, producing the smallest harvest in five decades due to devastating April frosts that swept along the Mosel and its side valleys, causing yield losses of up to 50% in many vineyards. Persistent rainfall throughout the growing season brought severe fungal disease pressure and vigorous, difficult-to-manage vine growth, while late-season hail further reduced quantities. The prolonged harvest stretched nearly two months into late October, with early-ripening Burgundy varieties suffering significant losses from the wet conditions. However, the late-ripening Riesling thrived in September and October's mild days and cool nights, and despite the dramatically reduced volumes, the vintage ultimately delivered exceptional quality—golden, healthy grapes with wonderful fruit flavours that rewarded those who persevered through the season's trials.

The hand-harvested grapes underwent skin contact for 12 hours prior to fermentation in stainless steel tanks in order to extract precious Riesling flavours. After a slow, cool, temperature controlled fermentation with natural yeast, the wine was kept on fine lees for three months, which resulted in more mellow, smooth flavours.

Pale yellow in colour with green reflections, this an expressive Riesling that opens with aromas of blossoms, lemon, and peach. The palate is full of fresh, invigorating acidity and a mineral character that lingers on the long finish.