The Emrich family began growing Riesling vines on the treacherously steep slopes along the Nahe river in the mid 1700's. It wasn't until the 1960's that the family could focus entirely on viticulture and winemaking, a risky proposition until that time to have your livelihood be at the will of nature so directly. From 1965 to 1985 the estate steadily grew from 2 hectares to 10. 

Today, there's a focus on a range of styles, but it's their dry wines that have pulled me in over the years the very most. Their Grosses Gewachs (GG) wines come from undisputed "Grand Cru" sites Halenberg and Frühlingsplätzchen, famed for their inclines of 70%. Frühlingsplätzchen is comprised of red slate, gravel, and a particular red loam, giving a wine with deep texture, spice, and salty crushed rock finish. Halenberg sits on blue slate soils with quartz throughout and delivers the most precise and deeply mineral of the GG's.

I can beat the drum for dry riesling as much as possible, but sadly it's a category that falls way behind in the broad consciousness of US drinkers, with Chablis and Sancerre garnering much more attention. If there's one estate to introduce yourself to the very most regal and profound dry rieslings in the world this would be it. 

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