WTN: 2005 Van Volxem Riesling "Volz"

[Rainer from CH]

2005 Van Volxem Riesling "Volz" (Saar, Germany)
Truly awesome combination of white flowers, lemons, tropical fruits, green tea and sea salt on the nose.
Incredible body with a classic "Trimbach"-like backbone, super-fine tannins and subtle freshness. High concentration with moderate levels of acidity and alcohol (12.5%). This must be at its absolute peak now, amazing, a dangerous drug .. - Cheers, Rainer

[David M. Bueker]

Quite dry?

[Rainer from CH]

Quite dry?

Surprisingly yes. There's also enough acidity to alow balance, structure and freshness, really a positive surprise to me.

[Tim York]

Is Volz a specific vineyard site? If so, in which locality?

[Fredrik L]

Did not Volz use to be classified separately in ancient times? IIRC, it is a part of the Wiltinger Braunfels.

Greetings from Sweden / Fredrik L

[Tim York]

Did not Volz use to be classified separately in ancient times? IIRC, it is a part of the Wiltinger Braunfels.

Greetings from Sweden / Fredrik L

Fredrik, I'm having difficulty in holding back a rant. If it's part Wiltinger Braunfels, which I can locate, why the h*ll not mention it on the label? But maybe the back label makes all clear.....?

[David M. Bueker]

Did not Volz use to be classified separately in ancient times? IIRC, it is a part of the Wiltinger Braunfels.

Greetings from Sweden / Fredrik L

Fredrik, I'm having difficulty in holding back a rant. If it's part Wiltinger Braunfels, which I can locate, why the h*ll not mention it on the label? But maybe the back label makes all clear.....?

Tim,

This is actually a practice that harkens back to the 1971 wine law. Volz was its own site, and in '71 was combined with others to be the larger Braunfels. Producers are trying to recognize those old site names as they believe that the old sites have distinctive character. Selbach's Anrecht, Schmitt and Rotlay bottlings are the same sort of thing (though generally sweet not dry...there was a Schmitt trocken a couple of years ago, but not sure if that has been continued). As for the van Volxem, I "think" that theBraunfels must be mentioned on the back label, as that is the officially recognized site. Selbach mentions the various Zeltingen vineyards on their parcel bottlings, just as Vollenweider did on his Wolfer Goldgrube bottlings when he was doing the separate parcel named wines.

[Lars Carlberg]

As David points out, a number of producers are using former site names that are no longer allowed as of the 1971 Wine Law. Peter Lauer and Loch/Weinhof Herrenberg often switch to a dialect spelling with endings such as "-bersch" rather than "-berg," or "Stier" for "Stirn."

At Van Volxem, Roman had to change the spelling from Vols to "Volz." It's an enclave in Braunfels. In fact, there's a very good Saar producer named after this pre-1971 site. It's called VOLS in Ayl. The owner is Helmut Plunien. By the way, I once worked a summer at Van Volxem in the vineyards. Vols is near Scharzhofberg. The soil at Vols is a primarily hard gray slate with iron oxide. Some mistakenly describe it and the soil of the Lower Mosel as graywacke.

[Rainer from CH]

Did not Volz use to be classified separately in ancient times? IIRC, it is a part of the Wiltinger Braunfels.

Greetings from Sweden / Fredrik L

Fredrik, I'm having difficulty in holding back a rant. If it's part Wiltinger Braunfels, which I can locate, why the h*ll not mention it on the label? But maybe the back label makes all clear.....?

Hi all, I've double-checked the back label. It only says that it's a traditionally made wine from steep slate slopes ..

[Lars Carlberg]

Did not Volz use to be classified separately in ancient times? IIRC, it is a part of the Wiltinger Braunfels.

Greetings from Sweden / Fredrik L

Fredrik, I'm having difficulty in holding back a rant. If it's part Wiltinger Braunfels, which I can locate, why the h*ll not mention it on the label? But maybe the back label makes all clear.....?

Hi all, I've double-checked the back label. It only says that it's a traditionally made wine from steep slate slopes ..

Because of the spelling change, it is technically a fantasy name.

[Tim York]

Fredrik, I'm having difficulty in holding back a rant. If it's part Wiltinger Braunfels, which I can locate, why the h*ll not mention it on the label? But maybe the back label makes all clear.....?

Hi all, I've double-checked the back label. It only says that it's a traditionally made wine from steep slate slopes ..

Because of the spelling change, it is technically a fantasy name.

This really puts us into the silly season .

I sympathise with growers' wish to resurrect formerly famous plot names, the suppression of which was one of the bad features of the 1971 law. However being obliged to change the spelling and dispensing with Wiltinger Braunfels ....... (Daniel Vollenweider, if I remember correctly my bottles of 01 or 02, put "Portz" as a neck label but retained Wolfer Goldgruber on the main label.)

One has to be one of the chosen few in the know to be aware of the excellence and origin of Volz or Vols. Thanks to Rainer's excellent TN and the other contributors here, I am now one of those happy few .

[David M. Bueker]

Tim,

There's not enough Volz for more than a chosen few.

[Fredrik L]

I just had a bottle of Vollenweiders great 2003 LGKA and checking my records I see that a whopping 50 litres were produced; talk about the chosen few...

Greetings from Sweden / Fredrik L