Review: Julian Haart, 1,000L Riesling

When I first launched this site, one of my goals was to track down and highlight the hidden gems of the wine world. By definition, these wines can be difficult to find so I’ve tried to strike a balance between reviewing more widely-available wines and hidden gems. This one may be more difficult to find than some others I review, but if you find it you’ll want to snag it!

Julian Haart is a fairly small producer in Germany, but has garnered a following of dedicated fans due to the quality of his wines. By small, I mean his vineyards are about 4 hectares total. He keeps it this size because he wants to be involved in all aspects of the winemaking and this scale allows him to do that.

The 1,000L Riesling is the most inexpensive (i.e., entry level) wine in his portfolio. In Mosel, there is a traditional wine barrel called a “fuder” that holds 1,000 liters of wine and that’s the inspiration for the name of this wine. Julian Haart’s 1,000L wine is comprised of the fuder(s) Julian didn’t think were good enough to meet the standards of his higher classification wines.

If this is the wine that’s “not good enough,” the others must be mind blowing because this one is pretty darn good!

This riesling is complex and delightful on the nose, offering lemon, honeysuckle, pineapple, straw and melon aromas. And wow, what a pucker on the palate with tart granny smith apple and lemon flavors. It’s super bright, in a good way. There’s an ever so slight effervescence to the mouthfeel. It finishes with lingering salty green apple flavors.

Wine: Julian Haart, 1,000L Riesling
Varieties: Riesling
Vintage: 2017
Alcohol: 10.5%
Rating: 88
Average price: $19.00
Disclosure: This wine was received as a media sample.