Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Region

Wines

Schloss Lieser Estate

Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Germany

The village of Lieser is located amidst the beautiful scenery of the Mosel valley next to the famous old town of Bernkastel-Kues.

The village’s landmark is the mighty castle, the Schloss Lieser ,which was built from slate from 1885- to 1895. In earlier times it was inhabited by the Baron von Schorlemer.

The wine-estate of Schloss Lieser was founded in 1904 and produced some of the greatest wines of the Mosel region.In the 1970s the estate was sold and several changes of ownership lead to a qualitative decline.

Thomas Haag , the son from Wilhelm Haag, the owner of the estate Fritz Haag, became general manager and cellarmaster of the estate shortly before the harvest of 1992, facing an estate in bad repair and with no established clientele or store of bottled wine.
1997 he bought the estate with an expanse of 8,5 hectares (21 acre) which comprises sites as the

• Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr
• Brauneberger Juffer
• Lieser Niederberg Helden
• Graacher Himmelreich
• Bernkasteler Schloßberg

But only the top vineyards Lieser Niederberg Helden , Brauneberger Juffer and Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr are printed on the label, the other sites are sold under the name of Schloss Lieser.

Highest quality standards combined with very good vintages and high praise from the press during the 1990s brought the estate Schloss Lieser back to the top of the Riesling estates in Germany.

Thomas Haag only cultivates Riesling grapes. The vineyards are all face south or south- west, have a typical slate soil and a slope of up to 70%. The stony, slate soil retains the heat of the sun and the Mosel river serves as a reflector intensifying the sun light.

This combination of the mild micro climate and the cold general climate serves as the basis for the production of extremely fine, vital, and fruity Riesling wines.

Thomas Haag `s winemaking philosophy is quite closely aligned to his father `s. The vineyards are maintained to yield quality not quantity. With an average yield of 50-60 hectolitres per hectare he attends to a consistent reduction of the yield to assure the high quality standards. That charactise his wines. Great care in selection during harvest , little handling in the cellar, reductive cellar work are standard modus operandi.

Thomas wants to achieve wines with the typical Riesling character : ripe acid structure, the pure expression of fruit , racy and light but with character and personality.