Unbottled – Hainbusch Riesling Thal

This article includes a lot of ‘firsts’: The first Riesling in this series. It is also the first time I tried a wine from the Mittelrhine region and the first vintage of the Hainbusch vineyard.

Here is a quick rundown of how the Hainbusch vinery was started: Luisa Hodbod and Elias Hippert met in 2021 at Geisenheim and instantly became friends. They decided to make wine together and 2023 marked their first vintage. Now, they cultivate 2 ha in the rather overlooked Mittelrhine region.

Riesling from the valley

The Riesling for the Thal 2023 vintage come from the Bluechertal vineyard. They grow onextremely barren slate soils. The harvest is done manually. Then, the grapes are pressed and ferment spontaneously in used barrels and age for at least 12 months on the lees. Afterall, Luisa and Elias bottle the wine unfiltered, unfined and with only a small amount of 10 mg / l of sulphur. Furthermore, they reuse wine bottles and the labels are made out of apple pomace.

Even more apples

When you first open the bottle of Hainbusch Riesling and it’s been chilled, you will get classic Riesling fruit. Yet, with a bit of temperature apple, cider and fruit skin notes become noticeable. Furthermore, you find minerals reminding me of stone dust. The wine’s got a nice acidic backbone, and the ripe apple flavour makes for a great drinking flow. For their first vintage, this truly is exceptional, and I am very curious to see what the future brings!

Avocado

When presenting the Griesel Grand Cuvée the last time, I forgot to write about the food-pairing. It was tapas and Gougeres. This time, however, I opted for a simple yet delicious combination of avocado and fried egg on high-quality toasted bread. I finished off the dish with a butter-bread-spice mix, as well as some black cumin.