Philip Lardot - Der Bauer 2018

Philip Lardot is a Finland born, Holland raised winemaker working the steep slopes of the Mosel valley in Germany. Most of all, a sense of Place-founder Markus has been hanging out with Philip since 13 years old. Ever since harvesting together at Clemens Busch in 2013, Markus has seen Philip and his Dutch girlfriend Zindzi grow into their roles of becoming true Mosel winzers (vineyard dog and all). After staging in the Loire and at multiple wineries in the Mosel he started creating his own wines since the 2016 vintage, later using the cellar at the renowned rebel Ulli Stein, for whom he is also the assistant winemaker. 

Philip employs his own style in making wine, creating Rieslings (and others) that are both completely unique + different and classic at the same time. Making non-intervention wines means that the wines will ferment dry and will undergo malolactic fermentations, reds of course, but also the whites. All indigenous yeasts in used barrels, with a little experimentation with concrete eggs and acacia barrels in the mix.

This all creates rich, voluptuous, serious mineral wines that show the full (and unique) potential of its place. Where the Mosel standard often means high acid, low alcohol, cleanly filtered wines, Philip's wines basically are the opposite. But at the same time, they might be the most Mosel possible, seeing that this is how the wines were made before modern techniques entered the game. 

'Der Bauer' is the flagship of Philip Lardot's wines, coming from the St. Aldegunder Himmelreich, a special vineyard in any way. This 2019 is only the second vintage for this wine for Philip. This vineyard is part of the Palmberg in Aldegund, a mountain that almost exclusively belongs to Ulli Stein. In a few years time Philip will take over this force of beauty, as Stein will be retiring. This vineyard consists of 50-75 year old, ungrafted vines on grey slate. It's steep as hell and working there is no joke. But at the same time, this vineyard demands attention and awe, creating wines of elegance and power. This Riesling is a-typical, impressive and can age for decades. Philip is onto something here, and we can't wait to see where this leads.

The 2018 was a very warm vintage, still Philips Rieslings are always completely dry, which results in 13,5% alcohol this year. This is a big wine, with a large aging potential. Beautiful.