2021 Karthäuserhof, Riesling Dry, Schieferkristal

When Archbishop Balduin handed these vineyards to Carthusian monks in 1335, he knew what he was doing. The Ruwer valley’s iron-rich slate—“Eitelsbach” literally means “iron stream”—produces Riesling with a crystalline edge you won't find anywhere else in Germany. Napoleon kicked out the monks in 1811. Valentin Leonardy bought the estate at a Paris auction and somehow his descendants kept it intact through two world wars and countless economic disasters. 213 years in the hands of one family. In 2020, they hired Mathieu Kauffmann, an Alsatian and former chef de cave of Bollinger, to shake things up. Inexplicably, Kauffmann left Bollinger in 2013, which only adds to our respect for him. Kauffmann immediately converted 30% of the vineyards to organic farming: no pesticides or fungicides. Whole-bunch pressing in the cellar. Wild yeast fermentation. No fining. The goal: full biodynamic certification across all 69 acres. The Schieferkristall (Slate Crystal) pulls fruit from three sites—the an