German Wine Tasting
Featuring Vom Boden
Friday, October 31st
4pm-6pm
Vom Boden is a small company, focusing on small growers, and it will stay that way. The heart of the portfolio is clearly in Germany, though we are proud to represent small estates in Austria, France and the U.S.
German Wine Tasting
Featuring Vom Boden
Special Guest, Perry Riddle of International Wines
Domaine South
Friday, November 7th, 2025
4pm - 6pm
$20
256-759-9952 to Reserve
NV Hild Elbling Sekt Nv, Mosel, Germany $25.99
The Upper Mosel has nothing to do with Riesling and nothing to do with slate. Instead, we find limestone. The Upper Mosel in fact represents the beginning (or the end?) of the Paris Basin, the geological reality that informs places like Chablis and Sancerre. Instead of Riesling, in the Upper Mosel we find a winemaking culture based on one of Europe’s oldest grapes: Elbling. It’s important to understand that Elbling here feels like something of a religion. It’s a culture, a regional dialect that is spoken through this wine of rigorous purity, of joyous simplicity, of toothsome acidity. The joy of Elbling is the uncompromising vigor and energy, the raucous and super-chalky acidity. Matthias Hild, who farms about six hectares in the sleepy town of Wincheringen, told me that back in the 1980s, when he’d have an Elbling clock in at less than 8.5 grams acid, he’d taste it and question if it was Elbling at all. Which is sort of like saying you’re not sure the music is loud enough because your ears aren’t bleeding.
Vines for the Sekt are from within 4km of Wincheringen. After harvest the Sekt goes through a 21-day cold fermentation in stainless steel. After malolactic fermentation the wine is stored on it’s lees for 9-18 months until disgorgment. Dosage is 10-12g/L.
2023 Brand Riesling Trocken, Pfalz, Germany $24.99
Founded in 1891, the Brand winery has been producing wine in the Pfalz for five generations. Their vineyards are located on limestone-rich soils around the village of Bockenheim, in the northern part of the region, along the border of the Rheinhessen. Daniel and Jonas' father, Jürgen, always farmed their vines responsibly, but when his children took over, they immediately transitioned to organic viticulture, gaining certification in 2017. The Brothers Brand also utilize biodynamic treatments, always experimenting to discover which practices work best in their vines. All of their wines are made with little, if any, added sulfites. They grow Riesling, Weissburgunder, Müller-Thurgau, Silvaner and Chardonnay for white wines, and Pinot Noir, Dornfelder, Portugieser, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Mitos for the reds. From these grapes, Daniel and Jonas also make a range of Pet-Nat and zero-sulfur-added wines.
The Brand brothers' Riesling Trocken is from the estate's young vines grown on soils of limestone, loess and loam around the village of Bockenheimer. An unbelievable value that delivers pure, electric dry Riesling with a richness and zing that is captivating. It's a great that this is a liter bottle! Unfined and unfiltered with low amounts of sulfur. Perfect with a roast pork sandwich served alongside fried potatoes.
2022 Brand Electric Chardonnay Acid Test, Pfalz, Germany $23.99
The forgotten border region of the northern Pfalz is riddled with limestone soils making it perfect for, among other things, certain varieties that do well in Burgundy, like, well, Chardonnay.
Yet here the temperatures are a bit cooler, the nights a bit brisker, and so the Chardonnay that the young brothers Brand farm comes to us with a tad more acidity, a few thousand more volts of electricity than most of the more luxurious examples from Burgundy and the New World. This is no-nonsense, organically farmed, young-vine Chardonnay that is ripe, yet sizzles with energy and acidity. And just to make sure that the wine glows in the dark, the brothers add a small bit of Riesling to the cuvée (usually 10%) which turbo-charges everything, heightening and sharpening the aromatics, making the wine perfumed and even more explosive.
Enjoy with lightning bolts and crudo.
2024 Hild Rosemarie Rose, Upper Mosel, Germany $24.99
In the cold Obermosel Pinot Noir is still not the easiest grape to ripen and this is only the second rosé the Hilds have been able to make in years. This is salty and brisk and fresh. And the label; when I saw the photograph of proprietor Matz’s older sister Rosemarie as a 5-year-old on the label it just broke my heart. In a world of painfully hip wine labels, I am so down for a return to some basic human sentimentality.
2023 Shelter Winery Lovely Lilly Pinot Noir, Baden, Germany $24.99
Gorgeous, soft, lightweight Pinot Noir from Baden, the region lying right over the French border with Alsace. Winemakers Hans-Bert Espe and Silke Wolf of Shelter Winery have an entire range of polished and gentle wines in this area, where it's otherwise common to make wines large and alcoholic. This Pinot Noir is an antidote to cumbersome California versions of this delicate grape!
2023 Muller-Ruprecht Pet-Nat Rouge, Pfalz, Germany $23.99
A lively, irreverent pet-nat from an old organic estate run by ‘new blood’ who learned winemaking at Keller! Bone-dry and very low in alcohol, it offers plenty of juicy red fruit, lively acidity, and just a hint of natural wine funk. A perfect pairing for smashburgers or a weeknight pizza—delicious! Food Pairing Burgers, pizza, cheese & charcuterie