Heymann-löwenstein Schieferterrassen, Mosel, Germany

Cornelia and Reinhard Löwenstein were ahead of their time when they founded their estate in 1980. Eschewing the so-called classics of the relatively recent Prädikat system, they picked ripe grapes from their towering vineyards of the Terrassenmosel, and ferment to dryness or as far as the wine would go. Numbers and lab analytics are anathema; this estate is all about slate and the senses.
Viticulture is organic and painstaking on the back-breaking slopes, and long, slow, natural ferments in steel and Fuder are the go. Ripe, integrated phenolics and a colourful fan of flavours are the result, always animated by acidity and slaty minerals. With daughter Sarah and long-standing winemaker Kaddi Höhler leading the way, the estate is in great shape. The wines have edged towards a level of precision over the past decade that has taken nothing away from the visceral pleasure of drinking them.