Daniel Fries, Terrassen Pinot Noir 2023, Mosel

Daniel Fries is a rising winemaker based in Germany’s Terrassenmosel. His family has been growing grapes and producing wine in the village of Winningen in the northern Mosel for generations. He studied at Geisenheim (with some other young winemakers who are starting to make waves) and then went to work for a while with Montille in Meursault and Lingua Franca in Oregon. He returned to work at the family estate and released his first wines under his own label in vintage 2019.

Admittedly, there are many places where it is easier to grow wine than in the Terrassenmosel. Hardly any technical aids, more stone than soil and low yields that we extract from the mountain year after year by hand - it is one of the most extreme wine regions in the world. Employing spontaneous fermentations, long lees contact, and minimal intervention, Fries crafts wines that are both classically rooted and vibrantly modern, offering a pure and authentic expression of one of Germany’s most challenging and rewarding winegrowing landscapes.

The Terrassen Pinot Noir comes from the oldest Pinot Noir terraces. Cultivated and vinified entirely by hand according to the philosophy of Daniel Fries. Hand-harvested, gravity-filled fermentation tanks. Spontaneous fermentation with the vineyard's own yeasts in an open vat. Daily overflow or punching down by hand and 16 months of aging in new and used barriques. Unfiltered. Spicy slate notes, a silky tannin structure, and a long finish