I first visited Weingut A.J. Adam in the spring of 2013. Among other revelations, I was completely destroyed by a dry Riesling from a plot of ancient, ungrafted vines in Piesport's Goldtröpfchen vineyard. Returning home, I shared my excitement with a fellow Riesling enthusiast who is my senior by several decades. While the wine was supernal, I bemoaned my lack of optimism to sell Calgary on a dry Riesling from the Mosel—the German region least associated with dry wine at the time—that would cost close to $90 per bottle. I may have lacked confidence, but I’m grateful that my interlocutor had faith in my assessment of the wine.
Leave No Beautiful Riesling Behind Part 3: Wagner-Stempel
It was a sunny June afternoon in 2011, and I was pulling into Weingut Wagner-Stempel’s resplendent courtyard for the first time. My future friend, Oliver Müller, was busy pouring wine samples to a number of guests who enjoyed their sips under the merciful shade of a 300-year-old chestnut tree. I introduced myself and I’ll never forget the bewildered expression on Oliver’s face when I told him that I had come from Canada in search of Riesling.

