Weingut Tesch, What? What?

The team were just asking how we would recognise Martin Tesch in the vast Frankfurt Flughafen Regionalbahnhof, when a 6ft-plus Martin bounds down the platform dressed all in his trademark Black, topped with a ‘Tesch, What?’ t-shirt.

“Right we go and have a crash course in Riesling!” was the instruction, and what course it was. Perhaps we were undersold, because what we received was an insight into the mind and the robust and persuasive winemaking philosophy of Dr Martin Tesch; biochemist, environmentalist, radical viticulturalist, unconventional custodian of a 300 year old winery, and die-hard metal head!

A trip, first, to Martin’s Nahe vineyards starts with a look down the rolling slope of the Krone vineyard. Conventional enough at first-look, but unlike all the neighbour’s vines, Martin’s new rows face south to limit the growing exposure of the grapes to an increasingly hot summer’s sun. The vines are left to grow high above the trellis to allow one row to throw shade over the next on hot days, proving the kind of respite to the vines that we would have welcomed on the sweltering hillside. We also learn of the Tesch obsession with maintenance of water in the parched vineyards, and the ongoing quest for the highest environmental standards, yet without the kind of vine preparations oft used by classically organic farmers. Clever thinking you might imagine, and you would be right. Here is a man who follows the science, despite that many of his fellow winemakers think that Martin is a little crazy. A tasting of the first wines in the vineyard is a joy, with the rounded fruit of the Krone Riesling freshened dramatically by its searingly dry and taut acidity. The Queen of Whites Riesling is a very slightly off-dry style, giving it a slight lift, and this is also absolutely delicious!

Back now to a neat winery and tasting loft, hidden behind a plain steel door in the village high street. The ultra-compact winery sits 12 feet below ground, where steel tanks give a relative sense of convention. Up in Martin’s incredible tasting loft cum-office, all thoughts of convention are left behind as we are met by images of the rock music gods who fire his Tesch’s other passions: Metallica, Kiss, Rammstein, AC/DC. Tesch’s links with some of the best-known German and Global metal bands have been interwoven into the very story of this historied winery, just as they are interwoven into this raconteur’s many stories, collected like the signed guitars and memorabilia which lines the walls of his office.

No other winemaker we have visited has a signed Gibson Guitar on his wall, and this is perhaps indicative of the huge shift Tesch – both the man and the winery which bears his family name - has made from traditional artisan producer to vanguard of a new approach to Riesling.

We taste all the current vintages before moving on to a host of outstanding older bottles from the cellar, accompanied by local cold meats, cheeses and real sauerkraut (delicious by the way), noting as we do how brilliantly well the wines balance with rather than mask or ‘cut through’ some of the complex flavours here. This moment was the first of many on this trip that prompted the exclamation from one of the team; “I bl**dy love Riesling!”

More on the Tesch philosophy then. Martin pulling Tesch out of the VDP, a nationally run winemakers association run by the members in each region. Being known for their love of conformity and consistency made some of Martin’s choices highly controversial to the this historied body; screwcaps for all his wines, wine labels designed to reflect Harry Beck’s styling of the London Underground map, and the decision to release ‘Riesling Unplugged’ - a style of wine designed to oppose tradition. This decision has clearly worked for Martin, and its apparent that he would do it all again – although perhaps with some lessons learned and some wounds still stinging from his interactions with the VDP. As a man who eschews conformity and labels, it is not surprising that Tesch refuses to produce wines certified organic or biodynamic. His are very sustainable wines. The vines are impeccably healthy, and sulphur use is undetectable, but it is the agreed organic preparations (copper) that Martin is not prepared to consider for his vines and wines.

Tesch vineyards are located at the heart of the Nahe, but Martin brushes this aside saying the valley is all about the Rhine, and Nahe is really far too small to influence his wines. It is clear those who ‘tell’ tend to get a fairly short sharp answer in this winery, and Martin recants with glee situations where unguarded industry professionals and journalists have overstepped their mark, and have been ejected from the third-floor tasting-room (we think / hope by the door!). This includes all national German wine publications, which Martin considers not to have scored the Tesch wines consistently enough to make sending samples worthwhile. Tesch have had a long relationship with the UK wine trade, pre-dating the World Wars, and are also hugely successful in Scandinavia. Martin does rate certain international reviewers highly, and this is reciprocated, with Tesch wines scoring from organisations such as JancisRobinson.com and Wine Advocate.

Martin Tesch is socially-conscious winemaker - something he is very animated about – and has worked with a charity for the past two years offering the opportunity for young people with disabilities to work in the winery to learn valuable skills. Despite the very-difficult working conditions in a winery at harvest, the mental health benefits to those who are part of the charity, the winery staff, and even the nurses, has been so great the project will likely be continued. Tesch also supports an eastern European village where many of the grape-pick team live; cut off from modern technology and transport infrastructure, the entire village are reliant on their work with Tesch for survival.

To sum up Tesch wines is easy; they are exceptionally complex, dry, age-worthy, consistent, and progressive Rieslings that deserve to be far more widely enjoyed in the UK. To sum up their creator is much harder; but highly driven, utterly passionate, hugely charismatic and a little bit crazy would be a very good start.