An Old and a New Fuder

A few years ago, I took this photo of an old, worn-out Fuder in Weingut Stein’s cellar in Bullay. It’s difficult to find well-kept Fuder. Ulli Stein tries to replace his traditional 1,000-liter Mosel casks from fellow growers, who are willing to sell off their Fuder at a fair price. Yet, great care must be taken to make sure that the Fuder casks are in good condition, so as to avoid off smells, such as old rotten wood or a taint from the use of sorbic acid, once popular in killing off yeasts for making sweet wines, especially noticeable in tasting older vintages of Mosel wine from the 1970s and 1980s.

Click here to see a new Fuder at Maximin Grünhaus. The oak comes from trees grown in slate, adjacent to Abtsberg and atop Grüneberg; the cask is from Rudolf Biewer, one of the last remaining local barrel-makers. Biewer is based in Kasel. For the first few vintages, the Grünhäuser Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc) goes in the newish Fuder in order to leech out some of the oak flavors, before Carl von Schubert and Stefan Kraml decide to ferment and age Riesling in it. (See my in-depth article on Fuder for more details.) ♦

Portions of this post appeared in similar form on the blog of the former Mosel Wine Merchant, February 7, 2011. Thanks to propeller for access to my blog.