Weingut Clemens Busch

When Clemens Busch had to apprentice with his father in the 1970s instead of moving out into the world, he disliked the application of herbicides and the resulting death of insects. When he took over the business a few years later—two years before the Chernobyl disaster and in the midst of protests against nuclear power plants and environmental contamination—he focused immediately on organic viticulture, which at that time was at best in its infancy in Germany and had hardly been researched and, therefore, was not taught at university. With friends, Clemens tried to adapt Steiner’s agricultural discourse to viticulture, but with all the trials and errors, it was to take another 30 years before Clemens and Rita committed themselves to biodynamic viticulture. In all the years before, though, the two were pioneers of organic viticulture in promoting ecological, sustainable and socially acceptable agriculture, which in the Moselle region means mainly viticulture. Clemens even became the second mayor of Pünderich and, heading for sustainable and socially acceptable agriculture, took the biggest skeptics on board. The grapes from the Marienburg come to the winery by ferry, since a tractor ride along the Moselle would take much too long. The processing of the manually harvested grapes, as well as the aging of the wines fermented with natural yeasts, is traditionally done in barrels. The sulfur content in the dry Rieslings is moderate or even very low, while that in the sweet Prädikat wines is correspondingly higher. In the vineyards, goats help to keep the terraces free of bushes and unwanted vegetation. Water is scarce in these extremely stony slate slopes, which are extremely time-consuming and costly to cultivate organically or biodynamically. This effort can only be adequately rewarded with world-class wine qualities and unmistakable stylistics that are shaped by their origin. Without the appropriate prices, terraced viticulture in the Mosel cannot be sustained. Clemens Busch, one of the few organic winemakers in the Mosel, paved the way, and son Johannes continues to do so. This is all supported by a fairly paid team of employees and interns who become part of the family, some living with them in the estate house. While nature is reclaiming more and more vineyards, especially Mosel downstream, which are thus lost to viticulture forever and are transforming the cultural landscape attractive to tourists into a wild natural landscape, Pünderich is now a thriving village with one of the most famous vineyards on the Moselle. Clemens and Rita have a significant share in this. Both are now over 60 years old, but unlike so many farms in the region, this one is passing to the next generation. For as much inspiration as Clemens has been to many younger winegrowers, he has not yet achieved his goal, which is to motivate as many winegrowers as possible for sustainable, ecological and socially responsible viticulture. He could imagine working as a consultant in the future to champion reasonable Mosel viticulture and fairly paid terroir wines of exceptional quality. Because without wine, there will be no tourism and no sustainable future for the Mosel region and its people that have been connected to viticulture for about 2,000 years.

Rita and Clemens Busch together with son Johannes cultivate 18 hectares of vines, of which 11 hectares are located in the extremely steep slate slopes of the Marienburg. Most (99%) of the vines bear Riesling, and 1% Pinot Noir is used for sparkling wine. This family domaine has existed since 1802, and the vineyards have been managed according to ecological guidelines since 1984. On the initiative of their oldest son, Florian Busch, who runs his own domaine in Roussillon, France, the family has turned to biodynamic viticulture, and since 2015, they have been a member of Respekt, an association of biodynamic domaines in Europe that was founded 16 years ago in Austria. Busch’s Rieslings are among the finest produced in the Mosel Valley today, especially the grand crus, which sometimes ferment to medium-dry due to the richness of the grapes and the natural fermentation in a cool cellar where industrial yeasts have never been used. Since the Marienburg is a large site with different plots in terms of exposition, slate color and microclimate, Busch has reactivated the old vineyard names that were discontinued in 1971 for his Grosse Lage Rieslings, some of which are based on 80- to 110+-year-old vines. The most spectacular Rieslings of the domaine in terms of depth, complexity and expression are Raffes, Fahrlay Terrassen and Felsterrasse plus the Reserve wines from Fahrlay and Rothenpfad, which age on the full lees for two years. All of the wines are vinified in classic foudres and combine full physiological ripeness with concentration, intense minerality and the elegance, and finesse of Riesling. Busch joined the VDP in 2007 and also produces outstanding noble sweet wines when the vintage enables him to pick overripe and botrytis grapes.