Kiedrich Riesling QbA Trocken, Eva Fricke 2023

Eva's village wine from the Upper Rheingau village of Kiedrich is incredibly succulent and a joy to drink. With its sandy loess, loam and clay soils, expect plenty of texture, orange peel and ginger. There is ripeness, yet still with Eva's signature precision. Some of this exquisite quality is attributable to Eva’s sustainable, holistic approach, one that has moved us to name her as one of our Wine Society Pioneers. Certified organic since 2016 her vegan and biodynamic practices are ingrained but uncertified and her methods include vitiforestry (incorporating trees, shrubs or hedgerows into a vineyard). Eva tries to carry out her vineyard and winemaking work as ‘purely’ as she can, avoiding unhealthy grapes at all costs and keeping intervention low by not using additives other than a little SO2, nor fining or atificial stailisation. On bottling, packaging is only in materials that are Forestry Stewardship Council certified. Her workers, too, are looked after. Seasonal workers are housed in an apartment, have full contracts, social security and pensions just like local workers. Plus, there is access to a kindergarten, full health insurance, German courses and, at harvest time, an additional rate so they can eat out after such tiring work. It’s inspirational stuff.