During my trip through Europe in February, I visited the Moselle for the first time. I had never had the chance to visit this great “heartland” of Riesling until now. The opportunity came up because I had to meet with a number of people including Markus del Monego, a unique character who, as far as I can work out, is the only person to have been named as the World’s Best Sommelier while also being a Master of Wine. He is a great friend to us and a high-profile supporter of our wines. I remember that when he was named as the World’s Best Sommelier he had his photograph taken with a bottle of San Leonardo in his hand.

Together with him at our recent meeting was Georges Monet, Director of Champagne de Saint Gall, a great maison with more than 1200 grand cru hectares that sells the base wines to all the major names, including Dom Perignon. Alongside us, there was our mutual friend and current European “ambassador” Adolph Huesgen, who also produces excellent Rieslings on his Villa Huesgen estate. We sat down in a beautiful Art Nouveau restaurant (this area is awash with extraordinary examples of that movement) in the Bellevue Hotel with manager Mathias Ganter, right on the river at Traben-Trarbach. Aside from the fact that this enchanting place is surrounded by steep slopes scattered with vineyards in the most unthinkable of locations – there is practically not a stone that is not covered in vines – the restaurant at the hotel is truly of the highest quality. Another thing, which may seem rather by the by (but not for us!), is the fact that the only Italian winery on the list is ours, and there’s actually a whole page dedicated to our wines!

The dinner was certainly memorable, and we uncorked a few serious bottles, including a Chateau Margaux 1995 (utterly fantastic) and a Tinto Val Buena 1994 by Vega Sicilia, which for me is always extraordinary thanks to its measured combination of elegance with a rustic feel. We also drank a ‘64 Riesling by Villa Huesgen, which was great in its own right – I’m always impressed by the longevity of this varietal. At the end of this delightful dinner, Mathias spoiled us with a taste of a Lheraud Cognac dating from 1903, the year in which the hotel was founded. Let’s just say it was a mystical experience!

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