Hallau Haalde, 2023

Riesling from the steepest slope in Hallau, in Switzerland's far north, grown organically by a former banker who keeps the sulphur low.

After a career in banking, Markus Ruch retrained as a winemaker and started his small estate in Neunkirch, Schaffhausen, in 2007. He still makes only about 13,000 bottles a year. Haalde is the steepest vineyard in Hallau, in Switzerland's cool far north. He farms it organically on chalky loam. This is his Rheinriesling (the Swiss name for Riesling), made with as little intervention as he can manage and a light hand with sulphur.