From the Könen house to the fifth generation: History of a Saar dynasty
Viticulture in the modern sense has been practiced at the site of the Peter Lauer winery in Ayl on the Saar since 1830. The foundation was laid by the Könen family; when winemaker Matthias Lauer married the daughter of the Könen house in 1904 and took over the business in 1913, the winery received its current name. His son, Peter Lauer I, took the helm in 1938, guided the estate through the war years, and laid the foundation for the current vineyard structure with the purchase of the Notar Tappen-Mungenast winery in Saarburg in 1956: this step added significant parcels in the Neuenberg and Unterstenberg of the Ayler Kupp as well as a share in the Feils to their holdings. In 1973, Peter Lauer II took over the winery, and in 2006, his son Florian finally joined the business as the fifth generation after studying oenology in Montpellier. Since then, father and son have worked together in the vineyard and cellar.
Biological-organic without compromise — and without copper
The winery cultivates around twelve hectares of steep slopes made of Devonian blue slate around Ayl. In addition to the Ayler Kupp, the house's most famous vineyard anchor, the Saarfeilser directly above the river and the steeply sloping Schonfels are among the central sites. Florian Lauer painstakingly reactivated the Schonfels — with slopes of up to 65 to 70 percent and vines that are over 100 years old — starting in 2005. Most recently, the forgotten Lambertskirch site near the Schonfels was also replanted. In the vineyard, the winery avoids herbicides, insecticides, and synthetic sprays. Remarkably, Florian Lauer also consistently rejects copper as a plant protection agent, as the heavy metal damages earthworms and soil organisms — and thus goes beyond common organic certification standards without being certified himself.
In the cellar, the house relies on spontaneous fermentation with the winery's own yeast flora in large wooden barrels (Fuder). The special feature: every must from a specific parcel is fermented year after year in the same barrel. This creates a site-specific yeast flora that gives the wine a consistent, deeply rooted character. In 2013, the winery was accepted as a VDP member; in 2014, Florian Lauer successfully pushed for the re-approval of historical individual parcel designations within the Ayler Kupp — including Unterstenberg, Stirn, Kern, and Neuenberg.
Barrel number instead of Prädikat: Terroir in its clearest form
The entire range consists exclusively of Riesling. What makes Peter Lauer's wines immediately recognizable is the labeling principle: every wine bears the number of the barrel in which it was aged — Fass 9, Fass 12, Fass 15, Fass 18. Behind every number is a specific parcel and a unique aging style, from off-dry to dry, from estate wines to Grosses Gewächs. Stylistically, the Lauer Rieslings stand for a taut acid structure, pronounced slate minerality, and cool elegance — the typical tension of the Saar between cool winds and hot slate slopes. The Grosses Gewächs from the Schonfels and the Ayler Kupp are among the most pointed dry Rieslings in Germany; the Schonfels GG received 100 points from JamesSuckling.com. In addition, off-dry cuvées and sparkling wines are produced that consistently continue the same vineyard philosophy.
