Axel's most classic wine. Sourced from the Bernkasteler Kardinalsberg vineyard, it has eight degrees of alcohol, a crisp yet rounded character, and great length on the finish. Off dry. Thirty one year old Axel Pauly is one of the rising stars of German wine. He took over the Pauly estate from his father after working on vintages in California, New Zealand and other parts of Germany. Most of the seven hectare estate is in the heart of the Mosel Valley, in the village of Lieser, with the exception of a small parcel in neighbouring Bernkastel. The soil in Lieser is a grey and blue slate and is cooler than the red slate in Bernkastel, giving more minerally wines then its more famous neighbour. Perhaps because of this minerally character, the Pauly wines have great purity, a character enhanced by Axel's approach in the winery. Axel starts fermentation with wild yeasts and inoculates with cultured yeasts only towards the end of fermentation. When the yeasts start to struggle they produce sulphides, which Axel wants to avoid as he does not want them inhibiting the expression of the vineyard character. Axel is also fanatical about ripeness - he even packages his wine using a brown bottle as green bottles remind him of unripe grapes! His work in his steeply sloping, vertigo inducing vineyards to which the vines cling - crop thinning, leaf plucking, grape selection at harvest - ensures a ripeness of flavour in the grapes that he preserves through to the final wine.