The Grape: Riesling

The Appellation: Mosel, Germany

The Wine: This wine, simple and sweet, has a surprisingly deep history.  Depending on who you ask, one story goes like this:  During the Black Plague in the mid 1300s, the city of Zell, Germany, seemed strangely immune.  It wasn’t until much later that they discovered that the plethora of feral cats in the village were responsible for keeping the rat population down, and kept the plague out.  Therefore, they named this wine in honor of those cats. Zeller: “From Zell,” Schwarze “Black,” Katz “Kat.”

There is another story in which a wine merchant is being shown casks in a wine cellar, and a black cat jumps onto one of the casks, hissing, and trying to dissuade the buyer from taking that cask.  The buyer took that as a sign that it was the best cask in the cellar, and bought it immediately.  The wines are now known at Black Cat wines in honor of this event.

The Winemaking: 11% ABV, Acidity: 7.1 grams per liter, RS: 31.4 grams per liter.

The Winery: J. Koll & Cie. Just West of Frankfurt, in Cochem on the Mosel River in Germany.  The family-owned Koll House has been in operation since 1898. Today, in its third generation, taken care of by Mr. Manfred Koll, the current owner of the winery.

In addition to the well-known Moselle wine, J. Koll & Cie. also producetop-quality wines from all German wine-growing regions.  In over 35 countries around the world, Koll wines are the guarantee for success in the wine trade. Not just with names like Liebfraumilch, Bernkasteler Kurfürstlay or Zeller Schwarze Katz, however also with pure Riesling varietals.

The owner of the winery J. Koll & Cie., Manfred Koll is not only an excellent wine connoisseur but also and excellent host. He likes to spice up the wine tastings with all sorts of stories about wine, the country and its people. They have a completely new, high-quality wine lounge.

The J.Koll Website: J.Koll & CIE