Overview
Lambertskirch is a tiny vineyard of about 0.2 hectares at Ayl on the Saar, perched on a rock above the river downriver from the Schonfels. It is a genuine nineteenth-century site: it appears on vineyard maps of the 1860s but not on those of 1810-1820, placing its planting in the first half of the 1800s. The vineyard fell out of production when the ailing Hausen-Mabilon estate of Saarburg tore up the parcel in 2000, and the plot spent the following decade under fruit trees. Florian Lauer of Weingut Peter Lauer acquired it in 2010 and replanted it in 2012 with a mix of selections taken from very old vines; the first wine was a small quantity of Spätlese in 2014. The name survives today solely through Lauer's bottling.
Terroir & Position
The site faces southeast, tucked on a rocky outcrop above the shores of the Saar, and is steep enough that it can only be worked by hand. The ground is exceptionally stony, littered with large chunks of hard gray slate; the same stone was once quarried at the nearby Lambertsberg quarry. Under the 1971 wine law the parcel was assigned to the Ayler Scheidterberg Einzellage rather than the Kupp, but Lauer labels the wine simply as Lambertskirch.
Producers
Weingut Peter Lauer of Ayl is the sole producer; the replanted vineyard is farmed by the estate alone, making it in practice a Lauer monopole. Lauer is a VDP member, and the wine has been listed with VDP.Grosse Lage designation.
What to Know
The standard bottling is a Riesling Kabinett sold as "Lambertskirch Fass 14" (also written No. 14) in Lauer's cask-numbered range, a light, fruity-styled wine of low alcohol, around 8.5 percent in recent vintages. Mosel Fine Wines recorded the 2020 at 46 g/l residual sugar from fruit picked at 82 degrees Oechsle, with a markedly herbal profile. A Lambertskirch Grosses Gewächs has also appeared as a rarity through the VDP auction (2021). Because the vines date from 2012, this is a young-vine wine from an old site; the interest for the trade lies in the revival story and the distinctly stony, herbal Saar Kabinett style rather than old-vine density.