Last night I had the good fortune of attending a wine dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in Philadelphia, Bibou. Pierre Calmels was “on his game” last night, and we got to pair his excellent cooking with flights of wines from Dr. Burklin-Wolf, a German producer from the Pfalz that I was unfamiliar with prior to last night. I was also unfamiliar with their use of “Burgundy nomenclature” when labeling their wines, but it made for a nice ascension in wine quality as we moved through the various flights. The wines we tried were as follows:
2014 & 2015 Deidesheimer villages
2014 & 2015 Wachenheimer Bohlig PC
2015 Wachenheimer Rechbachel & Wachenheimer Gerumpel PC
2014 & 2015 Wachenheimer Altenberg PC
2015 Ruppertsberger Gaisbohl and 2013 Deidesheimer Kalkofen (both GC)
2015 Forster Ungeheuer and Forster Pechstein (both GC)
1995 Wachenheimer Gerumpel Scheurebe Beerenauslese (which was apparently hand-carried over on the plane by the export director for Burklin-Wolf, who “introduced” the flights of wine during the dinner).
To me, one of the most educational aspects of the evening was the chance to check out the '15 vintage versus 2014, and in almost every instance, I clearly preferred the riper, richer style of the 2015.
Best food and wine pairing of the night, however, went to the dessert wine, which was served with a blue cheese & pumpkin bread napoleon that was sublime .
In terms of personal standouts (and putting aside that stellar Beerenauslese), the 2015 Gerumpel and 2015 Altenberg were both impressive, and the GC flight with the 2015 Gaisbohl and 2013 Kalkofen may have been the best flight of the night, both wines really shining.
Great (and educational) evening learning about this producer’s wines (which will soon have a place in my cellar).
It is most satisfying when an event like this hits the heights that one hopes for. A tremendous pleasure, all around.
Claus, there is only one single wine from Burklin that is even in the ballpark of your 80E cast-all remark, à la Doug’s “very expensive” remark in the other Burklin thread. This is misleading, as the overwhelming majority of stellar wines from the estate cost less than 30E.
Boh. I will talk to the hand.
Sorry, my remark was only to stress that BW was the first to market high-end dry Riesling (as GC) and price it accordingly. In that respect they are pioneers
Pechstein an Jesuitengarten are 50-60€
Thanks btw for explaining that JG was paused a couple of years.
While the Pechstein price point is difficult, the pricing is fair and would probably be considered good QPR in other parts of the world. That’s why I love German Riesling!
I was also at the tasting, and while the whole lineup was great, the 15s were really outstanding in their balance of warm vintage fruit, but with great balanced acidity. The PC wines were the sweet spot for me and I reloaded on some of those after the tasting. At $30ish, those are insanely good values.
I think that “QPR” is always one of those topics where opinions greatly vary/differ. To me, the Pechstein was clearly the best dry wine of the night. That said, was it worth three bottles of the Gerumpel or Altenberg? Not sure, but as I said in my original post, hard to argue with this setting as both an enjoyable as well as an educational wine experience.
Claus, fwiw, when I asked when we can look forward to a young vines Jesuitengarten bottling, I was told that perhaps in 2017 or 2018, depending on the quality of the wine, there will either be a Forster ortswein (villages), or it will be blended into the massive Estate Riesling bottling.
I will visit in a month or so to taste the '16s out of cask, and will report back…
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