I am in Tampa for Berns a few times a year. Will be there next week!
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Continuing on with my Spatburgunder studies, thought some of the Wasenhaus fans here would enjoy this:
and just for fun!
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2017 Bellen: TCA
2020 SaalwÀchter Alte Reben: Off bottle, probably some TCA.
One of those nights⊠. 2020 SpÀtburgunder from Wasenhaus drinking very well though.
We had a Danish Pinot Noir (Precoce) blind that could actually play alongside the Wasenhaus. Very nice to see how far we have gotten so far north (and scary from an environmental point of view)
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Sorry to hear about the bad luck. Seems you had a few other interesting wines at least!
Before the floods, the Julia Bertram SpÀts (before marriage and hypenated last name on the label) were pretty amazing. Unfortunately, the best were only one barrel size, but she did not price these like the greedy low-production Burgundy hounds, being a beginner and former Weinkönigin. In any case, she made a quick transition from being a starlet to a talented winemaker. I would look out for the pre-flood Burgs (if there are any on the market near you, which is doubtful given their limited release) and buy them all. They are all earthy and authentic terroir SpÀts.
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Thanks for sharing Robert, interesting to hear a bit more in detail how they work. Would be quite interesting to hear further about how the German vs French planting material differ related to their approach.
Ălberg, would that happen to be vineyards from Möbitz as well? At least in his last vintage he made a single bottling from that vineyard.
Heard from a local friend of SaalwÀchter that from 2020 onwards, Kaarsten is shifting to a more approachable, less-tannic style. I responded immediately that I already found his wines pretty approachable and elegant pre-2020. It seems my opinion does not matter though, LOL. I look forward to the day WBers debate the merits of pre-2020 and post-2020 SaalwÀchters.
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I did a podcast interview on SpÀtburgunder yesterday. I brought along 6 wines that I thought would best show where SpÀtburgunder is today. All but one of the wines showed great.
I started with two Roses because I personally love German Rose and I think it is under-appreciated category. I love Rose and acid so the combination works wonderfully for me.
2020 Falkenstein Rose Soilpimp Selections (Saar) - no comment since it is my wine.
2020 Lukas Hammelman Hochstadt Roter Berg (Pfalz)
Lukasâ first vintage was 2016. This is a darker Rose and is always a crowd favorite whenever I have opened it. A friend even compared it to Overnoy. This was a little murky and not itâs best showing. I do love his Pinots as I think they are unique due to the nature of the Pfalz terrior.
2019 Jonas Dosert Pinot (Obermosel)
Jonasâ first vintage was 2018. He trained at Domain Leflaive. This is just pure beautiful Pinot. 11.5% abv and a joy to drink. I brought this because I think it really shows what can be done in Germany. And it illustrates two key themes - global warming and Jonas trained in Burgundy.
2018 Wasenhaus Bellen (Baden)
When the history of German SpÀtburgunder is written Wasenhaus will be an important turning point chapter. Baden is the warmest region in Germany so here again we have two key themes global warming and both Christoph Wolber and Alex Götze have worked in Burgundy. Alex worked at Pierre Morey and De Montille and Chrisophe Leflaive and a few others. Another theme is that half of these producers have only just started making wine. Their first vintage was 2016. This wine comes from Limestone / clay soil with higher sand and clay mixture. It is a mixture of French and German clones, two different plots. They destem 50% of Bellen. Selecting the right clones is going to be another hugely important part of the future of SpÀtburgunder. Just a hunch the original German clones were selected more for their ability to ripen grapes than to produced great, ageable wines.
This wine showed fantastic. It was an all around complete wine. Structure, fruit, tannin, acid just perfect. I thought a lot about the Burgundy comparison before the interview and initially did not want to go there and wanted the wines to stand on their own, the more I thought about this wine and how it compares to Burgundy, I gave inâŠ
2015 Enderle & Moll Ida (Baden)
Another very important wine in the history of SpÀtburgunder. After tasting a few $100+ wines in the mid 2000s that were underripe, extracted and over-oaked I quickly gave up until I tasted an Enderle and Moll. Then I tasted Mobitz! I have been a big fan of SpÀtburgunder ever since. Florian Moll and Sven Enderle started in 2007. Sven has moved on and from what I hear has some excited things in the works. Florian has a hired a cellar manager to help him and the domain seems to be back on track.
This wine showed absolutely beautiful and is still young. It has a very bright future ahead.
2013 J Walter Centgrafenberg (Franken)
I picked this to show that SpÀtburgunder can age well. Although only two years older than the Enderle it has turned the corner. It is a beautiful rustic, smokey wine that is in a perfect place. I also wanted to show a diversity of regions and I think Franken is an important area.
Sadly I did not have any from the Ahr. I just donât seem to find them easily in the U.S. They are definitely here but they just are not sold at the places I usually buy wine.
I think the hosts of the show were extremely impressed. One thing I noted is that all of these producers make small amounts so we (in the U.S.) are going to have to be patient and wait for other producers to be discovered and for the producers who are currently imported to grow their vineyard holdings.
Disclaimer - source | material sold a very small amount of the Lukas Hammelman and Jonas DostertâŠwe are talking a few cases. Only 251 bottles of the Dostert were produced and a miniscule amount came to the U.S.
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Continuing on with my Spatburgunder studies:
2016 Dr. Heger Ihringer - Very nice bottle of wine. It still has a long life ahead of it. Has that unique savory and mineral combination I love in German Pinot. Fruit was delicious. Opened up nicely over a few hours. Continuing on a theme of liking the mid-level wines with less oak than the top wines from the old school producers.
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The podcast is up:
All feedback positive and negative welcome!
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I liked it, I think the framing of influences, the region, global warming, etc. were all helpful to get a better picture of what makes spatburgunder/german pinot more compelling than just another place in europe to get pinot from. Iâm already a disgorgeous listener so the conversation was more or less in line with what i would have expected, but I would be curious about the nerdier soil side of things, especially in Baden. From my limited understanding, Alsace is considered a very diverse growing region where all the major soil types are represented in some way, and there is certainly a lot of documentation and a cru system there (with the recent inclusion of Pinot to grand cru sites), but Baden is right across the rhine and shares that soil diversity. Are winemakers really selling that side of things yet, or will that come with getting more established? Are there any resources to learn more about soil in Baden, and different styles by region?
As a young aspiring collector, the value is certainly appealing, but to me itâs more important to make an investment in a region I believe in and help build up a scene, where so many other places are already established and have prices that are harder to make a big commitment to (for me). Iâve had Holger Koch, Keller, and Enderle and Moll (and one of Florian Mollâs new pet nats), now time to stock up on them and find some WasenhausâŠ
Too much F****** (
).
And it is just strange for me to hear people talk about Germany as a region and not a country. But thats probably just a language barrier for me.
Else it was great and a fun listen! Being down with a flu it was a very welcome time consumer 
.
Going to a restaurant early March with a great selection of German SpÀtburgunder. This got me even more excited!
Really good point on Germany as a region and not a country.
Also you canât generalize about the entire country of Germany, as you know there are 13 very diverse wine districts / regions.
Exactly. In my mind Germany is a country, Baden is a region.
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I am not an expert on Baden soil. I do know that there are many different soil types. Watch the Wasenhaus video I posted upthread. And I think the types of clones used going forward is going to have a major impact on quality. And when I say clones I also mean Massal selection as well.
Historically German wine has been such a niche category in the U.S. it does get treated as a region. And donât get me started when Austria is lumped inâŠ
I am a young collector myself.
First i need to mention that i have a big advantage on getting these wines as i am based in Copenhagen.
Yes Wasenhaus is amazing and it is the number one producer in my collection. But even for me it is getting tricky to get my hands on it.
So this brings me to Josef Walter that Robert mentions in the Podcast. Sounds like they are available. Wines with a longer history that have proved to age well. A bit more savoury and smokey, oldschool and rustic, but still very interesting wines. I served the 2015 HundsrĂŒck (top wine) blind next to two 2012 Village Pacalet (Burgundy) and it held its own just fine. (Not that it is super reminiscent to Pacalet) It cost a lot less and got 10+ years in front of it.
So i would recommend trying to get hold of some Josef Walterâs wines to see if it fits your taste.
Personally i am also into Carsten SaalwÀchter at the moment, which might be available in the US (@Robert_Dentice ?).
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Haha. As long as people donât call it a State⊠
Get on the Fass Selections list for Josef Walter.
And yes, no commercial intended, source | material sells a small amount of Carstenâs wines into the U.S.
Iâm under no illusion that Iâll be able to build a cellar of wasenhaus, but I would like to get my hands on a few to try. I probably just need to get over the hump of getting wine shipped to me to find other producers like the ones you mentioned, currently Iâm just seeing what I can pick up locally.
Iâve been on the source material list for a few months and I donât think Iâve missed out on any spatburgunder offers, but Iâm definitely on the lookout. Waiting to get on the fass list.
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