Thanks for the post. I need to spend more time with these wines.
I like her style, but perhaps even more importantly, I like the diversity it brings to the German Spätburgunder scene, as a compliment to all the other delicious offerings we already know about. Having those different profiles available is exciting to me.
Same. Given all of the regional and stylistic differences it is impossible to lump all German Pinot under one category.
The wines sounds super exciting.
Indeed. I need to drink more to get a sense of aging curves and timing. Definitely not the glou-glou semi-carbonic style of many popular Spätburgunders. More structure. But plenty of juicy modern fruit and not an old-fashioned rustic wine. Plus reasonable alcohol (12.5%). Promising.
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It’s been a while, 6 years in fact, since I tried a few of her wines in Ingelheim. Back then she was still using the “Kaliber” moniker for her Spätburgundern without place names on the front labels.
There was quite a bit of new oak on them as well. Has that changed @Rahsaan_M ?
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20% new oak on the single-vineyard Spätburgunder wines. Does not come off ‘oaky’ to my tastes, and I’m decently sensitive.
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I will order a few next time I order from one of my regular German sites that has them 
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My last Adams Spaetburgunder was about 8 years ago. It didn’t swoon me and I left it at that. Back then the wines were labeled not after the vineyards but named Kaliber 12, 48 and so on, the higher the classier. Apparently, the winemaker is a passionate hunter. This doesn’t vibe with the sentiments prevailing today which would explain rebranding.
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Don’t drink german spatburgunder often, but here is a nice example from a visit at Christian Bau *** in teh Mosel.
Salwey Kirchberg GG 2017 - they had a few older vintages as well (up to 2010), but we opted for a medium aged wine. Jumps out of the glass with this deep cool pinot fruit that I associate with German pinot. Over dinner, it become a bit more thight, with some sesam/toast aromas coming to the forefront. Lovely wine, good lenght, not overpowering, accompanied the main plates very well - all fish/vegetable/shellfish based, Japan inspired, no meat.
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Straight from the source: he plans to bottle a 2024 pinot noir - around 500 bottles, he thought 90 bottles for the US. We didn’t try it yesterday, but drank the line up on top of a pinot noir vineyard of his. Some pictures below. Lovely visit. 2024 is a difficult vintage (no surprise), but Jonas is not someone who shies away from being honest in difficult circumstances. He does not intervene in his wines (once you start, it’s difficult to stop) and calls himself a “friend of consequences” - ie he assumes the consequences of his winemaking and if the vintage is difficult, so be it.
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One of my favorite growers anywhere in the world!
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Drank a bottle of this (Sven’s 2022 Kalk) a few weeks ago with my partner Kara. We both enjoyed the wine, although she probably did a bit more than me (couldn’t quite get past the VA in the background of the aromatics). Funky, though, is not how I would ever describe this wine, unless someone is averse to the sous bois notes often found in great Red Burgundies. To me, the palate really stood out - lovely balance between the lively red fruit and bright acidity. Wasenhaus feels like an apt comparison. Those wines in my experience tend to express darker fruit and more tannin but I think most folks would struggle to distinguish the two in a blind tasting.
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2022 Hofgut Falkenstein Niedermenniger Herrenberg Rose trocken
Almost all parts of this wine were very unexpected to me and I have a hard time putting it in a “box.” Maybe it’s because i don’t have as much experience with excellent rose, but all of the parts that I typically don’t like about any rose, this did not have.
This undoubtedly has the Falkenstein finesse that I am used to with all of their rieslings. The nose was super floral. Think white flowers, mint, and fresh strawberry. The palate is so pleasingly refreshing that I keep having to slow myself down so that I do not chug the whole glass. The taste is very distinctly rose, but without the bitter aftertaste that I find to be common with rose.
Not sure what I expected opening this today, but this over delivered.
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Love this wine and love most German rose for that matter. Stein and JB Becker are 2 other that are delicious (and cheap as hell too!)
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I’m glad you liked the 2022 Rosé from Falkenstein. We recently bottled the 2025 Rosé. The old-vine parcel of Pinot Noir is atop Zuckerberg.
Robert Dentice, to his credit, revived this wine when he requested that we make him a Soilpimp Selection 2020 Rosé for Source Material.
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I have had three mind-blowing German pinots over the past few days!
First up I spotted the 2023 Wasenhaus Bellen on a restaurant list for a fair price so I thought I would give it a try. WOW!! It was much more open than I would have thought. Vibrant fruit, elegant texture, depth, density and complexity. It disappeared far to fast in the glass.
Next up! I attended the Johannes Aufricht dinner at BOM. I was extremely excited to finally meet him and taste his full range of wines which including Sparkling, Chardonnay, his other worldly completer, Pinot and now Aligote which was a 2025 barrel sample from the winery.
I have had the Completers before so knew what to expect. The Pinots stole the show for me!!!
The 2022 Aufricht Nachtweld was just stunning. One of the best German Pinot Noirs I have ever had by far! That is the good news. The bad news is that just 12 bottles came into the U.S. and his importer Tom Stelle is saving them for dinners.
The 2023 Aufricht Krahen was also wonderful but did not quite hit the highs of the 2022 Nachtweld. Alas this wine is $180 and already sold out. I have one bottle.
All three of these wines have cemented by strong belief in the future of Pinot in Germany. Frustrating that they are expensive ($150 and above) and limited but not more than similar quality wines from other regions and there will be more and more high quality pinots coming on the market!
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We enjoyed this Twardowski bubbles over the last couple of days.
It was perfectly lovely, but at roughly 2x ($90) our normal weekend bubbles (Julien Prelat, Presle), I’m not likely to buy it again (but would gladly drink it if others are pouring 
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had a bottle of stefan vetter’s spatburgunder GK 23 recently and it was tasting wonderfully. tart acid driven palate and a characterful nose of ash, soil, blood. add that it was 9.5 abv and the wine drinks almost like a bizarro cranberry soda. so good
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