To keep it a bit short - @Blake_Brown came to Amsterdam (you can see his post about our night out
https://www.wineberserkers.com/t/an-exceptional-one-of-a-kind-dinner-in-amsterdam-with-wines-from-croatia-germany-and-champagne/301825) and reached out to see if he wanted to meet up and found out that he was quite curious to explore Spätburgunder. I figured that what better way to do it than with focus on Baden and the oldest from there (in my cellar) are 2014s. For those who were in Europe that summer or remember from reports, it was a challenge wet rainy year in many places. I think the entry Enderle&Moll PN was something like 10,5-11% to give you an idea. And that wine was still delicious btw!
Below are the notes from Blake, I’ll add some additional remarks thereafter:
“2014 ENDERLE & MOLL LIAISON PINOT NOIR BADEN- no fining or filtration, and 40-50% whole cluster fermentation; the nose and taste profile had wild, fresh and tangy red cherry/ berry fruit with a touch of spice and a soft and smooth mouthfeel; underlying hints of strawberry and red raspberry showed up as well; it maintained its wildness throughout and as such, presented a different, but enjoyable aspect of Pinot Noir/ Spatbugunder.
2014 HENRIK MOBITZ KANZEL PINOT NOIR BADEN- this was the bomb from the first nose on; it was rich, full bodied with layered complexity and yet had lots of elegance while sporting a luscious fruit profile that was inundated with spice and sandalwood accented blackberry, black cherry, plum and black raspberry and I just had to state it was very Burgundian; it was smooth and velvety and finished on an upbeat; this is undoubtedly the best Spatburguner I’ve had although that’s from a relatively small sample size. This paired nicely with the quail course although it could stand on its own to just be tasted as a course all unto itself.
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If anyone had doubts about if Enderle&Moll wines can age, think again. I just saw Robert’s posting about the 2007 here as well. I also have to add that the provenance (few have optimal storage though sufficient for short term storage in my experience when it comes to Europe) of the 2014s I bought might not have been the best - a retailer did a final push to get rid of them and I got them dirt cheap, cannot recall a single bottle of these it showing well.
One last thing I better mention about this bottle is that it really started to show at its best towards the end, stepped things up gear (intensity and energy). We had the bottle decanted as we were about to get the dish, in hindsight I think we should have had it decanted 1-2 hours before. We ended up sharing this with another larger party and they were quite liked it (they drink/drank wide and well - they also a magnum of Wasenhaus Mölin a few weeks earlier).
As for the Möbitz on the other hand, we had the wine decanted about two hours before we arrived at the restaurant (so probably 3 hours in total). This was on Henrik’s advice though he mentioned that the wine was still not ready so at a 2-3 hour decanting would be required.
The stuffing here was just another level, a beautiful wine, however confident that Henrik is right - there’s a lot more in this wine that didn’t show yet, and I look forward to try my second last bottle in maybe 10 years or so (?). My guess thought after having this wine is that Möbitz wines will go down in history as some of the greatest Germany red wines (the white wines aren’t too bad as well) that few heard of and even fewer had the fortune to taste.
