2006 Weingut Münzberg Weissburgunder Spätlese trocken- Germany, Rheinhessen (11/26/2016)
On the nose, it’s as if mature chardonnay and vouvray had a fling with Riesling: a fairly neutral (not in a bad way) core highlighted by rounded edges of dried honey, rich stone fruits, and a delicate flirtatious floral aspect coyly winking from behind the broad mid-notes. In the mouth, the acid is subtle and not immediately obvious, except in the lift and balance from which the sweet fruit benefits. Perhaps that’s a reflection of the vintage? I wanted a little more liveliness on tongue, but that’s a tiny complaint. Changed very little with air, which makes me think that the subdued acid is very much of the vintage and the ageability despite that speaks to the brilliance of the wine making. I believe he’s a very forward-thinking winemaker. He replaced all corks with glass stoppers after (I think) the 2002 vintage because of the high percentage of corked wine. This was a wine of great warmth, like late afternoon sun on the beach - not the shimmering of Riesling, but a red gold burnished beauty. It matched nicely with Kunik goat/cow’s milk cheese. So glad to have more of these!
You should seek them out, John. I think you would really appreciate them. Munzberg was among the 1st or 2nd pass of Germans that Moore Brothers imported back in the day. They are royalty when it comes to Weissburgunder, and their GG is worthy of significant age. Laible’s weissburgunder GG is a useful comparison, but Munzberg doesn’t diffuse their concentration away from weissburgunder as Laible, great as it is, does.
It’s great to see a note on a high quality Weissburgunder. These wines are really underappreciated in general. Messmer does a GG that’s amazing (sadly I can’t get it anymore).
Weingut Münzberg is a pretty good producer from the Pfalz who specializes in Pinot varieties. I had a classmate who did an apprenticeship there. For a long time they were considered one of the top producers in the southern part of the region (Südpfalz), but lately have been eclipsed by a lot of newcomers. 2006 was a particularly difficult vintage for botrytis, which is not beneficial for Weißburgunder and may help to explain the texture of the wine. (Was it really labelled Rheinhessen? If that is the case, the grapes were purchased in 2006, maybe because of the rampant rot.) In any case, it seemed like it showed well after ten years in a hard vintage, so what more can you ask for? They are a member of the Fünf Freunde (Five Friends) which is Rebholz, Siegrist, Wehrheim, Münzberg and Becker who banded together to promote the Südpfalz. If you like that particular Weißburgunder, I’d suggest trying one from the other 4 -particularly Dr. Wehrheim or Rebholz. Thanks for the note.
Um, yes. I am pretty familiar with Munzberg. Perhaps you meant to direct that at John who said he wasn’t?
As for the Rheinhessen designation - no, that came directly from CellarTracker, which is clearly mistaken, and which I hadn’t noticed. It is from the Pfalz. I’ll send a note to Eric and team, thanks for pointing out the error.
