HUNDSTRUCK! Germany's Legendary Vineyard Whose Name Change Started a Revolt - The La Tache of Germany

Perhaps the Greatest Pinot Noir Vineyard in Germany
Furst Hundstruck Goes for $130 per Bottle (It's Worth It)
Christoff Walter Works Next to Him all Day - His 2011 Is $47.99
A Value Like Buying High End Burgundy 50 Years Ago

Hundstruck. Just say it out loud with authority.  Hoonds Troock. Even the name has a power, an
innate force about it.  The Germans are a people that do not lightly flout authority, even if they disagree with it.  They even follow the speed limit.  But when the German government melded the legendary, historic Hundstruck vineyard into Centrgrafenberg, it sparked a revolution of sorts (even though Centgrafenberg is one of the best vineyards in Germany and not exactly chopped liver).  In a very un German way, my good friend Sebastien Furst thumbed his nose at the German authorities and in 2003, started selling Hundsruck (without the 't') as a fantasy name.  It became his most heralded wine and the German authorities eventually relented and brought Hundstruck back from the dead with 2011 being the first vintage of its second life.

I am almost giddy to offer the Weingut Josef Walter 2011 Spatburgunder "J" Hundstruck for $47.99 on a 3 pack purchase.  As you know by now, Christoff is somewhat immune to commercial pressures and normally releases his wines when he feels that they are ready.  But the excitement within Germany about this wine was so great that he was forced to release the 2011s maybe a year or two before their optimal drinking window.  This is a powerful, powerful wine that really does justice to the legendary vineyard.  At this point, it's a bit of a coiled monster but you can drink it with a 2 hour decant.  The nose has a bit of wood which blows off in 45 minutes.  It then has the classic German Spatburgunder/Pinot Noir nose.  There is incredibly powerfully intense concentrated fruit (like beat you in the head powerful) but balanced with great acidic freshness.  The fruit is dark, more along the plum lines with a gorgeous hint of licorice.  There is incredible, incredible complexity on the palate with soaring internal aromatics.  The finish is long and surprisingly fresh.  Despite the power of the wine, it is still very fresh.  This wine has the structure to age for decades.  This is going to be absolutely phenomenally killer in 5 years.

Christoff does not really focus much on marketing.  If he marketed his wines, this wine would cost over $100 like Furst's does.  I can't really explain how thrilled I am to be able to offer this to my list at such an affordable price.  This vineyard is basically the La Tache of Germany.  

I also have today the 2011 Weingut Josef Walter 2011 Spatburgunder Tradition for $24.99 on a 4 pack.  This is Walter's mid tier bottling but it is a fairly serious wine notwithstanding. It is his current release of this bottling as be likes to age the wines until they are ready to drink.  The nose is light cherry with a bit of smoke.  It has delicious cherry fruit and light aromatics.  It is really quite a It can be drunk now after about a 45 minute decant but will be at its best in 2 years.  The drinking window will be about 10 years.

Almost no one has heard of Christoph Walter except for his colleagues in Franken and the top restaurants that carry his wines (including the Michelin one star where I ate on my most recent trip) He has a small estate (3.5 hectares - that's Willi Schaefer small) in the small town of Burgstadt.  I mean don't blink when you drive through it or you'll miss it small. His winery used to be almost totally inaccessible.  As a result he sells the most underpriced high end red wines I've had in a long time. Maybe ever.

Walter is unassuming and modest  I mean really modest.  He speaks conversational English but keeps on apologizing for his poor English. He was visibly uncomfortable when I tried to photograph him.  He doesn't really sell his wines like most producers.  He almost seems not to want to sell them because they improve with age and the quality of the wine is all he seems to care about. He has only 3.5 hectares and he obsessively works every vine to maximize quality.

He's like Martin Muellen for several reasons.  First, he is a relative unknown. Second, he is in a lesser known wine region.  Third, his wines have great balancing acidity and insane freshness even though they are mostly medium bodied (and in one case on the rich side of European Pinot).  Finally, his wines are built to age.  For decades.  The acid balance and structure are all there in spades.   I also know that he will be discovered as Muellen was and prices will go up and stocks will vanish.


Walter is not a member of the VDP so the Hundstruck is not technically a Grosses Gewachs even it comes from the same vineyard as GGs (you can only call your wine Grosses Gewachs if you join the VDP).  All wines are bottled in stelvin.  I've always been skeptical that wines would age properly in stelvin but I'm a believer now.  Walter uses stelvin to avoid bottle variation - I've heard the same from other forward thinking German producers.

2011 Josef Walter Spatburgunder Tradition - $24.99 ($91.96 4-pack) 

2011 Weingut Josef WalterSpatburgunder "J" Hundstruck - $49.99 ($143.97 3 -pack)