There are people ahead of the curve and then there is the wonder that is Martin Zwick. He leaves the curve in the dust. He is in a way "the German Greek" (named by me after the famous Greek in the Northern Rhone that is arguably the top expert on Rhone wines). He does not own a store, but Martin is a passionate collector and German wine insider who lives in Berlin and has been an inspiration to me when it comes to championing young producers in Germany. He has a terrific blog, a very active presence on social media, but where he shines and truly helps young and upcoming winemakers is with his Berlin Cup Tastings. Long story short he gathers wine lovers, wine retailers, critics and even wine producers to his home in Berlin and holds big blind tastings that happen to have different themes. First it was just the Grosses Gewachs Cup. Then the Spatburgunder Cup (where we discovered Andreas Rings), then the Kabinett Cup and now just recently in June he had the first ever Gutsriesling cup. These are below Ortsweine and are estate wines. I was thrilled to see that Rings has placed again in the top 3 for their Riesling Kalkmergl from 2015. Because of course. They are brilliant at reds and whites, which is hard to do in Germany, but the Rings brothers do it with aplomb. I have always loved the Rieslings but the hit with everybody has been with the Spatburgunders understandably so. I respect Martin's palate as much as the Greek and he has introduced me to Klundt and Rings, who are both core members of my portfolio (as well as my newest enfant terrible Juwel). To make a long story short, Andreas Rings has outdone himself in 2015 with his Rieslings.
The most incredible thing about Babe Ruth was that while he is most famous as perhaps the greatest hitter of all time, he was, early in his career, also a very good pitcher. There aren't a lot of players that can pitch and hit. In the wine world, there are not a lot of producers who make world class reds and whites; the Rings Brothers are in that small, elite group.
I am leading with Riesling but don't forget his insane spatburgunder below! Today I have the 3rd vintage, and by far the best yet, of the 2015 Rings Kallstadt Steinacker Riesling for $32.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. This wine is just bonkers. 2015 has such unreal rich fruit but backed up by such clarifying acidity it cannot be believed. It is a clone of 1990 but better! I love Pfalz Riesling as there are so many styles. The style here is opulence with insane tension and 2015 has all that tension and more. It is turned up to 11. I thought this was GG quality despite its 1er Cru/Ortsweine status. Loads of nectarine and peach fruit with so much cleansing acidity it is like a waterfall on the palate. I mean the acid on this wine, combined with intensely ripe fruit is like a waterfall in Yosemite in spring when it starts to get warm. Outrageous concentration and purity. Very airy and mineral nose with a great perfume after aeration. The length of these 2015's is insane. As I said this punched way way above its weight class. GG quality here. Really love this wine from them and something I always grab for more and more. Gets better and better over 2-3 hours and 2-3 days.
Oh yeah, the Brothers Rings also make an insane Pinot Noir that is a huge favorite of Fass Selections clients. People go nuts over this wine and rightly so. It has some of the most fresh and dynamic fruit of any German Pinot that we bring in. The wine is pure pleasure. Today the 2014 Rings Spatburgunder Freinsheimer is as little as $29.99 a bottle on a 4-pack.
If you have not had a German Pinot Noir, this should be your first one. Everyone loves it (even people who swear they would never want to try German pinot noir) as it's so darned drinkably delicious.
Rings already employs low yields as a philosophy, so they had very low yields again in 2014 and it resulted in another killer vintage for this wine. It is a skoche lighter than the 2013, but maybe even more transparent and nimble, but has all of that terrific silky, sweet berry fruit presented in such a pure, fruit-driven style with a delicious finish. It smells so good. The thing I love about the Rings' brothers wines is that they are exceptionally well balanced. The background acidity is always there to keep the wine tasting fresh. I had a bottle of the 2013 the other night and I could not believe how great it was. I kept getting emails and tagged on social media with this wine so I opened a bottle and it was even better than I remember. More depth and just so drinkable. Scary drinkable actually. The 2014 has a bit more crunch to it, but the acidity is nice and tensile and makes sure those tiny berry Pinot fruits of goodness pop in your mouth. This is a wine to load up on as you cannot get enough of it. You will not believe the quality of this wine.
I think Rings is approaching the level of Weltner, Battenfeld and Muellen as a top producer of Riesling and easily a top 5 Spatburgunder producer.
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