A New Star in the Fass Selections Firmament- from a New Region for Us
An Insane Bottle of "Grand Cru" Riesling for Under $33
- Creamy, Mineral, Balanced Like a Knife's Edge
Plus Our First 100% Cabernet Sauvignon Unlike Any You've Had
- The Fruit of Cab Combined with the Minerality of Germany
Before, I get into the story of how I discovered Leon Gold (and it's quite a story) I wantedto explain
why I'm introducing another German producer. I think that it's fair to say that I'm very proud of the producers I already have. Established names like Battenfeld Spanier, Laible, Weltner, Muellen, Rings and Ziereisen. Cult (but well known among the cognoscenti in Germany) producers Enderle & Moll, Mobitz and Schatzel. And young guns like Thorle, Juwel, Klundt and Schneider. So the bar is very high for me to add another producer. With that said, I am introducing another young star today who is already on the cusp of being a top 25 producer in Germany.
Sometimes the journey can be as satisfying as the destination. It's an old bit of pablum to be honest, because with this estate, it's more like the journey was an annoying, full of mishaps. A careless journey that was hellacious and left me so frustrated and full of anger you would not believe it. But as soon as I eventually got to the estate, met the winemaker, and tasted that first sip of wine in the vineyard as the sun was going down and everything was right with the world again I knew I had found greatness yet again. And I had. But first, the journey must be discussed.
8:00 AM I woke up in Worms in the Rheinhessen where I had been staying for four days. Had an epic night before with H.O. Spanier and Carolin Kuhling-Gillot and was a bit slow for my 9AM at Rings in Kallstadt in the Pfalz. Luckily it was a short drive.
12:00 PM We drive to Landau, Pfalz to taste with Sven Klundt at 1PM.
1:00 PM Right on time. Great tastings at both estates.
(Now here is where I need to explain something. When I go on these trips I have a system that enables the help of my business partner. I'm bad with maps and that type of stuff. So I ask him to recommend cities/villages to stay in that are the most central to my appointments. He is very good at this. Mostly. So before I left I saw he wrote Miltenberg on the itinerary as a good city to stay while I visited a few estates in Wurrtemberg, where today's producer is from. Miltenberg sounded familiar as it is a village in Franken, next to Burgstadt, where Joseph Walter is located. But I've encountered in Germany before two cities in two places and both having the same name. I also trust the guy. So I just went to booking.com and put in Miltenberg and found a hotel room. Didn't think twice about it.)
3:00 PM Having said all that I finish the tasting with Klundt, get in the car, and put in the hotel address into the GPS. My appointment with the new potential winery at this point was at 5:00PM in Weinstadt, Wurrtemberg. Figured we'd drop the luggage off in Miltenberg and take a short drive to Weinstadt where the winery, Leon Gold was at. The GPS said 350 KM to Miltenberg. I was totally not prepared for this. We hit awful traffic and I was FB'ing Leon, how we'd be late and how sorry I was, and that as soon as I got to my hotel in Miltenberg, we'd be right over. Leon, who is as polite and earnest a grower as I've ever met, was calm, cool and collected. Yours truly was freaking out. I hate being late for the first appointment as it creates a bad impression.
6:00 PM Got to Miltenberg, which by the way is gorgeous and our hotel was quaint, cozy and very German.
6:30 PM Dropped our luggage off and got back in the car. At this point I typed in the address of the winery and the GPS said 396 KM away. I kid you not. I lost my mind. I did some googling and realized we were not in Wurrtemberg but in Franken and we were in the Franken Miltenberg because there is no Miltenberg in Wurrtemberg! I realized we would not be at Leon's till 9:30, if we booked it, which we can, as it is Germany, and they have the autobahn, BUT, half the journey was mountainous and windy two lane highways in forests that was pitch black. I was apologizing to Leon via FB for the whole journey, which was not pleasant as I knew I had a 3.5 hour drive there and then. 3.5 not drive back!
9:30 PM As soon as we got there, I typed into my google translate app on my iPhone and turned it to my driver (he spoke Russian and German) and the message said "These wines better be good!"
And yes they were. Leon was so happy to see us and when we were recapping the days events he mentioned that when I mentioned Miltenberg he was like, huh, that's in Franken. I just laughed. He laughed and we went into the cellar, tasted a bunch and then grabbed dinner at a delightful restaurant and had traditional Swabian fare and tasted many of Leon's brilliant wines. After all that I am thrilled to announce that I have started working with the winery Leon Gold in Weinstadt, Wurrtemberg, or as all the cool kids like to call it, Swabia. Leon has great pedigree in that he has been the cellar-master at a winery I greatly admire, and that is George Beurer, who is considered one of the great producers in Wurrtemberg along with Andi Knauss and Rainer Schnaittman. Leon Gold, from what I tasted is nipping at their heels if not qualitatively in the same ballpark. He has worked 5 vintages at Beurer and only had his first vintage in 2013. Today we will be selling his 3rd vintage, 2015, and these will be the first wines of his to be offered in the United States, which Leon told me is his dream. Leon has IT. What is IT? You just know as soon as you taste the first wine something special is here. Leon is an avid seeker of knowledge and in his village and neighboring villages he is immensely respected. Just going with him to dinner I noticed this in every interaction. It's how people treat someone when in the presence of greatness. The wines have that extra level to them like Laible, Weltner, Battenfeld and Muellen. Leon is a rising star.
Up first is Leon's top Riesling, his GG per se if he were in the VDP, it is the 2015 Leon Gold Riesling Halbstuck for as little as $32.99 on a 4-pack. This is as brilliant a 15 as I will offer and most importantly it is completely different in style to anything else that I sell. It could not be more different than Battenfeld, Laible and Muellen for example. But Leon is also a unique talent and just as brilliant a producer as the trio above. To understand how delicious Leon's wines are, one needs to understand where the Halbstuck comes from. It is from a village called Gundelsbach where the soils are mainly Schilfsandstein which is red sandstone and Kieselsandstein which is pebbled sandstone. The Schilfsandstein is a lime free sandstone and this creates clear, slender and linear wines while the Kieselsandstein has a thin topsoil and has slender rockier soils. This creates the unique and distinctive minerality in Leon's beautifully filigreed Rieslings. There is some old vine intensity as the vines that go into this are 40+ years old. The 2015 shows the greatness of the vintage and what Leon can achieve already at such a young age and only in his 3rd vintage. I tasted two barrels that will comprise of the Halbstuck and then we made a prototypical blend in my glass. It was to be bottled in a few weeks after I left. The first barrel had brilliant acidity and brought the juicy like you would not believe. So long. The other barrel brought huge minerality and even more length. Terrific finesse on this barrel. Great inner mouth aromas. Just top notch.
We blended the two and it was a stunning bottle of wine. The closest comparison I can make is a non-sparkling, traditional Champagne. On the palate, there is an endearing creaminess, lovely saltiness, dazzling purity and freshness. And oh yes, rip roaring acidity to balance it all out.There are also insane inner mouth aromas and huge density. Incredible structure as well - this will age for a decade or more. The finish is insane. There is and just ridiculous length. The nose was all mineral and evocative but it was hard to get a sense of the aromas (this was, after all, a barrel sample). The wine is bone dry with 3.1 grams of RS and also has low sulfur, which Leon picked up form Beurer as well as what is the ideal time to harvest. Only 12.5%, this wine dances on the palate as well as having sufficient body and structure. What poise and balance. At dinner we opened a 2013 Halbstuck and it slayed with the snail soup, which is a specialty of the region. The nose was super mineral with ripe fruit (pineapple, apricot), spices, cinnamon, herbs, white pepper and aromatic as all can be. I have even higher hopes for the 15 as it integrates with age. This is a startling Riesling and a great bottle as the first Fass Selections wine from Swabia! This will drink well over the next 15+ years.
Up next I have the first ever wine that Fass Selections will sell that is made entirely from a highly desirable grape varietal that the world sweats over and over again. Arguably it is the 2nd most popular grape in the world next to Pinot Noir. That is Cabernet Sauvignon and it is a Swabian speciality like no place else. Today I have the 2015 Leon Gold Großheppach Cabernet Sauvignon Trocken for as little as $24.99 on a 4-pack. I know, I know, most of you think it's cray cray to offer German Cabernet Sauvignon but hear me out. In Großheppach the soils are very warm and in the summer it is like a basin and heat builds up during the daytime and due to this warmth is kept longer. The soils for Leon's Cabernet Sauvignon is called "unter BunteMergel and is very fertile, nutritious and warm. It is perfect for the ripening of Cabernet Sauvignon. The Cabernet is everything you would expect me to sell plus it tastes exactly like it comes from Swabia. It's got nice acids, and it is raised in used barrels and screams terroir. It's super juicy and ripe, with such nice depth and structure. It can easily age for 10 years. Quite frankly, the wine is amazing. No way you can find anything like this in Napa for $25. Bordeaux, odds are not. Maybe. Gotta look hard. But this is what I want in a Cabernet. A mineral-driven expression of Cabernet Sauvignon that is evocative of a place and made by an up coming genius winemaker in a region not known for this grape so it offers exceptional value. Aromatically it has a bit of green pepper and walnut mixed in with deep berries like black currant and black berry. Also classic tobacco and cedar nuance. All with a lingering aromatic stoniness. I was in awe. It was outrageously complex. The palate delivered even more. Big body and structure with beautiful ripe tannins. So elegant. Dark berries, plum, spice and licorice drive a huge, yet detailed, impression on the palate. It finishes fresh and piquant due to the fine acidity. A lingering note of white pepper finishes it off. It took me four years to find a pure Cabernet good enough to sell. And of course it came from Germany.
12:15 AM As I left a wonderful long dinner with Leon, with the 396 KM drive back looming, I could not be happier, got into the car, opened my google translate iPhone app, and typed in a message to my driver.
"It was worth It."
2015 Leon Gold 2015 Riesling Halbstück Trocken - $35.99
($135.96 4-pack)
2015 Leon Gold Großheppach Cabernet Sauvignon Trocken - $26.99 ($99.96 4-pack)
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