I must admit I get a little verklempt writing this offer as it means the page has turned and we are yet into another vintage. But what better way to start the new vintage than starting off a wine that perfectly illustrates why I opened Fass Selections. When Fass Selections was a dream, I wanted to be able to sell Spatlese Trocken for a reasonable price. Via the 3-tier system these Ortsweines (1er Cru dry Riesling) were always too expensive ($40) and to introduce someone into a new category these are the wines that I thought were perfect. Great riesling minerality and acidity but enough fruit so that people could enjoy them.
Fast forward and now we are on our 5th vintage of the great 2016 Battenfeld Spanier "Moelsheim" Riesling Trocken 1er Cru for $25.99 on a 4-pack and the silly price of $23.99 on a case. I love this wine. I will offer it every year 'til the cows come home. For me it is the perfect dry Riesling and epitomizes what I do at Fass Selections here regarding German wine. I want people to love, drink and age 1er Cru German Riesling for a normal price. I want beginners just wading into the shallow end to enjoy a Riesling with enough fruit to balance out the always intense minerality that comes with German dry Riesling. And Moelsheim has it all. It just has it all. The nose just leaps out at you with that Rheinhessen aromatic mineral riesling assault that is Battenfeld Spanier's trademark. The palate is just incredible. A gorgeous melange of fruit perfectly interweaved with classic riesling minerality and seamlessly balanced with acidity. Its hard to describe this wine adequately because the overall impact is much more than the sum of its parts. It just hits your palate and almost encompasses it, blasting into every nook and cranny. It is an illustration of what great winemakers can do. There is particularly great palate weight and concentration in this vintage (see below).
The wine is an icon. This wine is what I want Fass Selections to be about: a world class wine that everyone on the list can afford. A wine that is approachable and delicious yet also has complexity for the geeks. I wine you can serve at a party yet a wine that a geek like me can savor over the course of an evening. In short, it is the perfect Fass Selections wine.
This wine does that and that is why, year in and year out this is our most popular dry Riesling. Actually it's our most popular dry white wine and I do my darndest to make it the best value money can buy, even if that means slowly watching my margins decline. It's the same price as last year despite a small bump in price from the winery. I want everyone to have this wine. This is a call to action. I know the usual suspects will buy this wine but if you're new to the list just do it. You will love it. Hating this wine is like hating puppies. You can't do it.
A few words about '16. It is a great vintage and it resembles more in style a meshing of '12 (compact, very good acidity) and '13 (opulent, good acidity, finesse) but also has something that makes it it's own thing, which is that the dry extract (everything in the grape less water) is off the charts in 2016 which makes the wines feel full bodied and concentrated on the palate despite it being only 12% alcohol. I also love the finesse of '16 as in general in Northern Europe it provided a great counterpart to '15 which is an everything vintage which means it has it all. '16 is a vintage like '14 that will drink well on release but can and will age for 10 years easy. Bottom line is everyone will be very happy as this is a wine that because of the dry extract will almost taste like a GG but is only $24 a bottle on a case.
I know it sounds crazy to call an under $30 wine an icon but Battenfeld Spanier's Molsheim is becoming an icon. Its affordable because of my model (it would be $50 or so 3 tier) and many, many customers buy it every year. Every year, it's a little different but always stunningly well made and delicious. And it's the first wine we offer year in and year out. It's like other famous affordable wines like PYCM, Clos Roche Blanche (sadly no more) and JJ Prum. Every year, all the wines are not just good, but great, brilliant, genius and any other hyperbole one can bestow on these wines. They also make all types of drinkers happy. The geeks, the semi geeks, the non wine people all love this wine as it has geeky mineral/acid/limestone stuff for the geeks and incredible fruit for the non geeks.
So why should you buy this wine?
- I am absolutely in love with this wine. I fell in love with it the first time I tasted it in Germany. It's one of my favorite under $30 wines I've ever had.
- You just can't buy wines with this level of power, finesse, minerality and balance for under $30. I can't think of that many that have those qualities that you can buy for under $50.
- Battenfeld Spanier is the Crown Jewel of my German Riesling portfolio and a top 5 wine estate in Germany
- You are saving nearly 50% off the retail price, which would be $45 if Battenfeld-Spanier went through the 3-tier system
- You are getting a baby-GG (German Grand Cru) from one of the top, if not the top, winemakers in Germany. This is young vine fruit from Hergott, what is considered their top GG Other than maybe the top 5-10 producers, I'd put this up against most other GGs in Germany. It's that good.
- The 2012 was one of the most popular wines that we've ever sold. Most people thought it was our best village German Riesling but there was a dissenting pro-Laible camp within Fass Selections that liked the higher acidity in those wines. The 2013 was a game changer. There was still fruit but the acid levels brought it into perfect balance. Even the acid loving Laible lovers loved it. The 2014 was all finesse, angles, edges and awash with beautiful expressive fruit. The 2015 was epic because 2015. Besides slate, Riesling also has an affinity for limestone and I cannot think of a better example than this. The '16 has perfect tension between fruit, minerality and acid. And, of that dry extract makes this like a baby GG Hergott (this is 100% young vine GG Hergott fruit) So zingy, salty and tangy, so opulent. So tense. Amazingly pure citrus fruits that are more on the fleshy side with some fruit pith in the background while the '14 was about pith and '16 is about pith to the max with loads of fleshy fruit. This might be the most impressive Moelsheim from a bang for your buck perspective
- This is a wine that makes an evening. It is like drinking 1er Cru Chablis from an elite producer.
- Please do not think of it as a $23.99 wine. Schäfer Fröhlich gets $45 a bottle for his dry village wines and I would have no issue selling it for that - but I'm leveraging the weak (quietly strengthening Euro), cutting margins and selling it at these prices because I want you to try it and see the power of German dry Riesling.
However much of this wine you buy, you will regret not buying more. It's the wine in your cellar that will be gone in 6 months. Why? Because it's so delicious that it's the wine that you will go to until you realize that it's all gone. Also, it's so affordable for a world class wine that you won't feel any guilt in drinking it. Also you will want to open it ip for anybody and everybody.
I am offering this early because this wine sells out in Germany. Once the offer closes, it's gone.
2016 Battenfeld Spanier Moelsheim 1er Cru Riesling Trocken - $27.99 ($103.96 4-pack, $287.88 12 bottle case)
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