I Rarely Sell Under $20 Pinot Noir But When I Do, It's Serious Wine and a Ridiculous Value - Plus a Top German Dry Riesling from the Winemaker's Cellar

2016 Thörle Spätburgunder Gutswein
 - Amazing and Delicious Fruit
 - Crazy Intense Dark Cherry and Raspberry Nose
 - But Has That Thorle Minerality and Acidity
 - You Know You'll Need an Affordable Red You Want to Drink Some Day...
2014 Thörle Schlossberg Riesling
 - On Special Request, Direct from the Winemaker's Cellar
 - Before They Got Really Famous - So It Was There, Same Price! (Well, $1 More Due To Euro!)
 - The Classic Huge Minerality That Made Them Famous
 - Combined with Intense Citrus Fruit
 - A Chance to See What Wine from a Great Young Winemaker Tastes Like with a Little Age

Of all the wines I reach for and that impress me the most are always terrific Pinot Noir values from

Germany. I don't know how they do it but they do and they keep the price so fair. Under $20 is a very very hard category to get a high quality Pinot Noir or a high quality red wine. Period. Full stop. Leave it to the Germans who, 20 years ago, had no decent Pinot Noir under $50-$40-$30-etc they have come a long way. I can say, easily, that in the under $20 category for Pinot Noir, the Germans are the world leader.

Today, I have the stunningly delicious and brilliant 2016 Thörle Spätburgunder Gutswein for $19.99 a bottle on a 4-Pack and $18.99 on a 12 bottle case. This is a silly stupid deal for a wine that is this delicious, charming, a full blown super expressive Pinot with fruit and lovely limestone sap, and a nice elegant structure. It doesn't exist. I think out of all 3 of the under $20 German Pinots I sell this is the most textured, structured and mineral while having the always transcendent and pure Pinot fruit that is next to impossible to get at under $20.  A value does not always have to be a $20 bottle of wine. Value comes at all price points. But today's wine is $20 and one of the best values I sell. The nose is so intense and has loads of dark cherries and wild raspberries. Some woodland berry aspects as well as a strong limestone footprint. The palate has huge, ridiculously delicious and textured sweet fruit, a hint of mint, lovely freshness due to on point acidity that is so clear and precise and a very long mineral finish with hints of salted woodland berry. Just terrific. Wonderful ripe tannins that are so elegant. This is a stunning wine for the money. It does not get better for $20 and this is a case purchase for sure. It is perfect for wine geeks and normies alike.

I always want to pair an interesting back vintage sometimes and I always ask, as many of the wines I sell need a few years. I asked Christoph Thörle if he had any back vintages of any wines and he had a small stash of the 2014 Thörle Riesling Schlossberg which is a wine I adore and have not offered since mid 2015. I had my last bottle in 2016 but also had a bottle in August in Germany and it was singing. This is the first Thörle white wine I ever tasted and convinced me they were profound Riesling producers. I'm thrilled they have a few cases for me to offer.

This Riesling is insane. It's the most mineral of all the Thörle wines. Thörle is in the Rheinhessen but they are close to the Rheingau and you can tell it most from this wine as it has that excess minerality. The 2014 Thörle Schlossberg Riesling ($35.99 on a 4 pack) is sort of like a cross between German riesling and Grand Cru Chablis.  

The nose is classic, pure huge mineral riesling.  I mean this thing just wafts and wafts with searing and intense minerals. Also bitter melon and honey add complexity. So stunning.

The palate is also a mineral rockstar but has forceful driving stone fruits as well. It's a beautiful, regal, aristocratic elegant wine that is firing on all cylinders.  There is also lovely, pure, clear, pithy and intense citrus fruit with grippy acidity but this wine is, like great classic Chablis, all about the minerality that comes from the limestone soils.  That's the nucleus. The protons, neutrons and electrons are the fruit, honey and acid. This is an utterly brilliant wine with just incredible focus and purity that is as transparent as air in its expression of its terroir.  I know that you're thinking, "oh another great riesling," but these guys are really, really special and the Schlossberg which I only offered in 16 and now this 14 reup.  You really need to try at least a bottle of this.  You'll be annoyed you didn't buy more but, I'm warning you so my conscience is clear.


I really cannot think of an estate that has so rapidly gone from making generic juice to having 3 grape clusters in the Gaut-Mileau, the famous German wine guide. In 2006 Christophe Thörle and his brother, Johannes took over from his parents and decided to do significant improvements in the vineyard and the resultant wines are stunning examples of what can be achieved from the old limestone and loess soils of Saulheim, which is their little slice of heaven in the Rheinhessen. The Thorle brothers took over an estate that sold most of its grapes and within under a decade have turned it into one of the hottest new estates in Germany. Everyone in Germany knows Thörle as all the top German winemakers gave a nod of approval when I mentioned that I am working with Thörle. I truly love these wines. The Thörles make the wines the hard way - with meticulous work in the vineyards. All spontaneous yeasts, no fertilizers, no herbicides or pesticides.  The brothers are very serious about every aspect of their work but are also incredibly friendly. 

2016 Thoerle Spatburgunder Gutswein - $21.99  ($19.99 a bottle, $227.88 12 bottle case) (LIMITED) 2014 Thoerle Riesling Schlossberg - $37.99 ($143.96 4-pack) (LIMITED)