Two of the Craziest, Most Sought After Pinot Noirs in Germany - Hundstruck and an Incredible 300 Bottle Rarity

This Is Quite Likely the Next Pinot Superstar in My Portfolio
 - The Fass List Fan Base Is Growing
 - He Has Stupendous Terroir

The Legendary Hundstruck
- One of the best Grand Cru Values I Sell Year in and Year Out
- Furst's Would Cost $300 or So (if You Could Get it Here) - 
- This is VERY Close and Under $60
- Basically the La Tache of Germany
 - One of the Best Vintages of the Last 20 Years in Franken

2011 Christoph Walter Pinot 274 
 - Our Smallest Production Wine
 - 300 Bottles Made (Not a Typo)
 - Only Sold to Michelin Star Restarants (and Me)
 - The Ultimate Collectors' Item
 - Insane Burgundian Nose: Leafy, Earthy, Mushrooms, Truffles
 - Thundrous Sweet Fruit, Hedonistic
 - Amazing Depth and Purity

- Please Let ALL Walter Wines BREATHE Longer Than Any Other Spatburgunder Producer We Sell

I was simply not prepared for what I tasted with Felix Walter, Christophe Walter's 17 year old son.

This was like few tastings I've ever been at because of the unique circumstances. Let me explain. Sebastien Fürst, of the eponymous Rudolf Fürst estate in Bürgstadt, is a good friend of mine (I have visited him every year save one since 2006).  He introduced me to the wines of Paul Weltner and to today's winery, Josef Walter. I am and will always be eternally grateful. What was unique about this opportunity was to taste Sebastien's 15s side by side with Josef Walter's 13s. There were older Walter wines in there as well I had requested as Christophe was on holiday and he left his son Felix there to taste with me and Sebastien agreed to host the tasting. This was an eye opening tasting. I really got to see the brilliance of Centragrafenberg and Hundsruck through two lenses. 15 was a great vintage to compare to the Walter 13s as the vintages are similar except 15 has more finesse I think. 2013 is next to 2015 the best vintage in Franken since 2009. It's Sebastien's 2nd favorite of the last 25 years next to 2015. For me, the 2013's that I tasted with Felix Walter represent another great leap in winemaking and quality at this quiet unassuming estate. I've got two 2013's today from Walter and you need to buy all you can get as these are as impressive Pinot Noirs from Franken that I've ever had, albeit in a different style from Fürst. If Fürst is Romanee Conti of Franken, I'd say Walter is Mugneret-Gibourg or Marquis de Angerville level of quality in comparison. The 13's are benchmarks for Walter. Just profound wines. I've got the '13 Hundsruck and I know everyone wants it but I'm putting it second because I don't want you to miss the first wine.

First up, I have, as there is no other way to put it, something ridiculously special. One of the rarest of the rare. Walter he only sells it to Michelin starred restaurants and never to retail or to people who visit the winery. He made 300 bottles of the Christoph Walter 2011 Pinot 274 which can be had for as little as $52.99 on a 3-pack. But, wait, what is this wine? It is my Franken dream. It is 40% Spatburgunder and 60% Fruhburgunder. Mind. Blown. Also the Pinot 274 clone is the best clone Walter works with. I knew this wine had to exist but only Christoph had the cojones to make it. Make no mistake this wine is drinking superbly at the moment. Fruhburgunder is a Pinot Noir variant that ripens 3 weeks earlier than regular Pinot Noir and is something I swoon for if I can find it. Insane aged Burgundian nose. Sous-bois up the wazoo. Leafy, earthy, mushrooms, truffles, dusty, wet poodle. One of those noses you smell and two things happen. 1), You cannot stop smelling because of the purity and vividness of the aromas and 2), You can't stop smelling because there is no way this is from Germany. It smells most like the 1978 Billard-Gonnet Pommard Rugiens Phillippe Billard opened for me a few years back. It  is all there. I swear it smells like great aged Grand Cru Red Burgundy. Stunning stunning nose. Extraordinary purity and depth. Amazing tannins. Huge, dense, ripe and sweet fruit and killer inner mouth aromas. Stunning secondary flavors of truffle, leather and sweet fruited earth. Big tannins. Amazing. Sweet, sweet fruit. Thunderous. This is as hedonistic as one can get while also being massively structured, dense and fresh. You will not believe this wine. I could not believe this wine and it was trapped in my mind all trio. Longest finish of any wine I had in August of my last trip. I had a lot of wine. This is VERY LIMITED (obviously) and will be ALLOCATED if need be.

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. Now comes the 2013. And boy is this an epic wine. Christophe does not really focus much on marketing.  If he marketed his wines, this wine would cost $125+ through traditional 3-tier pricing as the 2015 Furst Hundstruck GG (he is in the VDP, Christophe is not) is between $103-$160 in Europe. Add in 3 tiers and that is quickly a $300 dollar wine. Considering Keller's Felix goes for $600+ a bottle now great German Pinot from top sites will only go up in value. This is probably why the Fürst wine is not available in the USA. This vineyard is basically the La Tache of Germany except you've got someone else making it besides DRC/Fürst.

I am so excited to offer the Weingut Josef Walter 2013 Spatburgunder "J" Hundstruck for $55.99 on a 3 pack purchase.  As you know by now, Christophe 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 2013's 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 1-2 hour decant. The nose of this wine is insane. This is an amazing wine and there is no one this will not blow away. This is Grand Cru all the way. One of the best Grand Cru values I sell year in and year out.   It then has the classic German Spatburgunder/Pinot Noir nose with a foot in Gevrey-Chambertin. It is a super complex nose and has more layers than the '12 did at this point. Spices, tea leaves (oolong?) huge mint, wet earth, roses, black and red cherries, menthol and so much more! The mint seems to be a character of the terroir as I noticed it in the 15 Fürst as well. Huge palate but light as a feather with insane finesse. The sweet black and cherry fruit is remarkable. How does he do it? 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/black/red/cherry spectrum with a gorgeous hint of licorice. There is incredible, incredible complexity on the palate with soaring internal aromatics.  Maybe even some sweet heirloom tomatoes. It is so elegant yet cuts such a deep swath on the palate. This wine is so serious. The finish is long and very fresh. There is grand structure here. Explosive  and layered. This wine reeks of high class terroir. Big tannins that are incredibly sweet and persistent and unreal freshness. Simply incredible.  Despite the power of the wine, it is still very fresh which is a signature of 2013.  This wine has the structure to age for decades.  This is going to be absolutely phenomenally killer in 5 years.

I must admit that when I started with Christoph Walter, I did not necessarily think that his wines would get the overwhelming reaction that they have among the list.   Yes, he's one of the top makers of pinot noir in Germany. Yes, he has stunning terroir with vineyards in Centgrafenberg and Hundstruck.  Yes, he releases late and the wines are properly aged. But he's such a modest, almost bashful guy that I never thought of him becoming the next rock star at Fass Selections.  Of course, this makes no sense as no one on the list has ever met him and only likes him because of the quality of his wines, but I think that this was my subconscious bias.


Suffice it to say, I was pleasantly surprised with the massive fan love that the wines have gotten. Everyone seems to see in them what I see. These wines are amazingly fresh regardless of vintage or age, and they are ridiculous values. Maybe the best aged red wine values we offer. There are very few wines that I anticipate opening more than Christoph's wines. Every one is beautiful and special. He really reminds me of a red Martin Muellen. The wines have that "je ne sais quoi" that makes them special.

2011 Josef Walter Pinot 274  - $54.99 ($149.97 3-pack) 

2013 Josef Walter Spatburgunder "J" Hundstruck - $57.99

($167.97 3-pack)