Stuart Pigott
Andi Schneider Has Joined The Club
- Totally Different Style from Frohlich and Donhoff
- Refined Nahe Fruit But with Thunderous Minerality
- Some of the Craziest Values I Sell...from Anywhere
2016 K.H. Schneider Marbach Riesling Trocken
- An Utterly Amazing Wine (95 Points) for $29.99
- Pure, Elegant, Preceise Minerality
- Interwoven Nahe Fruit
- A Brilliant, Yet Distinctive Nahe Masterpiece
2016 K.H. Schneider Roter Tonschiefer Trocken
- The More Joyous Younger Brother
- Meyer Lemon, Floral Mineral and Nahe White Cherries
- 93 Points for $20.99 - Stock Up as Much As You Can
Stuart Piggot, One of the 3 German Reviewer Superstars, Loves These Wines!
If I've got one producer amongst my German Riesling producers that has risen to the top except he
Andi kind of reminds a bit of the position that Hofgut Falkenstein was in for many years before he was catapulted into fame. Andi Schneider is in a better position than Falkenstein was in when I was selling them on the Upper East Side. Andi has been given very high praise and write-ups by Stuart Piggot for his 2016's and 2015's. His 2016 dry wines are stunning examples of Andi's electric high acid style. These wines will wake you up. It's Nahe so the fruit is more red cherries and a bit riper, but honestly when these wines are young the fruit is not really what they are about. They are about terroir, the amazing energy of Riesling and the insane minerality of Andi's special nook in Sobernheim which is not as famous as Bockenau or Niederhausen but that will change. Andi is putting Sobernheim on the map. These are amongst the best values we sell. Especially with Stuart's reviews.
A Brief Note on the 2016 Vintage
A quick little thing. 2016s are the greatest vintage that I've ever worked with where it's like a mystery it's a great vintage. It's a great vintage for Riesling in the Nahe/Mosel as evidenced by Stephan Rheinhardt's recent Mosel 2016 report and David Schidknecht's 2016 Nahe report. It's hard to believe from a consumer point of view that there is another great vintage after the last great vintage. Well that's the way it is. But the style of 2016 is that they are drinking like a dream young. Give them 2-3 years and maybe they will close but I've only really encountered a few that have been. It's got great acidity and structure and nice salty acids and minerals. It also has a level of refinement that will ultimately define it. It's especially great as many to all of the 2015s are slammed shut which likely will be the story for the next 5 years.
A Brief Note on Andi's 2016s
I don't know if many of you have had the 12 Marbach or Domberg recently but I highly recommend opening a bottle as these are drinking terrific right now and starting to show the insane fruit Andi can get. It takes time though. I had '07 and '09 Marbach as well at the estate and they were both stunning. Age is this wine's friend. Now in 2016, he has made the best wines in his own style. Andi seems to contain the ripeness of the Nahe and express the thunderous minerality in a unique and striking way. There is a deft purity to these incredibly crafted wines. He also has rip roaring high acids like Muellen or Schätzel. He is using 100% spontaneous yeasts and ages his wines in old large oak barrels. They have a texture to them that is like nothing else. Dense and pithy but so elegant and weightless and with an electric acid backbone. So detailed. I love drinking these wines and they last incredibly long. Andi made his most elegant and weightless wines in 2014 and then in 2915 he crushed it and made massive wines that will need longer than normal. He has outdone himself in 2016. He has a longer elevage than most and his "GG" wines have just been bottled in the last few months. Along with Martin Muellen in the Mosel, Andi Schneider is making Grand Cru wines for a song. A pittance. The prices are criminal as Andi is NOT in the VDP which means his wines are seriously underpriced. Producers making world class wine from Grand Cru sites that are not in the VDP are where the value is at in German Dry Riesling today.
First up is one of Andi's top bottlings. I gave grown to adore this site. It is a great site that achieve the heights of a Felsenberg or Felseneck with proper aging. The 2016 K.H. Schneider Marbach Riesling Trocken which can be had for $29.99 a bottle on a 4-pack, which can be considered here for all intents and purposes an unclassified Grosses Gewachs (German Grand Cru) as he is not in VDP, the German trade association (only VDP members get to call their wines Grosses Gewachs). Stuart Piggot gave this wine 95 pts. Neither Rheinhardt nor Schildhnexkt have ever visited. It is so powerfully mineral, yet as it opens up it becomes more and more fruity. And the stunning 2016 refinement and cloud-like minerality allied with precision and conciseness. It is some of the best and cleanest Riesling fruit I have tasted of what fruit is there! More to come but it will take its time. Nose is complex with lemon zest, lemon curd, fresh cut grass, white cherries and smoke. There are hints of fresh fruit but the Marbach mineral presence shows through strong. That minerality, even with air, comes through more and more. The palate is an exercise in precision, depth and complexity with gorgeous elegant acidity woven throughout. There is also beautiful driving elegant and distinctive minerality that really is the star of this wine. The acid is off the charts and makes this wine so explosive. The length is very, very impressive as in '16 the wines just don't stop sometimes and the mineral persistence makes this wine just that much more special. It has a cloud like impression with all the structure. The structure is impressive and I see this aging gracefully, albeit slowly for 20 years. This is not a fruit bomb Riesling but lithe, lacey and expressive with staggering structure. In a word wonderful. This is limited as usual. Here is Stuart Piggot's 95 pt review.
"The stone fruits, smoky minerality and very elegant acidity of this wine just don't want to stop. Breathtakingly mineral finish. So impressive now, but has decades of potential." 95 PTS Stuart Piggot
Next up is the 2016 K.H. Schneider Roter Tonschiefer Trocken for as little as $20.99 on a 4-pack. This is a wine I never have enough of and alas in 2016 it is more allocated than the above Marbach. The 2016 is by far the best one ever made. This is silly for $20.99 Piggot also gave it 93 pts. The fruit is terrific and so pure. Lots of Meyer lemon, floral and mineral aromas. Big, big minerals. Also classic Nahe white cherries. Lots of them. The concentration is super impressive for this 1er Cru style wine. I mean it has baby GG-like concentration and we are taking about a $20 bottle of Riesling. Wonderful acidity. The 2016 Roter Ton Schiefer is perhaps a bit more minerally then the 2015, but the 2015 needs 3-6 yeas to show really well. It can be drunk young but the 2016 is lights out now. Really really slatey nose. I mean mega slate. Big and ripe palate with terrific complexity. So juicy and so clean with wonderful fruit and real sense of energy and seriousness. Great balance and liaise: This is a terrific value at $20.99 and has to be considered a case purchase even though I don't have much. You will teach reach for this as much as I do. Below is Piggot's Review. This is limited.
"Packed with fruit and herbal aromas this is a bold and juicy wine with just a hint of smoke. The citrusy acidity is beautifully integrated. The long finish is dramatic and expressive. Drink or hold." 93 PTS Stuart Piggot
2016 K.H. Schneider Marbach Riesling Trocken "GG" - $31.99 ($119.96 4-pack) (LIMITED)
2016 K.H. Schneider Sobernheimer Riesling "Roter Tonschiefer" Trocken - $22.99 ($83.96 4-pack) (VERY LIMITED)
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