Two of the Best Red Wines I Tasted This Year - The Best Reds You Aren't Drinking (VERY IMPORTANT)

2015 Leon Gold Spätburgunder "Wanne"
 - Nose: White Chocolate, Red Cherries, Cassis, Spice, Game
 - An Almost Fixin/Gevrey 1er Cru character
 - Intense Tiny Berry Fruit
 - The BEST Spatburgunder You Are Not Drinking
 - If You Love Ziereisen, Enderle & Moll or Juwel, You NEED This. 

2015 Leon Gold  "Mathes"
 - Made in Honor of His Son
 - Only 300 Bottles Made (72 Left) 
 - The Utimate German Red Collectors' Item
 - Tastes Like $100 Bordeax 
 - Nose: Big Deep and Layered Cassis, Flowers, Leather, Smoke, Tar Leather
 - Absurd Concentration, Explosive, Pure
 - Structure to Last 25+ Years

Sometime as an importer it is hard to taste wine in battle and get an accurate read on it and project how it will be. Especially with a new category. Even more especially in an emerging region. I'm not a clairvoyant but I do my best with drinking windows and how wine will change from barrel to bottle. But even I get it wrong. Today's two wines are two of the best red wines I tasted this year. It's not even a question. I tasted them in barrel in 2016 and 2017 and it was lots of different components to blend in my head. It was hard to picture a finished product first of all and second it was hard to project what that finished product would act like. Both wines today are maybe the two wines I've underestimated most in my wine career as I was so pleasantly surprised when they blew me away last week. I've also got videos of both wines which I'll link down below when I discuss each individual wine.

The winery is Leon Gold who is in Weinstadt, Wurttemberg and it's taken me a few years to get a feel on what he does that is truly special. At first I focused on his Rieslings which I love and adore but are so unlike anything else in Germany (more Austrian styled).  I happily sell his inexpensive reds as well. His Trollinger Alte Reben is a huge list favorite. The wines that I think Leon excels at and will make him famous are his two high end reds.

First up is the 2015 Leon Gold Spätburgunder "Wanne" for $39.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. This is
THE Spatburgunder that is insane that no one really knows about and that is mostly my fault. This is an extraordinary bottle of wine that is like Gevrey 1er Cru but also has that nimbleness that makes German Pinot Noir so special.  This is insanely great. It smells like Galeyrand. Stunning nose of white chocolate, red cherries, cassis, spice, game and an almost Fixin/Gevrey 1er Cru character. Wow. Sweet, silky and sappy with big structure but stunning purity. Sappy and such pure fruit. The fruit is of the tiny berry intensity style and has so much crunch, depth and sap it's almost too much. But yet this is all wrapped in finesse. Wow. Such fruit presence and purity. Deep and cuts a swatch. Stunning. So long. So much cut and sweetness. Big sappy and dense with amazing sweetness and tiny berry intensity. Brilliant structure and density but light, sappy and elegant. Amazing.  It finishes so stoney and earthy yet with so much fruit this really has a real sense of energy and sense of place. Leon's brilliant winemaking skills show so splendidly in this masterpiece.  Here is a VIDEO of me tasting it last week.

The second wine is the 2015 Leon Gold  Mathes for $42.99 per bottle on a 4 pack purchase.  There's only one barrel and he made it in honor of his son who was born that year. He's keeping 100 for the family and I'm getting a small amount of what's left.  It's his son's birth year wine from a great vintage, ya think it's good? 

Sick nose. Herbal/bell pepper with big deep and layered cassis, some sweet wood, but not obtrusive and only adds to the insane complexity and pleasure of the nose. Floral and just beguiling nose. Pepper, smoke tar and leather abound. Smells like it wants to be Haut-Brion's second label but German. I get a Bahans vibe for sure on this. It is stunningly aromatic but wait.

But the palate. Yup. Even better. My goodness. Elegant and structured with insane sap and structure but the freshness is what really sets this apart. This is magical wine. Wow. The wine is so deep, so absurdly concentrated with amazing purity that if you blinded this to anyone they'd say some expensive Bordeaux. Oh man is this juicy and so pleasurable. Just explosive and so pure. Elegant yet brawny. Wonderful, deep wine with sweet fruit and incredibly ripe tannins.


This wine is one of the more ageable red wines I've ever tasted from Germany. This needs at least 10 years and will last for 10-15 after that. I can't believe Germany can make deep, structured, age-worthy red wines like this. This really is a revelation and a learning experience.  It's so good and will last 25+ years and will be significantly better in 5 years. What a wine. This is a monument to how great this vintage truly is in Germany. Do not miss this as this is obviously limited. 72 bottles left. Here is a VIDEO of me tasting it last week.

2015 Leon Gold Spatburgnder "Wanne" - $41.99 ($159.96 4-pack) 

2015 Leon Gold "Mathes" - $44.99 ($171.96 4-pack)