The Calder of Pinot Noir: There Are Many Incarnations of Pinot Noir - This Is a Distinct One That We All Must Try

 2015 Josef Walter Frühburgunder Centrgrafenberg "J" 
 - This Will Blow Away the Most Jaded of Tasters
 - Early Ripening Pinot Noir That Is Off the Charts
 - From One of the Great Vineyards of Europe : Centgrafenberg
 - A Nose Out of Hansel and Gretel...
 - ...Smoke, Flowers, Forest Scents, So Many Spices: Baking Spices, Cooking Spices
 - Off the Chain Fruit - The most Intense Cherries Ever
 - Black Tea, Cassis
 - An Intense Perfume
 - Palate: Ultra Refined
 - Velvet Texture
 - Stunning Purity and Texture
 - Amazing Tiny Berry Fruit Intensity
 - Incredible Balance
 - Terrific Brightness - Fresh Cherries, a Hint of Licorice
 - Only In Germany Do You Get Pinot of This Quality Under $80 (It's $47.99)

2019 Josef Walter Riesling Centgrafenberg
- Same Quality Level as Battenfeld Spanier Mölsheim
- It's a 9.5 for Me
- Angles, Precision and Straight Lines
- The Best Dry White Vintage in Franken I've Ever Tasted
- Gorgeous Nose
- Perfect Balance of Minerals, Confectionary Aromas and Fruit
- Awesome Depth and Purity
- Palate: Deep, Incisive, Complex and So Pure
- Dense and So Elegant
- Aggressive Minerality
- Crazy Value for $27.99 with Tariffs
- The Longest Finish on an Inexpensive Riesling I've Ever Had

 - Similar to Rudolf Furst Riesling Centgrafenberg ($55+ If Sold Here Via 3-Tier)

The Calder of Pinot Noir

A sculpture is a sculpture is a sculpture.

Of course, that's not really true, is it?  You have stone, bronze, wood, jade, clay andpaper mache.  You have molded, cast, carved or assembled sculptures.  And then there are more realistic and more abstract sculptures.

And then, of course, there is Calder.  Calder's works turn a basic premise of sculpture on its head - that the sculpture doesn't move.  Calfer's sculptures change either as a result of air or motors.  They are ... different beasts.

As pinot noir lovers, we all think that we have discovered the major genres.  Which is quite a feat as there are tons of them even in Burgundy.  But we've tried Pinots from New Zealand, the Santa Cruz Mountains, other parts of California, Oregon, the Loire and different regions in Germany, to name a few.

But of course, there is always one outlier in any category that most of us have never even heard of and for Pinot Noir, that is Fruhburgunder.

Fruhburgunder

Frühburgunder is one of my favorite grapes in the world. It is a mutation of Pinot Noir that ripens three weeks earlier than normal Pinot Noir.  

It is unique even by pinot noir standards.  In a sense, the K2 of Pinot Noir as even most collectors haven't had it.  There are not many well made versions of it.  It's hard to grow and the wild boars love it so you have to net the vines to keep them away.

Fruh is a specialty of the Burgstadt region in Franken, Germany. Christoph Walter is the Frühburgunder whisperer as his version is just completely outrageous. 

I've sold epic aged versions like 2005 and 2007 and 2009. I've sold the 2010 as well which is from a high acid vintage and will age gloriously. I've sold the 2012 which was priced higher than all the others as Christoph thought it was better than every Frühburgunder he has made. I agreed with him and happily sold it.  But then came the 2015 to blow my mind away.

The Wine

The Fruhburgunder in question is the 2015 Josef Walter Frühburgunder Centrgrafenberg "J" for $47.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. The fruit in a young Frühburgunder is akin to nothing I can compare in the world of Pinot. It's almost sweet, but in such a unique way. It's a very Northern part of a Northern wine producing area with a Pinot Noir variant that is ripened three weeks earlier than the normal Pinot Noir. Yes, you've got global warming but the wine should not, by any measure be this ripe, this sweet and this grandiose. But while being ripe and grandiose it also smells like something out of Hansel & Gretel.  

Smoke, flowers, forest scents, so many spices, baking spices, cooking spices, all the spice is what makes Frühburgunder aromatics so intense. But you've also got the florals. This indescribably vivid violet. It makes me think Vosne-Romanee. Just that part. The rest of the wine is pure Centrgrafenberg
Frühburgunder. The wine just killed from the second I poured it to the last sip on day 2.  The spectrum, roundness and opulence of the aromas were spectacular.  You remember these aromas. But with all that spice and florals there is deep, deep fruit. 2015 is an awesome vintage for Pinot in Burgstadt and Franken. It's so complex with deep black cherry. Even some cassis. Black tea. Wet leaves. It never ends. Xmas spice. It's so complex but almost can't be as something complex needs to be stable to be classified as complex. It's that type of nose. So layered and amazingly complex. With air it grows and grows. Just a stunning stunning nose of spice, violets and some discreet oak, bittersweet cocoa, complex mid season cherries, cherry flower, tree bark and it eventually comes across as an intense perfume. Really really fragrant. So deep and the harder one sniffs the more it penetrates your deep nasal cavity without it diffusing. What a nose. So subtle and nuanced and so pretty. Just superb. Some hoisin sauce and soy as well. Outrageously gorgeous. 

The palate does not let down. It's velvet sweet energy. If I had to summarize in three words. It's so sweet, so complex, and incredibly velvety with just awesome balance and pinpoint acidity. What a palate. Velvet. First word that comes to mind. I can't help not say velvet. Textures. So juicy and velvety. What a contrast. Some discreet sweet wood as well that only adds to the allure. The fruit is also super sweet and the palate is ultra refined. 15 is magic at Walter. Incredible freshness and depth and remains lighter in body but as intense as the Spatburgunder J Hundsruck which this can be compared to. Such beautiful cherry skin fruit on the sappy finish. This wine is a delicacy and will only get more delicate as time goes on. What a satin/velvet like texture. Concentrated and such urgent sweet fruit. Just a stunning wine that has decades left but is a youthful treat today. Brilliant! Amazing precision while also delivering just hedonistic sweetness. It really just wants you to love it. Amazing tiny berry fruit intensity and stunning purity and texture. Such velvety tannins that coat the palate and deliver huge sweet fruit on the never ending finish. 

Easily the best young Walter Frühburgunder. It takes over your palate with a texture that is just unreal. I was blown away by this wine.

Up next I have a wine that blew me away and is new at the Walter estate. It's an Ortsweine Riesling. This is the same quality level as Battenfeld Spanier Mölsheim, Weltner Kuchenmeister and Kuhling-Gillot Nierstein. It's a 1er Cru Riesling. The 2019 Josef Walter Riesling Centgrafenberg  an be had for $28.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. Run and get this wine. Buy a case. First of all the wine is brilliant  beyond words and 2nd of all you all will not believe how insane 2019 is. I haven't really had 2019 in context like I had when I tasted this wine. I tasted the 17 and 18 versions of this wine right next to it and while those were very good wines (9.2/9.3 Delectable) the 2019 just blew them away. It's a 9.5 for me. There's a certain something about Riesling from the Centrgrafenberg that is just so Teutonic. Angles, precision and straight lines. Shinmering. The clarity of this wine combined with the precise quality of Centgrafenberg Riesling is always special but this wine brings it into focus in a way you only get in the best vintages. In Franken 2019 has to be the best dry white vintage I've ever tasted. The purity, the breadth and the depth are unparalleled n my 15+ years of tasting Franken whites.  This reminds me of Rudolf Fuerst's version which would be $55+ in the United States if his wines were still sold here. 

Gorgeous nose. Complex. Perfect balance of minerals, confectionary aromas and fruit. Awesome depth and purity. Like a Riesling gumdrop. Superb minerals and an herbal aroma. Deep, subtle and elegant nose. Wow. 

What a palate. Deep, incisive, complex and so pure. Just insane purity. So clean. So balanced. This is really great. Wow, 19 is legit. Savory, sour, sweet and deep. It has it all and all is in harmony. Palate is dense and so elegant with aggressive minerality. So pure. So sappy and deep. Clean and balanced. Just super impressive. After 2-3 hours open is when the 2019 part really shines.  That's when it gains depth, breadth and has that intense sweet minerals cling and depth that only Centgrafenberg Riesling can bring. I won't sell another Riesling this great for $25.99. Without tariffs this is a $20 wine!! I can think of some 2001 German Spatlese that was on this level. Like the 2001 Max Ferdinand Richter Juffer Sonnenuhr Spatlese I sold in another life for $19.99 a bottle. That's an all time value. It's 20 years later and I still think about that wine and people still bring it up with me. That is how this wine will be. Values like this don't come around too often.

The wine is so intense and has the longest finish on an inexpensive Riesling since I don't know when. It never ends. This wine has cling! Like a kitten to its mama this thing never leaves your palate completely. 

2015 Josef Walter Fruhburgunder Centgrafenberg "J" - $49.99 ($191.96 4-Pack) (*Including tariff of $5.33)

2019 Josef Walter Riesling Centgrafenberg - $30.99 ($115.96 4-pack)  (*Including tariff of $2.81)