- Reminds Me of High Quality Vosne Romanee 1er Cru
- So Much Dense Fruit on the Nose, One Can Get Lost
- Explosive on the Palate
- Amazing Tension, Huge Fruit, Stunning Purity and Freshness
- A 15-20 Year Wine
- At $47.99, Simply a Preposterous Value
- 2018 Jaspis got 18.5, Rhini is a Small Level Below
"The man is a superstar, whose Pinots are up there with the very best." - Tim Atkin, Master of Wine and award-winning wine journalist, broadcaster and commentator
"Ziereisen is a little bit like Bayern Munich. Another dimension of complexity and expression." - Stephan Reinhardt, The Wine Advocate German Reviewer 11/6/15 (Facebook)
German Wine Collection of the Year
2015 Gault Milleau
Sonnet 126: O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy pow'r
BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy pow'r
Dost hold time's fickle glass his sickle hour,
Who hast by waning grown, and therein show'st
Thy lovers withering, as thy sweet self grow'st-
In nature, sovereign mistress over wrack,
As thou goest onwards still will pluck thee back,
She keeps thee to this purpose, that her skill
May time disgrace, and wretched minute kill.
Yet fear her, O thou minion of her pleasure;
She may detain but not still keep her treasure.
Her audit, though delayed, answered must be,
And her quietus is to render thee.
Like Lines in 126, In Short Supply
For some reason, every time I want to sell Ziereisen's Rhini, it is in short supply (i.e. it's sold out). I think it must be that it is quite a step down in price from his top bottling (Jaspis) and only a slight step down in quality. In any case, the last vintage I was able to grab any was 2015 so I made a point to sell it early (in March) to leapfrog the greedy Germans and Swiss who have been hogging this wine.
I introduced this offer with sonnet 126 which has only 12 lines as opposed to the normal 14. It, like many of Shakespeare's sonnets, speaks to the ephemerality of beauty. As I vigorously battle the inevitable consequences of age, it is a theme that perhaps speaks to me more than it might have in former times.
The Ziereisen Hierarchy Explained
1) The Blauer Spätburgunder which is like Bourgogne Rouge level, but like the most extraordinary one you have ever had.
2) Then you have Tschuppen next which is like like a very high quality regional wine, like a Côte de Nuits Villages.
3) Next up there is Schulen which is like a high quality village wine from Chambolle or Volnay.
4) Now we come to Rhini which is like a high quality elite 1er Cru. Like a Clos St. Jacques or a Les Petit Monts.
5) Above that is Jaspis which is like a 2nd tier Grand Cru. Think Echezeaux or Corton.
6) Then the top of the line (more on that below) is Jaspis Alte Reben which is like an elite Grand Cru like Richebourg or Romanee St. Vivant.
Hanspeter Ziereisen is one of the world's greatest winemakers and everything he makes is just brilliant.
There is a rare beauty in Hanspeter's wines. Each one is an exhilarating experience. He is a true artist. His inspiration is Burgundy but the wines are so uniquely of where they come from as well. You have a Burgundian sensibility with a Baden soul. Each time I open one I am at a loss for words. I am spoiled to have a nice stash of his wines. Each one is just an artist at peak. The quality is so high for every bottle I am in awe. They drink so much higher than what I charge. They are values of the highest degree. He gets stunning fruit. The fruit in these wines is dense, so pure and vibrant and explosive. Truly extraordinary. There is a purity to the fruit in the Baden Pinots that cannot be reproduced anywhere. Hanspeter is the Daddy of it all. He is Baden Pinot Noir. They all look up to him. He is the Aubert de Villaine of Germany. Every producer I have met in Germany not only knows Hanspeter Ziereisen, but has an immense respect for him.
There is a rare beauty in Hanspeter's wines. Each one is an exhilarating experience. He is a true artist. His inspiration is Burgundy but the wines are so uniquely of where they come from as well. You have a Burgundian sensibility with a Baden soul. Each time I open one I am at a loss for words. I am spoiled to have a nice stash of his wines. Each one is just an artist at peak. The quality is so high for every bottle I am in awe. They drink so much higher than what I charge. They are values of the highest degree. He gets stunning fruit. The fruit in these wines is dense, so pure and vibrant and explosive. Truly extraordinary. There is a purity to the fruit in the Baden Pinots that cannot be reproduced anywhere. Hanspeter is the Daddy of it all. He is Baden Pinot Noir. They all look up to him. He is the Aubert de Villaine of Germany. Every producer I have met in Germany not only knows Hanspeter Ziereisen, but has an immense respect for him.
Up today is the 2018 Zieriesen Spätburgunder "Rhini" for $47.99 a bottle on a 4-Pack is so extraordinary. I mean I cannot think of a $50 bottle of Pinot Noir I'd rather have in the world of wine. It is just a marvel. The 2018 Rhini reminds me most of a high quality Vosne Romanee 1er Cru.
The nose is hugely expressive when I had it. It was also recently bottled. That is just incredible as travel bottle shock is a bad thing and bottling is like that, so I was shocked how good it was (it will be much better this Fall). Big nose. Iron, red fruits, like small intense berries. Dark plums. There is so much dense fruit on the nose one can get lost. Spices. A compelling earthiness. Almost like an earthy perfume. Big cherries as well. Just a kaleidoscope of aromas. I got lost in this nose. I was shocked it was bottled so recently.
The Palate. The wine takes over your palate. This wine is in like 4D it is so complex. There is a purity to the tiny berry fruit that just explodes in your mouth and gently dissipates over minutes. Amazing tension. It is just amazing this wine is $48. It's actually obscene. There are big tannins, but they are oh so sweet, but also noble and suggesting of a long life. Huge, huge fruit. Stunning purity and freshness. The most incredible acids. Thunderous. So concentrated and almost bruiser-like, yet so elegant. How do they do that? So dense. So deep. It is a masterpiece. It's a Rhini that has 15-20 years of evolution in it. It's that complex and good and ageworthy. The palate is just fantastic and will be one of your wines of the year. Very masculine and intense versus the more elegant ballerina like Schulen.
It is 100% whole cluster fermentation which is very rare at Ziereisen or in Germany. Sometimes he will do 50%, sometimes none, sometimes 15%. The man is an artist. He has got it down. It's aged in 20% new and 80% old barriques.
The 2017 got a preposterous 17.5 by Michael Schmitt at Jancis Robinson. Below is the review.
"Medium-depth cherry colour with salmon-pink rim. Although there is some really ripe cherry fruit on the nose, it has to share the fragrant honours with wood spices and an intriguing mineral scent somewhere between earthy and peaty. Although the tannins are still quite obstreperous and furry, the Rhini just oozes juice, the flavour reflecting ripeness with the taste of black cherry and the acidity with animating morello cherry. Toasting at its best, setting free some spicy nuances, but without any burnt or charred side-effects. A compact wine with plenty of edge." - 17.5, Michael Schmitt @ Jancis Robinson (2017)
"From Jurassic soils with iron-rich layers of loam, macerated for six weeks and aged in Assmann barriques for two years, the 2017 Rhini offers a deep, pure, fresh and serious bouquet of dark fruits intermixed with smoky and toasty notes as well as red chili or paprika aromas and notes of raw meat and dark spices. Silky textured, rich and enormously juicy on the palate, this is a remarkably finessed Pinot with good freshness, very fine tannins and a long, tight, structured and iron-fresh finish. The wine is dense, fleshy, very intense, remarkably long and complex. The 2017 Rhini Pinot Noir is surely on a good 1er cru level. 13% alcohol. Tasted from lot L 03 20 in July 2020." - 93 Points, Stephen Reinhardt, Wine Advocate (2017)
2018 Jaspis Pinot Noir Jancis Robinson Score/Review Below (Level above Rhini)
"Medium to deep plum colour with ruby rim. The depth of colour shows that extended maceration on the skins has taken place. The intense fragrance exhibits an attractive perfumed quality of fruit marinated in brandy and spices. Hints of violet and marzipan reflect ripeness and add complexity. This is an infant and you would expect it to almost burst with tannins, which it does ... but they cannot prevent sweet plum and blackberry fruit from exhibiting their juicy potential. Cedar and clove throw their spicy hat into the ring, bitter chocolate and tobacco also make their mark." 18.5, Michael Schmitt, Jancis Robinson
2018 Ziereisen Spatburgunder "Rhini" - $49.99 ($191.96 4-Pack) (*Including Tariff of $5.18)
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