The Road Less Travelled - On the Same Level As Our Top Burgundies - If You Love Burgundy You MUST Try This Wine

 The Next Burgundy Grand Cru
 - This Wine Is In the Same League with Our Top Burgundies
 - Burgundy Is the Ideal of Classically Made Pinot Noir
 - Burgundy Does NOT Have a Monopoly on All of the Great Terroir for Pinot Noir
 - There Is No Magic Pixie Dust
 - Somehow, Switzerland Got Some Too
 - Yes, You Can Drink Burgundy All Day
 - But Burgundy Is About Appreciating Terroir
 - If You Truly Love Burgundy You MUST Try This Wine
 - Try the Road Less Travelled, At Least Today

2017 Weingut Riehen Le Grand Rouge (Pinot Noir)
 - Reminds Me Most of 2 Grand Crus: Clos de la Roche and Clos Vougeot
 - But with a Distinctively Gorgeous Alpine Element
 - More Burgundian than His Ziereisen Label
 - A Rare Opportunity to Try New Grand Cru Quality Pinot Noir from a Unique Vineyard
 - Stunning Does Not Even Begin to Describe This 
 - Nose: Absurd - Blasting Lipstick Aromatics
 - Intense, Deep, with Morey Spice and an Alpine Element
 - Palate: Dense, Sappy, Explosive, Brooding
 - Grand Cru Quality Texture, Purity, Concentration and Intensity
 - Would Be Well Over $150 Through Traditional 3 Tier Stateside ($97.99 in this Offer)
 - Dark Fruit, Dark End of Season Black Cherries
 - Elite Elegant Richness
 - The Closest Thing I've had to Elite Grand Cru Burgundy that is Not Elite Grand Cru Burgundy

2017 Weingut Riehen Le Grand Blanc
 - The Swiss Francois Cotat La Grand Cote x Haut Brion Blanc
 - Up There with Clos de Neore and Silex Yet So Unique & Different
 - World Class Wine
 - Nose is Lime, Tree Bark, Earthy, Mineral
 - Simply Profound
 - Palate: Explodes with a Superb Mineral Freshness
 - So Dense and Complex
 - Brilliant Inner Mouth Aromas
 - Remarkable Complexity

 - At the Beginning of Its Window; Will Age for 10-15 Years

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that, the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

"That's the problem in Switzerland,...The winemakers are too perfect. The wineries are too clean. They do too much in the cellar to make them perfect, refining and fining..." 

Hanspeter Ziereisen

The Next "Burgundy Grand Cru" and Why You Should Try It

Why is almost all of the elite Pinot Noir in the world grown in Burgundy?  Did you ever ask yourself that question?

Did God or nature just create some magic pixie dust and only sprinkle it on Burgundy?  Or is it that Burgundy is an ideal.  

 - An ideal of a meticulous approach to identifying terroir. 

 - An ideal of following winemaking techniques that allow that terroir to shine through.

 - An ideal that is understood and appreciated by many of the top wine lovers on earth,

And if Burgundy is that ideal and not magic pixie dust, then as wine lovers do we not have the impetus, indeed the obligation to seek out and try new terroir that produces brilliant Pinot Noir?  And more importantly Pinot Noir that is as different from Chambolle as Chambolle is from Vosne or Gevrey.  

The opportunity to experience a completely new wine made by a master in elite terroir is something that most of us cannot do.  The elite wines in Burgundy are known by anyone with a broswer.  And the prices have been bid up.... a lot

The Estate

My story with this estate started a few years ago. I was arranging samples from Ziereisen and they also sent me the Swiss wines (Jost & Ziereisen, now called Weingut Riehen). The 2015/2016 "Le Petit Rouge" was a wine that I got at least 7 emails from clients absolutely blown away by that wine. Then I kept asking Edel about the prices for the 2017 Swiss wines. It took 3 months but I finally got them in November and of course that means I had to instantly sell these two wines. These are wines that are so brilliant because they are Zieriesen making Grand Cru and 1er Cru Burgundy style wines in Swiss Mountain terroir in Basel-Stadt which is really an extension of Baden but it's still in Switzerland. It's an insane combo and the level of distinction here is hard to beat. They are incomparable. Today I have the Grand Cru White and Grand Cru Pinot of Weingut Zieriesen.

The First Wine

For me for a new wine to be delicious and distinctive like this is as rare as it gets. It has something to it that I've never had or tasted before in Pinot Noir and I can only assume that it is the quality of growing grapes in the mountains. The AOC is Basel-Stadt and the soil is blend of limestone and loess. This needs, no demands, a two hour decant. It was pretty tight when I opened it but I had faith that a wine Hanspeter had a hand in would eventually reveal its greatness. And oh man is it great.

I don't often get Biblical.  But it's not often I get to be the first store in the US to sell a Grand Cru quality Pinot Noir.  And it's not just any random Pinot Noir, it's a Pinot Noir made by one of the top 2 German producers of pinot noir and his protege.  The Germans and Swiss are scooping up the insanely small production as these are incredible world class wines that are taking their rightful place in the constellation.  This is a big deal.  My fingers are almost tripping over themselves I'm so excited to be writing this offer.

I'm thrilled to offer the Grand Cru style wine today from Weingut Riehen which is  the 2017 Weingut Riehen Le Grand Rouge (Pinot Noir) for $97.99 a bottle on a 3-Pack. This is the Swiss equivalent of

the Jaspis Alte Reben and you all know how profound that wine is. This is as profound but it's completely different. Like the difference between a Richebourg and a Corton Bressandes (if I had to pick two random Burgundy Grand Crus out of a hat). But if there was one village that this epic wine reminded me of it was Morey St. Denis and Clos de la Roche and/or Clos Vougeot. Both of these when done correctly have a distinct earthy spice that sets these two Morey Grand Crus apart. The Le Grand has that but with an alpine mountain twist to it. It's quite profound and makes this wine all the more alluring. What a wine. Stunning does not even begin to describe it.

Nose is absurd. Dark fruit, dark end of season black cherries. Bursting from the glass and with that telltale Ziereisen fruit purity. Really intense and deep aromas that you can get lost in. So much of that Morey spice I was alluding to earlier. It's hypnotizing. The nose gives off those pungent blasting aromatics like lipstick does. Nose is all woodland berries, mountain spice, insane florals and sweet herbals and unreal mountain cherry. So alpine and floral. Captivating and enveloping aromas. Plum skin as well that is so so fine. Stunning purity, breadth and detail the nose. Enchanted forest floor aromas. Keeps changing and changing. Just stunning. 9.6 or 9.7 on the nose. Smell like Grand Cru Burgundy.

Dense, sappy and just ridiculously explosive palate. This is Grand Cru all the way in texture, purity, concentration and intensity. It's got that urgency. Amazing texture and mouthfeel with tons of dark fruit and spice. The wine is amazingly brooding and has incredible sweet, ripe yet firm tannins and a fierce mineral backbone. It leaves your mouth watering. Stunning levels of power and concentration. The quality of the tannins is something special. So fine. Like silk. ZOMG the palate. Insane fruit and sweetness. So sweet and so intense. Wow. Mid to late season red and black cherries. Just so elegant and pure. Suave and chewy but silken tannins and impossible length. Just sickness. So long. Endless. Sappy and noble. There is a very serious and substantial structure here. This is truly amazing wine. Better than the 15. 9.6 for now.

After air the texture on this is truly stunning. So velvety. Amazing sweetened and no hard edges. Nose has so much Burgundian sous bous now and really is in Clos Vougeot territory. Brilliant. An elite wine. This is very close to a 9.7 but not quite. Only age is holding it back now. It's a 9.69999999.

This will age 20+ years and probably shouldn't be touched till 2025. What a wine.  This is to be buried in the cellar. It needs maybe 10 years or a 2-5 hour decant if one wants to try it young.

Every single wine Ziereisen makes worthy of your attention. Every single one. They consistently exceed expectations more than any other winery we sell. It's truly amazing. Neither grape nor country can contain the genius of Hanspeter Ziereisen. The next wine shows that Hanspeter when he is not reigned in by rules of what can be in what wine from one place aka the appellation system that he does not particularly care for, we see the true genius at work. Hanspeter loves and adores Burgundy but it has its limits. The Swiss winery is more bound by Burgundy than the German winery but the project is to emulate Burgundy via Switzerland and the wines really do that. Today's wine is startlingly original but still rooted in Burgundian tradition. And yes it's a Sauvignon Blanc that can only be described as Elite Francois Cotat x Haut Brion Blanc combined with the energy and refinement that a top Ziereisen wine brings.

The 2017 Weingut Riehen Le Grand Blanc which is 100% Sauvignon Blanc can be had for $97.99 a bottle on a 3-pack. The Le Petit Blanc Sauvignon is my favorite Sauvignon Blanc in the world and sells out so quickly from the winery. I think I've offered it twice. But today, man oh man, we got a new frontier and a wine that is as Grand as any Grand Cru Sauvignon Blanc I've ever had. It's basically the Swiss Francois Cotat La Grand Cote x Haut Brion Blanc. This wine has elegance and refinement that will make your head shake. It is haunting and so refined which for me is the character of any Grand Cru wine rooted in Burgundy tradition.

I Generally Hate Sauvignon Blanc.  

Sauvignon Blanc is generally about as basic as it gets. I might as well watch Titanic with my glass of my 240 hl/ha factory made New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and bask in the glory of my mediocrity. 

...Yet There Are Exceptions. You've got exceptions like Cotat, Dagueneau, Haut Brion and Vatan. They have great terroir but also are unique and out of the box winemakers. It's no coincidence they take this maligned grape, with the help of some nifty terroir and make some the world's greatest Sauvignon Blancs. But don't dare call them that. Silex, Graves & Chavignol are what they go by and what attracts wine lovers like bees to honey. I think this wine is in that league. It's totally different as it is a mountain style of Sauvignon but that is what makes it all the more compelling. This is a brilliant bottle. It's on par with Cotat Les Monts Damnes. 

Below is my note for the 1er Cru Le Petit Sauvignon from 2016. I haven't had the 2017 Le Grand Sauvignon. Just imagine this but x 10 and a million times for refined, concentrated and long. With structure to age 15+ years.

Nose is lime, tree bark, earthy, mineral and just profound. There is Sauvignon DNA there but this is a great wine of terroir. It is unmistakable. It's got terrific weight and freshness. It's so juicy. The level of refinement here is Vatan level and Haut Brion Blanc level. This is the ultimate "TRUST ME LYLE WINE."

My god it's like a thunder clap. It's so dense and complex and just explodes on your palate with a superb mineral freshness and brilliant inner mouth aromas. Insane acidity and a very long finish. I've never had a Sauvignon like this before. It's perfect. It's Mountain Sauvignon. Usually Sauvignon is more by the sea and by the rivers. Never in the mountains that I know of. It's so complex. Insanely concentrated and so deep. It's just an explosion. The acid is so lively and the structure is so serious. It as at its best after 48 hours open. Painfully intense and concentrated wine with unreal structure. I think this is a 10-15 year wine. It's drop dead gorgeous and so pure. Like a mountain stream. What a wine. Very limited.

2017 Weingut Riehen Le Grand Pinot Noir - $99.99 ($293.97 3-pack) 

2017 Weingut Riehen Le Grand Sauvignon Blanc - $99.99 

($293.97 3-pack)