For the First Time Ever - Grosses Gewachs from Weltner in Regular Bottles - Brilliant, Classic 2020 Vintage

 The Brilliant Producer Who Only Had a Cult Following
 - Everyone Loved the Wines
 - Top 20 White Wine Producer in Germany
 - Likely the Best Sylvaners
 - Classic, Brilliantly Well Made
 - But Most People Could Not Store the Bocksbeutels

The Only Franken Grosses Gewachs on Earth in Normal Bottles

We All Begged for a Special Bottling
 - We Need to Show the Love
 - Spring 2022 Shipping Season

2020 Vintage
 - Classic, Classic, Classic Vintage
 - The Amount of Work in the Vineyards Was Historic
 - There Was Nothing Else to Do
 - These Wines Have Always Aged Brilliantly - 2020 Will Be No Exception

2020 Weingut Weltner Hoheleite Sylvaner Grosses Gewachs
 - Unreal Expansive Nose
 - Stunningly Clean and as GG as It Gets
 - Palate: Packed, Structured and Dense
 - Amazing Purity and Uncommon Depth
 - Super Sappy, Rich, and Vibrant
 - Wonderful Structure and Silly Depth
 - Mineral Expression is Taut, Playful
 - So Distinctive
 - Arguably the Greatest Sylvaners on Earth
 - Around $50 with Tariff Rebate

2020 Paul Weltner Hoheleite Riesling Grosses Gewachs
 - Sick, Dramatic Nose
 - Panoply of Citrus Fruits
 - Freshly Crushed Mineral Made From Petrified Lemons
 - Such Aristocratic Aromas
 - Palate: Flavor Density
 - Insane Inner Mouth Aromas
 - Lovely Dry Extract
 - Insane Purity
 - Gentle and So, So Mineral
 - These Are So Unique and So Spectacular

 - Around $50 with Tariff Rebate

An Icon Begone

For years, I've heard, "I love the wines but I have no place to put the Bocksbeutels."  

So finally, I broke down and basically begged Paul to bottle all of his wines for us in standard bottles. I felt awful - bocksbeutels are an important part of the Franconian wine culture. But I had to do it and Paul agreed.  

We had to commit to a certain number of cases. So I am taking a risk here but I am hoping that all of you who love his wines will support us in this endeavor.

The 2020 Vintage

The 2020 vintage will be something very special and classic. First, the classic part. That boils down to weather. The special part is because I think that the winemakers spent more time in the vineyards than any other vintage. There was obviously not much else to do.

"2020 is little bit like 2016 or maybe like 2018" - 2016 is my favorite vintage at Weltner. 

"More mineral - deep but lighter in the volume rougher than 2019." - Elegance and finesse rule the day at Weltner in 2020

"Riesling as I told you - is very low in alcohol (for GG) but very pure and mineral deepness - little bit of apricot (aprikose) and very straight and deep."- Low in alcohol is music to my ears. 

"Sylvaner is classik - pure spicy rounder  than 2020 classic year." (sic) Classic. We like classic.- maybe more an "professional" 

The Wall of Flavor

What is The Wall of Flavor? It is an internal description of the effect that certain elite wine producers bring to the table. There are so few that do it. Generally it only happens with German wines but it can happen outside Germany at estates such as Guy Roulot. It is also only used for describing white wines. It's when the acid, minerals, fruit and minerals explode in your palate like a dam has been released and the liquid rushes down your palate like a wall. But that wall all has flavor. The wall of flavor is intense but it does not lack focus or precision. And in Weltner's case it has elite elegance as well which is what makes
the Weltner Wall of Flavor so compelling. I've never not had a Weltner wine that doesn't have The Wall of Flavor. But the finest expression of this unique vinous phenomenon is in Paul's two Grosses Gewachs from Hoheleite. They are made from Riesling and SIlvaner and are both Fass core legend wines. 

The Wines

These notes are based on my conversations with Paul, his notes and mine on the 2018 vintage.  I have not yet tasted these as it is impossible now with this new format.

Up first is the Big Daddy, the Grand Pubah, the Bigger Than Life, the 2020 Weingut Weltner Hoheleite Sylvaner Grosses Gewachs for $59.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. This is in a NORMAL 750 ML bottle. 

You can't believe how good the Sylvaner Hoheleite is that it does this floaty thing on your palate for like maybe 2-3 seconds as your tasting it and that's like the batter's knee buckling. Your palate buckles on this Weltner Sylvaner GG because it floats so beautifully just for a flash of two or three seconds but you flutter, your stomach feels like when you're on a first date with that special someone, you may laugh uncontrollably because that's, at least what great Weltner GG does to me. The Weltner Sylvaner GG has THAT thing. You shouldn't really need more of a note than this but I'll deliver one anyway.

Unreal expansive nose.  Stunning nose of wintergreen, forest floor, some barely there apricot, spice, flowers, mint, wet stones and a sense of serious deepness. So much more to reveal with time of course but stunningly clean and as GG as it gets. As it airs it gets krazor. Cucumber, vegetables, herbal, apricot, huge minerals, lanolin, bouillon, lime zest, soupy with unreal clarity and a transporting quality to it. The sense of nobility of the aromas is just unreal. 

The palate is packed, structured and dense with amazing purity and uncommon depth. Super sappy, rich, and vibrant with wonderful structure and silly depth. Akin to a Grand Cru Chablis. The mineral expression is taut, playful yet broad and intense. It's so dry and it sucks all the saliva out of your mouth. Not punishing dry. So so long. It's complex, concentrated and ultra dry. So so so long.  The mineral sap on the finish is remarkable as is the finish. This is beautiful. This is remarkable accessible for a young Hoheleite GG but really will reward those who wait 3-5 years. Below is the 94 Points 2018 Review by Stephan Rienhardt as well as the Jancis review.

"The "Grosses Gewächs" ("GG") from the Rödelseer Küchenmeister is the 2018 Sylvaner Hoheleite "VDP. Grosse Lage," which opens with a fascinatingly pure, fresh and complex, mineral and discreetly yeasty bouquet of white fruits and crushed stones. Quite flinty. On the palate, this is a full-bodied, lush and intense, well-concentrated yet finessed and persistently salty and mineral Hoheleite with grip and structure and a very long and intense finish. Highly promising. Tasted in February 2020."  94 Points, Wine Advocate (2018)

"Paul Weltner does not try to create a new image for Silvaner but works on preserving the authenticity of the classic style. Earthy is not a dirty word for him and is therefore allowed to manifest itself as part of a mineral expression, with herbal and stony components completing the profile. The 2018 Hoheleite almost tastes a little medicinal with a dash of quinine, putting invigorating freshness before fruity opulence. (MS)" 18.0, Jancis Robinson (2018)

The 2020 Paul Weltner Hoheleite Riesling Grosses Gewachs can be had for $59.99 a bottle on a 4-Pack. This is in a NORMAL 750 ML bottle. This and the Sylvaner GG from Hoheleite are the two wines that inspired me to come up with the "wall of flavor" descriptor. The 2020 is just a sick wine. It has periodic table levels of minerality and the structure to age 10-15 years and likely longer.  

Sick, dramatic nose with wintergreen, herbals up the wazoo, spice, flowers and pink grapefruit. Almost a greenhouse effect on the nose just sickness. Some faint Riesling stoniness. Smells like a JRR Tolkien scene. As a customer said on Delectable, "these wines are like opening a cook fridge on a hot day." The nose is so expansive it's like someone atomized a riverbed with dynamite the second you open the bottle.  As with all Weltner wines they are all better on Day 2. Wow. What a nose. Just beyond. These are little urns of magic. Superb aristocratic aromas. Just so much wintergreen complexity. Rubber. So good. So mineral. 

On the palate, there are insane inner mouth aromas. The flavor density here is so intense. So dense, so chewy, so mineral and so dry. Lovely dry extract and just insane purity. But also gentle and so so so mineral. I don't think there is any fruit. And that's a good thing. Long, meandering, finish with sick purity, and length. Chewy. So complex. Ethereal.   On day 2, so grippy and juicy. Dense and super pure with epic length but so refined and elegant. Wow the acid and explosiveness is just bonkers on this wine. This is Batard Montrachet level. Holy shit. 

Drink now through 2045 but i think in 8-10 years this will stop time. The 2020 has terrific acidity but also this absolutely compelling roundness and textured richness on the palate that just slays you. It's special. Like Coche has that opulence, Roulout has that precision and clarity and like Keller has that roundness this has that extra that makes it one of the world's great wines. The finish is unbeatable. It lasts and lasts and late. It's electric. The way this wine melds with your palate is remarkable.

2020 Weingut Weltner Hoheleite Sylvaner Grosses Gewachs - $61.99 ($239.96 4-Pack) (Including Tariff of $7.17) 

2020 Weingut Weltner Hoheleite Riesling Grosses Gewachs - $61.99 ($239.96 4-Pack) (Including Tariff of $7.17)