- Stunning Fruit Density
- Remarkable Fruit Clarity
- These Are Must Buys for Pinot Lovers. Must Buys.
2018 Thörle Probstey Spätburgunder "GG"
- 96 Points Stuart Piggot, $49.99 (Bye Tariffs!)
- Firing on all Cylinders Right off the Bat
- Nose: Deep and Penetrating
- So, So Perfumed
- Wild Cherries, Forest Floor
- Oolong Tea, Minerals and Subtle Spices
- Palate: Sweet, Dense, So Clear
- Sweet, Silky and Super Deep
- Almost Painful Concentration
- Tiny Berry Super High Quality Fruit
2018 Thörle Saulheimer Kalkstein Spätburgunder
- 94 Points, Stuart Piggot, $25.99 on Case Pricing (Bye Tariffs!)
- Amazingly Deep Nose
- Dark Tea and Cherries
- Violets
- Layered, Delicate and Intense
- Palate: Hauntingly Great
- Incredible Density
- Sweet, Layered, Structured and Complex
- God's Licorice
- Incredible Sap and Structure
- Top Tier Deliciousness
- 1er Cru Seriousness as This Aerates
As we noted in the riesling offer, the Thorle brothers are most famous for their pinot noir. Their pinots stood toe to to with very good 1er cru Burgundies at a famous tasting a few years ago. And the Thorles have gotten better since then and their vines are older.
What is the upside for this winery?
Honestly, I have no idea how great these wines can be. They are already stunning and the Thorles are still
very young. The history of German pinot noir is being written before our eyes.
The 2018 Vintage
I just finished tasting through the 2018 Thörle Spätburgunders and they were revelations. These were
stunning wines with fruit density, elegance, terroir character, freshness and some of the cleanest most vivid fruit I've ever tasted in Rheinhessen Pinot Noir. They have progressively gotten better since the first vintage we worked with them in 2014. They have not made a leap, just a slow and steady progression to an elite level of quality where they are today. They work hard and have incredible winemaking skills. The samples they did send me were delayed 4 times because of pandemic related delays to the container / shipping system. So some of my allocations are not as large as I'd like them to be. But in 2019, which is also an excellent Pinot Noir vintage, I will again be able to offer my normal allocations. They made 2
Grand Cru reds in 2018 and I'll start with the one I have the least of.
The Wines
The Vineyard. Probstey is one of their two "Grand Cru" sites and drinks well earlier but still has the ability to age and should be aged for 10-15 years. But Probstey is so seductive young. Probstey is the more windy and is a south facing site with sandy and limestone soil. It's the warmer of the two Grand Cru sites but also has a knack for snappy acids allied with the richness that comes from the warmer site.
The 2018 Thörle Probstey Spätburgunder "GG" which is $49.99 a bottle on a 4-pack is a masterpiece of a Probstey and easily the best young one I've ever tasted. This is the so called "warmer" site but it for me it just means the delivery system for the fruit, mineral and structure is firing on all cylinders right off the bat. The Probstey is the Pinot you pull for your "I only drink red Burgundy" friends and drop this on them blind and their whole world view on Pinot will be altered at the minimum and changed forever at the maximum.
Holy moly. This is psychotic. What a nose. Deep, penetrating, wild cherries, forest floor, and so, so perfumed. An earthy sweetness is just overwhelming. Amazing. So elegant and delicate. Yet so deep and vivid. Best young Probstey Pinot nose ever. Amazing purity to the fruit. High quality here. The deep cherry fruit is constantly changing between dark and light cherries. So detailed and vivid. Just a pleasure to sniff and sniff. Oolong tea, minerals and subtle spices add to the aromatic lightshow. Just ridiculous. Palate is sweet, dense and so clear. The clarity on this is bananas. Sweet, silky and super deep. Velvety tannins and so much energy. Terrific wood spice on the nose. Adds so much. Complexity just beyond.Almost painful concentration. Amazing cherries. A literal tiny cherry explosion. So concentrated with perfect tiny berry super high quality fruit. It just explodes and is so detailed. It's the earthiest, sweetest most perfumed Pinot fruit you can imagine. All balanced by perfect lip-smacking acidity.
Genius.
Finish is all limestone, sweet cherries and velvet. Straight. Really long, intense and very flavorful finish. Like the best sweet tart ever. Really compelling character. These are the results you get from perfectly healthy, ripe Pinot Noir fruit, which Christophe Thörle so eloquently stated in an email to me. A masterpiece. So good today. But will age a decade at least. Below is the 96 Point Piggot review.
"The amazing nose of red cherries with delicate, bitter-chocolate, earth and umami notes sucks you into this deep well of ripe fruit and very fine tannins. Crisp, mineral finish that is spot-on. Already delicious, but just wait a few years! Drink or hold."- 96 Points Stuart Piggot
Are you ready again for absurd prices on wines again that are so absurdly priced you feel a twinge of fun guilt over paying so little for a wine that is good. The 2018 Thörle Saulheimer Kalkstein Spätburgunder can be had for $26.99 a bottle on a 4-pack and $25.99 on a case. This is just the best 1er Cru value maybe ever. The tariffed price was even too inexpensive. This got a 94 from Piggot and it's so unreal in 18 because of how good the fruit quality is in Germany for Pinot Noir. This wine has always been a QPR beast, but in 2018 that is higher than it should be. It's 1961 Maris hitting 61 home runs. It's Ted Williams hitting .400. It's one of those types of wines. I've tasted some 3 tier Pinot at $26.99 and believe me you are not getting this level of quality or anything near it it's not even funny.
Amazingly deep nose. So deep. So classy. Dark tea and cherries. Violets. Layered, delicate and intense. Wow this nose smells like grand cru. It's seriously the best nose I've ever smelled on this wine. It's so refined and vivid. Loads of woodsy aromas, woodland berry, spice and a big mineral element but is in the background as the fruit is popping on the nose Succulent and so juicy with enormous lift and freshness. After air the nose gets more brambly. On day 2, really lovely. Spice. Loamy minerals and terrific lift. Gorgeous earthiness.
Palate is sweet, layered, structured and complex. This needs air but man is it all there. Big vivacious tannins and incredible sap and structure. Fresh and dense. What energy and depth. Big clamps down on the finish. Really long. Palate is hauntingly great. Amazing supple and elegant mouthfeel but with a brilliant red cherry, cranberry, pure and grippy fruits. After air, palate gets even sweeter but high acid and nice sour cherries to counterbalance. With air it gets sweeter, deeper and gains more cut. Cuts a swath across the palate. Great. Long finish. On day 2, palate is lacey, concentrated and so sappy. Awesome depth and grip. Really long and pure. Terrific velvet tannins.
Below is the 94 Point Stuart Piggot rating
very young. The history of German pinot noir is being written before our eyes.
The 2018 Vintage
I just finished tasting through the 2018 Thörle Spätburgunders and they were revelations. These were
stunning wines with fruit density, elegance, terroir character, freshness and some of the cleanest most vivid fruit I've ever tasted in Rheinhessen Pinot Noir. They have progressively gotten better since the first vintage we worked with them in 2014. They have not made a leap, just a slow and steady progression to an elite level of quality where they are today. They work hard and have incredible winemaking skills. The samples they did send me were delayed 4 times because of pandemic related delays to the container / shipping system. So some of my allocations are not as large as I'd like them to be. But in 2019, which is also an excellent Pinot Noir vintage, I will again be able to offer my normal allocations. They made 2
Grand Cru reds in 2018 and I'll start with the one I have the least of.
The Wines
The Vineyard. Probstey is one of their two "Grand Cru" sites and drinks well earlier but still has the ability to age and should be aged for 10-15 years. But Probstey is so seductive young. Probstey is the more windy and is a south facing site with sandy and limestone soil. It's the warmer of the two Grand Cru sites but also has a knack for snappy acids allied with the richness that comes from the warmer site.
The 2018 Thörle Probstey Spätburgunder "GG" which is $49.99 a bottle on a 4-pack is a masterpiece of a Probstey and easily the best young one I've ever tasted. This is the so called "warmer" site but it for me it just means the delivery system for the fruit, mineral and structure is firing on all cylinders right off the bat. The Probstey is the Pinot you pull for your "I only drink red Burgundy" friends and drop this on them blind and their whole world view on Pinot will be altered at the minimum and changed forever at the maximum.
Holy moly. This is psychotic. What a nose. Deep, penetrating, wild cherries, forest floor, and so, so perfumed. An earthy sweetness is just overwhelming. Amazing. So elegant and delicate. Yet so deep and vivid. Best young Probstey Pinot nose ever. Amazing purity to the fruit. High quality here. The deep cherry fruit is constantly changing between dark and light cherries. So detailed and vivid. Just a pleasure to sniff and sniff. Oolong tea, minerals and subtle spices add to the aromatic lightshow. Just ridiculous. Palate is sweet, dense and so clear. The clarity on this is bananas. Sweet, silky and super deep. Velvety tannins and so much energy. Terrific wood spice on the nose. Adds so much. Complexity just beyond.Almost painful concentration. Amazing cherries. A literal tiny cherry explosion. So concentrated with perfect tiny berry super high quality fruit. It just explodes and is so detailed. It's the earthiest, sweetest most perfumed Pinot fruit you can imagine. All balanced by perfect lip-smacking acidity.
Genius.
Finish is all limestone, sweet cherries and velvet. Straight. Really long, intense and very flavorful finish. Like the best sweet tart ever. Really compelling character. These are the results you get from perfectly healthy, ripe Pinot Noir fruit, which Christophe Thörle so eloquently stated in an email to me. A masterpiece. So good today. But will age a decade at least. Below is the 96 Point Piggot review.
"The amazing nose of red cherries with delicate, bitter-chocolate, earth and umami notes sucks you into this deep well of ripe fruit and very fine tannins. Crisp, mineral finish that is spot-on. Already delicious, but just wait a few years! Drink or hold."- 96 Points Stuart Piggot
Are you ready again for absurd prices on wines again that are so absurdly priced you feel a twinge of fun guilt over paying so little for a wine that is good. The 2018 Thörle Saulheimer Kalkstein Spätburgunder can be had for $26.99 a bottle on a 4-pack and $25.99 on a case. This is just the best 1er Cru value maybe ever. The tariffed price was even too inexpensive. This got a 94 from Piggot and it's so unreal in 18 because of how good the fruit quality is in Germany for Pinot Noir. This wine has always been a QPR beast, but in 2018 that is higher than it should be. It's 1961 Maris hitting 61 home runs. It's Ted Williams hitting .400. It's one of those types of wines. I've tasted some 3 tier Pinot at $26.99 and believe me you are not getting this level of quality or anything near it it's not even funny.
Amazingly deep nose. So deep. So classy. Dark tea and cherries. Violets. Layered, delicate and intense. Wow this nose smells like grand cru. It's seriously the best nose I've ever smelled on this wine. It's so refined and vivid. Loads of woodsy aromas, woodland berry, spice and a big mineral element but is in the background as the fruit is popping on the nose Succulent and so juicy with enormous lift and freshness. After air the nose gets more brambly. On day 2, really lovely. Spice. Loamy minerals and terrific lift. Gorgeous earthiness.
Palate is sweet, layered, structured and complex. This needs air but man is it all there. Big vivacious tannins and incredible sap and structure. Fresh and dense. What energy and depth. Big clamps down on the finish. Really long. Palate is hauntingly great. Amazing supple and elegant mouthfeel but with a brilliant red cherry, cranberry, pure and grippy fruits. After air, palate gets even sweeter but high acid and nice sour cherries to counterbalance. With air it gets sweeter, deeper and gains more cut. Cuts a swath across the palate. Great. Long finish. On day 2, palate is lacey, concentrated and so sappy. Awesome depth and grip. Really long and pure. Terrific velvet tannins.
Below is the 94 Point Stuart Piggot rating
"What a ravishing (black and sour) cherry nose and a seductive texture this concentrated pinot noir has. The oak is already almost perfectly integrated. Super interplay of velvety tannins and mineral acidity at the long finish. Drink or hold." - 94 Points, Stuart Piggot
2018 Thorle Probstey Spatburgunder "GG" - $51.99 ($199.96 4-Pack)
2018 Thorle Saulheimer Kalkstein Spatburgunder - $28.99($107.96 4-Pack, $311.88 12 bottle case {$25.99})
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