- Any Region that Excels at Pinot Noir Generally Excels at Chardonnay
- It Was Illegal to Plant Chardnnay in Germany for Many Years
- Now the Germans Are Catching Up
- The Wave Is Coming
"New Wave" German Chardonnay
- Like "Red Riesling," the Precision of German Riesling
- The Best Versions Are Meursault-Like
2020 Thorle Reserve Chardonnay
- Absurdly Brilliant
- In Burgundy you Need to Pay $50+ a Bottle for Quality Like This
- Easily Village Meursault Quality for $30.99
- Smells like Meursault
- Tremendous Depth
- Beeswax, Butter, Rich Aromas
- Salty, Mineral and Ocean Breeze
- A Maelstrom of Aromas
- Stunningly Decadent but Also Allied with German Precision
- Palate: Big Green Apple Fruit and Pears
- Terrific Freshness and Sweet Fruit
- Amazing Density and Purity
- Will Age 10+ Years
2020 Thorle Probstey Silvaner "GG"
- Done in a White Burgundy Style
- Nose Smells Like High End St. Aubin 1er Cru
- Playful Minerals Like White Burgundy
- Palate: A Freak Show
- Insane Acids and Purity
- Terrific Structure
- So High Toned
- Rich, Energetic, Deep and Concentrated
- Elite 1er cru White Burg Made from Silvaner
- Incredible Purity and Focus
- Delicate and Refined
- Some Opulence but So Well Balanced with Minerality and Acidity
- Will Age 10+ Years
- 95 Pts Stuart Piggott For 2019 - 2020 is Better, Christophe Thorle is BULLISH on 2020.
The Story of German Chardonnay
Mark my words. German Chardonnay is the next big thing and it's been in front of my face the whole time. Any region that excels at Pinot Noir generally excels at Chardonnay. Look at Burgundy as the most famous example and then one can look at Oregon where Chardonnay seems to be having its moment.
Now let's look at Germany. Using peak German bureucratic stupidity, the Germans banned planting Chardonnay until 2001. So the Germans were playing catchup. My passion for German Chardonnay has always been there but there was not much of it and I had too many nasty "Cali style" ones in the past. But with German Pinot that's the same story except the nasty ones were not "Cali style" they were overoaked and underripe. Oaky wines with green flavors. Uniquely German. But now that style is a relic of the past and we are in the age of "Red Riesling." That's what the best German Pinots taste like. They have the raciness and nimbleness of German Riesling but also the vivid fruit, vivid aromas and tremendous depth that world class Pinot needs to have.
So what does German Chardonnay taste like? Of this "nee style" of which I would call
"Meursault meets Germany" I only sell four now and maybe five once I get my latest batch of samples.
They have the rich, buttery character of Meursault but also the racines, clarify and precision that only Germany can get. In short, they are brilliant and very very affordable now. Even at the high end with the brilliant Zieriesen Jaspis Chardonnay you get a more diamond-like Roulout expression of a Meursault 1er Cru like Perrieres or Boucheres. I think in 10-15 years once German Chardonnay matures we will see more Puligny/Chassagne types to come that are based on florality, hazelnuts, iodine and the such. If you drink White Burgundy and don't want to pay the high prices for Meursault from a solid to top producer then I have the wine for you.
They have the rich, buttery character of Meursault but also the racines, clarify and precision that only Germany can get. In short, they are brilliant and very very affordable now. Even at the high end with the brilliant Zieriesen Jaspis Chardonnay you get a more diamond-like Roulout expression of a Meursault 1er Cru like Perrieres or Boucheres. I think in 10-15 years once German Chardonnay matures we will see more Puligny/Chassagne types to come that are based on florality, hazelnuts, iodine and the such. If you drink White Burgundy and don't want to pay the high prices for Meursault from a solid to top producer then I have the wine for you.
The Wines
The 2020 Thorle Reserve Chardonnay for $30.99 a bottle on a 4-pack is a stunning wine of incredible depth, purity and raciness. It's the first wine to sell out at Thorle and this why we are on the 2020 which is as good as the 19, if not better. This wine is absurdly brilliant.
It is an exhilarating bottle of Chardonnay and dare I say profound? In Burgundy you need to pay $50+ a bottle for quality like this. Maybe more. This is Chardonnay on limestone which is the same soil as Burgundy. It's the perfect storm. Easily Village Meursault from a top producer quality here.
Smells like Meursault. Brilliant stuff. Nose is spicey and buttery. Tremendous depth. Beeswax, butter, some malolactic rich aromas, salty, mineral and ocean breeze. Gorgeous and stunning aromas that are so precise and so noble. Really complex. A wine that you can sit with. The aromas develop and develop aid it becomes an insane perfume. Perhaps one of the best Maly aromatic Chardonnays at this price point in ages. It's just a maelstrom of aromas after 30+ minutes. And on Day 2 it got even better. Buttery, rich and hedonistic nose but also with dynamic minerality. Stunningly decadent but also allied with German precision. Spice and baked apple as well.
Palate is incredible. Energy for days. So delicate and elegant and refined. Insane purity. Wow this is just an incredible wine. So delicate and refined. Glides across the palate. Silken texture. Terrific energy and balance. So complex. Ethereal and long. Stunning. A no brainer 9.6. Perfect concentration and balance. Immaculate. This may be a 9.7. So clean. After air the palate is ripe and rich with a succulent texture and such stunning purity. Big green apple fruit and pears. Terrific freshness and sweet fruit and the oak is like a 5% accent on the palate that works so well. So well made. Oak is perfectly integrated. The palate has amazing density and purity. Coats your whole mouth with internal aromatics. It's ultra refined stuff. Terrific energy and lingering length. ON day 2, palate is incisive and racy as well with serious freshness and purity. Clean and so so elegant. Lovely sap and flavor intensity on the finish. Just an immaculately made wine that also threads that needle between geek and normie so so well. What a sick value.
A Brief Interlude on the Styles of German Silvaner
I haven't seen too many people discuss the differing styles of Silvaner, mostly because there are few examples worth writing about. I'll do my best with limited data.
Franken. Everyone here loves the Paul Weltner Silvaner Hoheleite GG and it definetly typifies the Franconian style of Silvaner. Very dry, very austere, needs age, high acid, no fruit when young, deep penetrating minerality, almost a sugar snap pea/bok choy vegetable element clear as a late summer day and very ageable.
Southern Rheinhessen. Another region that I also think make world class Silvaner is the Rheinhessen. The best one is generally thought to be Klaus Peter Keller's "Feuervogel," which I've not had in ages, but people I respect and trust say it's the best.
Northern Rheinhessen. Today's wine is my icon of this style. It's much more Burgundian and balanced.
The wine that I think that is just as important as the E&M Liason is for Baden Pinot Noir is the 2020 Weingut Thörle Probstey Silvaner "GG" for $32.99 per bottle on a 4 pack. This is essentially GG Silvaner and I'd bet my sneaker collection that this estate will be in the VDP very soon and prices will go up. This is Grand Cru Silvaner crossed with 1er Cru White Burgundy. It shares zero in common with Franconian Silvaner and more in common with something like a PYCM St. Aubin 1er Cru. The wine is a masterpiece. I drank a bottle over two days last weekend and was floored by how terrific the wine was on a qualitative level but also how unique it was stylistically. It's done in a White Burgundy style which means that there is some wood on this. But as I've said before Christophe Thörle is a master of judicious oak usage and he even guest blogged a piece for us on it. It's unreal wine and it's so so well made you just drop your jaw in awe. I had a client and friend over who has one of the more specific and pickier palates of anyone I know. It's always great to taste with people like that. I was not expecting him to like this wine at all. The wines he likes are more dry, more austere, more mineral, with an absence of fruit the size of a black hole and acids that would make Leary envious. He's a Weltner fan. Schneider. You get the picture. He adored this wine. I was shocked. I mean I adored it already but the wine is so well made that even a super specific palate like this person had to be like, this is a terrific bottle of wine. He's the one that came up with the PYCM comparison. He's right. Stunning.
Nose smells like high end St. Aubin 1er Cru. Some ripe herbal Sylvaner notes as well. Herbal aromas like picked from a fresh garden with light, elegant and playful minerals. What I mean by playful minerals is the same impression a young white Burgundy gives you. God I love this wine. An epic Silvaner with White Burgundy vibes. Nose has spicey aromatic clean wood, unreal herbals and tons of minerality. It is superbly balanced and ultra pure and crystalline. Probstey is their warmest site and the Riesling/Pinot and Silvaner all share that same character of terrific roundness and richness but also being beautiful fresh. So fresh. So clean. Wonderful.
Palate is a freak show. Insane acids and purity. What structure and so, so high toned. Just electric. Rich, energetic, deep and concentrated. Awesome texture and so much depth. This is Elite 1er cru White Burg Made from Silvaner. Incredible purity and focus. Just a brilliant wine. What elegance here. Really delicate and refined. Best version of this ever. There is an opulence to this wine but it has such brilliant acids that keep it in place and it is not over the top. Genius. That balance is extraordinary. It drank brilliantly for two days. I just had a 17 of this wine that had 10 more years ahead of it. I'm bullish on aging both of these. 10+ years easy.
Both of these are examples of wines you can only get in Germany at this pricepoint.
"What a beauty this dry white is! It has the stature of Premier Cru white Burgundy. However, it's in the Cinderella corner, because the Silvaner has so few fans internationally. Stunning nose with, super ripe pear and hints of shiso leaf and fresh coriander. And at the finish, it does what so many dry silvaners don't, it goes on tiptoe and gently leads you into the distance. Excellent aging potential. Drink or hold." 95 Pts, Stuart Piggott
2020 Thorle Reserve Chardonnay - $32.99 ($123.96 4-Pack)
2020 Thorle Probstey Silvaner "GG" - $34.99 ($131.96 4-Pack)
No comments:
Post a Comment