"This Is The Best Wine I Ever Made." - Christophe Walter - I Gave This a 9.8 - One of Germany's Top 5 Red Wine Vineyards

 Top Tier German Pinot Noir Pricing
 - Germany Can Compete at a High Level with Their Grand Cru Pinot Noirs
 - Furst's Version is $150+ in Europe - Would Be $300ish Here
 - Keller Felix is $1,000+
 - Market Prices Are Catching Up to the Quality
 - Except at Walter, So Far Where This Is Still Under $60

2016 Josef Walter Spätburgunder Centgrafenberg Hündsruck "J"
 - Franken Is Fairly Far North
 - In 2016, A Classic Year With Cut, Walter Transforms the Vintage
 - Density without Weight
 - Complexity with Elegance and Finesse
 - "This Is The Best Wine I Ever Made." - Christophe Walter
 - "Better Than The 15?"  - Lyle 
 -  "Absolutely" - Christophe Walter
 - This Wine Is Next Level
 - Hard to Describe Other than Every Sip Is a Perfect Moment

 - Insane Nose
 - Chestnut, Forest Leaves, Orange Rind, Cherry Flower, Mid Season Cherry
 - Totally Seamless on the Palate
 - Insane Earthy Sweetness, The Sweetness is Incredible/So Delicate
 - Literally a Perfect Pinot Noir
 - A Cross Between the Elegance of Chambolle and the Density of Vosne-Romane

 - Yet Totally Unique

A Very, Very Special Wine

Fass clients know that Walter's Hundsruck is one of our great wines. And they also know that the winemaker, Christophe Walter, is very German and very reserved. He has never commented on any wine in the 8+ years I've worked with him. So when he says that this is the best wine that he has ever made, that means a lot.

This is undisputedly one of the top pinot noir vineyards in Germany. And the best version of this wine ever made by Walter.  And this wine will age well for decades.  

A Bit of Background on Hundsrück

Hundstruck. Just say it out loud with authority.  Hoonds Troock. Even the name has a power, an innate force about it. The Germans are a people that do not lightly flout authority, even if they disagree with it.  They even follow the speed limit. But when the German government melded the legendary, historic Hundstruck vineyard into Centrgrafenberg, it sparked a revolution of sorts (even though Centgrafenberg is one of the best vineyards in Germany and not exactly chopped liver).  In a very un German way, my good friend Sebastien Furst thumbed his nose at the German authorities and in 2003, started selling Hundsruck as a fantasy name.  It became his most heralded wine and the German authorities eventually relented and brought Hundstruck back from the dead with 2011 being the first vintage of its second life.

German Pinot Noir Pricing

The 2016 Furst Hundsruck GG is $150+ in Europe. Add in 3 tiers and that is quickly a $300 dollar wine in the States. Considering Keller's Felix goes for $1,000 a bottle now great German Pinot from top sites will only go up in value. This is probably why the Fürst wine is not available in the USA. I can't really explain how thrilled I am to be able to offer this to my list at such an affordable price. This vineyard is basically the La Tache of Germany except you've got someone else making it besides DRC/Fürst.

The Wine

Today's wine is the 2016 Josef Walter Spätburgunder Centrgrafenberg Hündsruck for $59.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. This is one of the top 5 German Pinots of my life. What are the other 4? Well they change, but this is current. 

1) 2015 Enderle and Moll Bundtstanstein

2) 2017 Möbitz Kanzell

3) 2016 Ziereisen Jaspis Alte Reben 

4) 2018 Thörle Hölle 

That's my list right now. It always changes and does have recency bias a bit but it's always evolving as we are in a period of German Pinot Noir evolution. I'd argue it's never been a better time in history to be drinking German Pinot Noir. New generation taking over, Geisenheim graduates flooding the estates and global warming combine to make German Pinot a phenomenon the likes the wine world  has not seen since the 1930s and 1940s when Burgundy started to estate bottle and get famous. 

Now here is my note  in all its NSFW glory .

I have been waiting to taste this wine for 5 years and it's better than I imagined. Holee F!  This is the best young Walter wine I've ever had. Christophe is correct. Blind anybody would say Grand Cru Red Burgundy. This is the most Chambolle 1er cru of any wine I've ever had from Germany. Easily up there with the top 5 German Pinots I've ever had. Maybe top 3! 

Just insane nose. It's insane right off the bat. The nose is a spectrum. There is so much and its so fragrant and so detailed and so vivid and so delicate. It's the Pinot Noir experience from a top vineyard that nothing else can reproduce. Huge chestnut, forest leaves, orange rind, cherry flower, mid season cherry. Tons and tons of the most beautiful spice. Your nose gets lost. It's so stunning. And I've only described maybe 1/3rd of the nose. There are accents of mint and menthol and also hints of very fine cigar. A new nuance and detail every time you stick your nose in the glass. 

The palate puts the G in Grand Cru. It's totally seamless. Just this beautiful orb of Hundsruck that is blessing your palate. It's opulent and sweet but also velvety and has the most velvety, melty, to die for tannins. But It also has cut and freshness like nothing else I've ever tasted from Walter. The purity of the grape essence is just beyond. Fruit is red cherries but also it gets hard skinned black cherries as well. They explode like nothing else. Just perfect balance. It's so concentrated and so sweet but so delicate as well. There is a deep hidden structure you get on this wine like you get on top Burgundies. You catch yourself saying a lot, "This is so insane now, I cannot imagine what this will be like in 10 years." The precision and energy of the exquisite Hundsruck footprint weaved into some of the most amazingly vivid fruit you will ever taste in a German Pinot makes this an all timer and I have tasted a lot of German Pinot. 

I tried to describe the fruit but with most wines, you can taste a bit of this or that peeking out.  This wine is so seamless, you can't.  It's just a perfect orb on the palate.  Every sip is pretty much a moment where time stops and you marvel at the perfection.

The finish NEVER ends. I know Walter and I know this wine is only showing 10% as I've NEVER had a mature Hundsrück. The 11 and 12 are still too young. 11 might be starting to drink well now. 

This is a mindboggling wine that is so distinctive. No Pinot in the world acts like it smells like or taste like Walter's Hundsrück. This is a masterpiece. This is Walter's Seven Samurai. So elegant and deep with just an amazing finish that keeps on adding length and richness the more the wine aerates. The tannins are as higher quality as one can get. Silk, velvet, satin, you name it. And so sweet. 

This is a 9.8 now but this is Walter and air is this estate's friend. A masterpiece and a new benchmark in German Pinot.

2016 Josef Walter Spätburgunder Centgrafenberg Hündsruck "J" - $61.99 ($239.96 4-Pack)