Primus Inter Pares - 2013 Walter Fruhburgunder is Firing on All Cylinders + Walter's Rarest Wine

 2013 Josef Walter Frühburgunder Centrgrafenberg "J" 

 - This Will Blow Away the Most Jaded of Tasters

 - Early Ripening Pinot Noir That Is Off the Charts

 - A Nose Out of Hansel and Gretel...

 - ...Smoke, Flowers, Forest Scents, So Many Spices: Baking Spices, Cooking Spices

 - Off the Chain Fruit - The most Intense Cherries Ever

 - Black Tea, Cassis

 - From One of the Great Vineayrds of Europe : Centrafenberg

 - Stunning Purity and Texture

 - Only In Germany Do You Get Pinot of This Quality Under $80 (It's $39.99) - Gave This 9.6 on Delectable 3 Months Ago

2011Josef Walter Pinot 274 

 - His Smallest Production Wine

 - 300 Bottles Made (Not a Typo)

 - Only Sold to Michelin Star Restuarants (and Me)

 - The Ultimate Collectors' Item

 - Insane Burgundian Nose: Leafy, Earthy, Mushrooms, Truffles

 - Thunderous Sweet Fruit, Hedonistic

 - Amazing Depth and Purity

- Please Let ALL Walter Wines BREATHE Longer Than Any Other Spatburgunder Producer We Sell

Primus inter pares is a latin phrase meaning first among equals. It typically means a person in a group who has a higher status than his esteemed peers. Well I had a terrific case of samples, including some very blingy terroir from Burgundy, and this wine stood out head and shoulders above the rest. So I'm dashing this E-Mail off to get it to you.

The Fass Selections Frühburgunder Cult

Frühburgunder is one of my favorite grapes in the world. The name can be intimidating because it's German and it's got an umlaut and not many people know what it is. So for the sake of clarity and understanding it's really just Pinot Noir that ripens three weeks earlier than normal Pinot Noir and is a specialty of the Burgstadt region in Franken, Germany. Christoph Walter is the Frühburgunder whisperer as his version is just completely outrageous. It's a difficult grape to cultivate because of the early harvest date and also it is a favorite of the local wild boars. They have to put a blue netting on the vineyard to protect them once they start ripening. I've sold epic aged versions like 2005 and 2007 and 2009. I've sold the 2010 as well which is from a high acid vintage and will age gloriously. I've sold the 2012 which was priced higher than all the others as Christoph thought it was better than every Frühburgunder he has made. I agreed with him and happily sold it. I sold the 2015 which is argubaly on the same level as 2013 but still needed age. I just had the 2013 and at 9 years of age it has started to really blossom.

The Wine

The Fruh in question is the 2013 Josef Walter Frühburgunder Centrgrafenberg "J" for $39.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. The fruit in a young Frühburgunder is akin to nothing I can compare in the world of Pinot. It's sweet, but in such a unique way. It's a very Northern part of a Northern wine producing county with a Pinot Noir variant that is ripened three weeks earlier than the normal Pinot Noir. Yes, you've got global warming but the wine should not, by any measure be this ripe, this sweet and this grandiose.

But while being ripe and grandiose it smells like something out of Hansel & Gretel. Smoke, flowers, forest scents, so many spices, baking spices, cooking spices, all the spice is what makes Frühburgunder aromatics so intense. But you've also got the florals. This indescribable vivid violet. It makes me think Vosne-Romanee. Just that part. The rest of the wine is pure Centrgrafenberg Frühburgunder. The wine just killed from the second I poured it to the last sip on day 2. The spectrum, roundness and opulence of the aromas were spectacular. You remember these aromas. But with all that spice and florals there is deep, deep fruit. 2013 is an awesome vintage for Pinot in Burgstadt and Franken. It's so complex with deep black cherry. Even some cassis. Black tea. Wet leaves. It never ends. Xmas spice. It's so complex but almost can't be as something complex needs to be stable to be classified as complex. It's that type of nose. So layered amazingly complex.

The palate does not let down. It's velvet sweet energy. If I had to summarize in three words. It's so sweet, so complex, and incredibly velvety with just awesome balance and pinpoint acidity. Deep cherry and black cherry fruit that is so pure, so vivid, but also lacey and playful with such unreal and intense energy. Amazing precision while also delivering just hedonistic sweetness. It really just wants you to love it. Amazing tiny berry fruit intensity and stunning purity and texture. Such velvety tannins that coat the palate and deliver huge sweet fruit on the never ending finish.

Below is my Delectable note from 3 Months ago.

"This is a specialty here and wow this is really something. Such a glorious and nuanced nose of spice, tree bark, glorious dark black cherries, spicey oak and wonderful violets. It’s super clean, nuanced and multilayered. Great. Palate is fresh, energetic and has superb purity and freshness. Tangy red cherries on the palate, a bit of oak and as always this needs mega air but it’s all there as it always is. Huge structure on this. Elegant and so bright. Awesome length. Needs 5 years.

Day 2 update : 9.4 to 9.6 overnight. Palate is so fresh and energetic. Unreal freshness and purity. Beautiful sweet, silky and cherry fruit. Long, tangy and fresh. Haunting and deep. Wow. Amazing on day 2." - Lyle Fass

Next up, I have, as there is no other way to put it, something ridiculously special. One of the rarest of the rare. Walter he only sells it to Michelin starred restaurants and never to retail or to people who visit the winery. He made 300 bottles of the Josef Walter 2011 Pinot 274 which can be had for as little as $51.99 each on a 4-pack. But, wait, what is this wine? It is my Franken dream. It is 40% Spatburgunder and 60% Fruhburgunder. Mind. Blown. Also the Pinot 274 clone is the best clone Walter works with. I knew this wine had to exist but only Christoph had the cojones to make it. Make no mistake this wine is drinking superbly at the moment. Fruhburgunder is a Pinot Noir variant that ripens 3 weeks earlier than regular Pinot Noir and is something I swoon for if I can find it.

Insane aged Burgundian nose. Sous-bois up the wazoo. Leafy, earthy, mushrooms, truffles, dusty, wet poodle. One of those noses you smell and two things happen. 1), You cannot stop smelling because of the purity and vividness of the aromas and 2), You can't stop smelling because there is no way this is from Germany. It smells most like the 1978 Billard-Gonnet Pommard Rugiens Phillippe Billard opened for me a few years back. It is all there. I swear it smells like great aged Grand Cru Red Burgundy. Stunning stunning nose.

Extraordinary purity and depth. Amazing tannins. Huge, dense, ripe and sweet fruit and killer inner mouth aromas. Stunning secondary flavors of truffle, leather and sweet fruited earth. Big tannins. Amazing. Sweet, sweet fruit. Thunderous. This is as hedonistic as one can get while also being massively structured, dense and fresh. You will not believe this wine. I could not believe this wine and it was trapped in my mind all trio. Longest finish of any wine I had in August of my last trip. I had a lot of wine. This is VERY LIMITED (obviously) and will be ALLOCATED if need be.

2013 Josef Walter Fruhburgunder Centgrafenberg "J" - $41.99

($159.96 4-pack) 

2011 Josef Walter Pinot 274 - $53.99 ($207.96 4-pack)