BOOM! Perhaps Our Most Cerebral Winemaker. Pettenthal! GG Plus a Perfect Kabinett

Kai Schätzel: Martin Muellen meets Hofgut Falkenstein meets Emrich Schonleber
Pettenthal GG!
 - One of the Top Vineyards in Germany 

 - One of the Most Unique Wines in Europe 

 - Flat Out Beautiful: Herbal, Mineral An Olfactory Overload 

 - This Will Be a Recognized German Collectable Within 5 Years 

 - Wine Advocate's Reinhardt (Good Palate) Gives It 94 Points

(This is the same score as Keller's 14 Pettenthal Which Costs $175 AND you cannot find that wine)

Plus One of His Legendary Kabinetts

 - What the Cool Kids in Germany Are Drinking

 - Sells Out in a Month

 - Mineral and Refreshingly Brilliant

I have a new "mad crush" winery at Fass Selections. I love all my wineries, don't get me wrong, but

right now I can't stop thinking about, tasting, dreaming (yes I have wine dreams) and telling anybody who will listen about Kai Schätzel's Rieslings. What Kai is doing in the Rheinhessen is unprecedented. Kai is one of the most cerebral winemakers I've ever met.  He questions everything that he does.  He is organic and has surrounded himself with a brilliant, inquisitive group of young assistants.  He and his team have a singular, almost manic drive to create wines that are, above all else, pure and reflective of their terroir.  

Freshness and low alcohol are his trademark. Also the complexity of these wines is not to be believed. At every level.  If I love these rieslings, you know acid is going to be a factor. The acid is lively, full and intense. But there is also unreal fruit. They're on the just ripe side but is so vivid and tangy and pithy. Think Martin Muellen meets Hofgut Falkenstein meets Emrich Schonleber. Yes that's a crazy synthesis there but I think that's the key. Kai is a once in a generation talent who comes along, challenges assumptions and upends what we all thought was possible. These are Rheinhessen wines that are contemporary in that they are made with a constant evolving questioning leader and team (almost like a tech startup mentality) but steeped in tradition. The alcohols are low, they are deeply reductive and have a commercial release program that is slower and longer than most. They last weeks open, especially the GG's, which are breathtaking sweeping Rieslings that are chiseled from red slate. Both wines today, a '16 and a '14 are current releases. But more than anything, Kai's Rieslings have and do what I love in wine the most. These wines are what they are. They are not "made." 

I would recommend opening them tonight if you have them and drink them over 2-4 days. Out of any Rieslings outside Martin Müllen, you need to travel with the bottle. Delicious on day 1, but that's just the beginning. I had a 2014 Pettenthal GG at the estate that had been open for two weeks that was indescribably great. These are epic, epic Rieslings. So pure as if to some from stone. Fresh and clean like only the best. And boy do they need air. Give this wines time and they will respond. Obviously the aging potential here is fantastic.  Kai picks very early and you don't get the usual tropical fruit basket of the Rheinhessen. The minerality in these wines is to absolutely die for. They are dazzlingly fresh and pure, and so frisky and zesty but also have incredible site expression. They are mouthwatering and not shy on acidity. But it is so lively and playful. 

As the Wine Advocate's Stephane Rheinhardt puts it,

"Schätzel presents a very unique wine style; he aims for pure and refreshing wines, with true terroir character and does not accept any over-ripeness, botrytis or corrections in the old traditions of the cellar. In fact-and due to their coolish, frisky, finessed, ... and grippy character-they remind me of the old times, the pre global-warming years. "

Up first is the 2014 Schätzel Pettenthal Riesling Grosses Gewachs for $62.99 a bottle on a 3-pack. This is the top dry wine of the estate. I am so excited to sell a Pettenthal as this is one of my favorite vineyards in Germany and there are some very good Pettenthals out there. This is at or near the top of the heap. This wine is flat out beautiful. It's one of those GG's that will be sought after. You will buy this every year. It's so deep, and just so startlingly high in quality and chiseled it really registers a reaction from any wine lover. The nose strikes you at first as it is so different yet then seduces you as quickly as you realize it's different. It's super herbal. Like the best fresh herbs ever, squeezed, oozing aromas that almost makes it an olfactory overload. But along with that is a mineral/confectionary element that just is so vivid and clean. It's really engaging. Like a periodic table of minerals and a the best kept fresh herb garden ever, with a confectionary sugar kinkiness. But that periodic table continues onto the palate. Huge minerals in the mid palate and finish. Almost chewy.  Long mineral and salty finish. After air there is massive tangelo and citrus fruit. Vivid blood orange in the mid palate. It gets more expansive and the purity becomes more vivid as the fruit mixes with the intense minerals. All of this is with pitch perfect elegance. This is revelatory stuff here. Like the best most perfect salty finish ever. The salinity is unreal. Tannic, salty, slatey, pure, killer. This will age for 15-20 years easy. I think in 2-3 years this will start to drink really well. But having one young is a must! It's so fun! Gotta have it over 3-4 days though. This is limited. 

Below is Stephan Reinhardt's tasting note.

"Kai Schätzel's 2014 Nierstein Pettenthal Riesling GG has a generous and intense, but clear and deep nose that unfolds the Pettenthal grand cru in a very appealing way; discreet, lovely, pure and subtle, but also ripe and multilayered. The wine is enormously pure and salty on the palate, a mouthful of character, full and greatly structured. It has lots of finesse and terroir expression. The phenolic grip is mouthwatering and the aromas are very much Pettenthal. The finish is immense and full of tension and juice. The 2014 Pettenthal is probably Schätzel's finest wine, so far. Bravo!"  

94 Points Stephan Reinhardt, The Wine Advocate

Next up is the house speciality at Schätzel and really something of a phenomenon in Germany. The 2016 Schätzel Nierstein Kabinett for $29.99 a 4-pack is about as near perfect as it gets. That is the classic Kabinett style. It is as popular today in Germany as Sauvignon Blanc was and still is. This is the craze in Germany amongst wine drinkers and winemakers. Bringing Kabinett back and Kai's is at the top of the heap. I think Kai is making one of the best lineups of Kabinetten in Germany. His Kabinetts are thrilling wines. Wines that are so good that a bottle can easily be consumed in under an hour between two people. But just because they are stunningly delicious and being knocked back by the glass and bottle in most of Germany, does not mean these wines are not worthy of contemplation. The perfect Kabinett is as beautiful as the perfect Auslese or perfect GG. This wine is old school, pre global warming snap crackle and pop Kabinett that is deep, so elegant and just so fine. Huge aromas. Mineral, expansive, some pithy citrus fruits, super wow and then the palate hits you with super juicy fruit with an intensity and such force yet delicate and nimble. Juicy. Long. Incredible palate presence. Pure, naked, drinkable. Acidity is turned up to 11. Finish is long and dissipates like you won't believe. This is as good as it gets. This sells out in Germany within a month so this was just released and is super limited. Below is a nice quote from Stephane Rheinhardt.

 ". . .it is one of the finest you can find along the Rhine between Basel and Bacharach. It doesn't have to fear the best Kabinetts from Mosel or Nahe."

These wines need age (well the Kabinett will really benefit from age but still is spectacular young as described) When young they are dominated by structure. But with 1-3-5 years they transform into something very special. The '14s here are mind-blowing and also happen to be drinking very well now but will age for a very long time. These I think will be long distance runners. Early picking, reductive winemaking is a recipe for long aging wines. Even the 2012s I tasted I could see going 20 more years. I am super excited about these wines. I've never had anything like it in the Rheinhessen. It's almost like Mosel Rheinhessen wines in a way.

Kai is THE new star in Germany now.

2014 Weingut Schaetzel Pettenthal Riesling Grosses Gewachs - $64.99 ($188.97 3-pack) (VERY LIMITED)

2016 Weingut Schaetzel Riesling Nierstein Kabinett - $31.99 

($119.96 4-pack) (LIMITED)