Keller's Protege
- Crazy Balance and Precision for a Winemaker this Young
These Are The Most Underpriced of the Elite Wines in the Book
The "Entry Level Trocken" Drinks Like Village for Under $20
Fruhmesse - Drinks Like a Grosses Gewachs for Under $33
In the 4 year history of Fass Selections I've never had the overwhelming positive response
that I've had for the wines of Juliane Eller and her eponymous Juwel winery. It seems every other day another email comes in thanking me for finding her wines and bringing them in. From the casual wine drinker to the über serious wine geek all of you love these wines! Her wines shimmer with delicacy but also have super Fassy acidity and freshness. These have a class and breeding to them reminiscent of her mentee, Klaus Peter Keller, but also march off into their own direction. The wines are stylish and have beautiful harmony and depth. Class in a glass. Julianne is so talented that I am lucky to have her and every bottle is a gift to the vinous world. I won't have enough to satisfy demand but hopefully I will. I want as many people as possible to experience these wines but they are limited.
Man, you guys really like Juliane Eller's wines. What's not to like? They are insane wines for insane prices. They are shimmering with freshness, purity, acid and gorgeously defined fruit. I'm offering these two 2016 Rieslings from Juwel as I want to get them here for the Fall. As you all know by now, 2016 in the Rheinhessen is perhaps even better than 2015. The jury is still out but there seems to be more finesse and elegance. More refinement and breeding. Combine that with the large delta of a young winemaker improving, we have Julianne's best set of wines. She slayed 2016 and it is her best vintage ever. The two Rieslings she made just stunned me and will stun you. That is if I have enough. Always the rub. You guys bought the heck out of the Pinot Noir and Weissburgunder and I managed to get more to cover all the orders. I hope that I can do that here as well but I make no guarantees.
These are stunning wines. All of them. There is a lightness of touch here that is striking. I call them weightless. You put them in your mouth and you almost don't notice that they are there and then you are hit by waves of fruit and minerality. All of the components just show up, almost out of nowhere. There is also an underlying intensity as well, like a coiled fist. The Keller influence for me is most marked in their dazzling precision. Every wine she makes is not merely good, but great. If you've ever had the privilege of tasting with Klaus-Peter, it's an absurd display of greatness. That is the way it was when I tasted Julianne's wines for the first time. A talent like no other.
Up first is the 2016 Juwel Riesling Trocken for $19.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. I cannot say enough about this wine. Do NOT treat this like a $20 Riesling. It is just not that - it has the quality of a German village wine, or better costing $35-$40 through normal 3 tier. What a nose. Grapefruit, mineral, citrus, orchard fruits. There is a weightlessness to this wine, yet it has intense underlying fruit, along with stunning, stunning purity. The fruit is vivid and so lithe. Long finish and so pure. Big citrus and mineral almost saline finish. 2016 really showcases her winemaking talent as all that mineral and 16 finesse, matched with all that acidity, goes so well with her weightless and finesse-driven style. You won't also believe the dense fruit, high octane acids and structure for such a humble wine. The finesse in this wine you will not believe. It is a very mineral, very pure, delicate and intense yet light balanced Riesling. A GREAT value and a wine that really stopped me in my steps. Please inquire about CASE PRICES!
Up next is the bad boy, the bombshell, the GG-style 2016 Juwel Riesling Trocken "Fruhmesse" for as little as $32.99 on a 4-pack. This is when you know you are in the presence of talent. One sniff and sip of this gorgeous, energetic and chiseled Riesling and you will not be able to taste or think about anything else. This site really struts her stuff. The nose is a complex monster of minerality and small just barely ripe exotic tropical fruits but bordering on tensile. There is honey, tangelo and apricot. Floral and spicy with so much forceful minerality. It is so unique and so enticing. What a glorious nose. Smoke, confection, flint, rock candy. Something you can smell for minutes on end and discover new nuances. The grip and almost feather-like finesse and purity of the vintage with its dramatic yet delicate fruit intensity matches so well with the precise, weightless and finesse-driven style of Julianne's wines. Insane flavor hierarchy and delineation and huge crescendo of a mineral finish. So dense and so structured. Just awesome. It's a wine that needs a few years to really show its stuff. A very special wine and one of the great values of the 2016 vintage I will offer. This is becoming a Fass cult favorite.
Julianne already was all set to become a great winemaker at a young age as she grew up in a wine making family in the village of Alsheim in the Rheinhessen. She did the classic German path of studying at Geisenheim and then apprenticing at a winery (Keller) before she started up on her own. The wine word was waiting for Julianne Eller and her beautiful Rieslings, Spatburgunders and more!
2016 Juwel Riesling Trocken - $21.99 ($79.94 4-pack)
(VERY LIMITED)
2016 Juwel Riesling Trocken Fruhmesse - $34.99
($131.96 4-pack) (VERY LIMITED)
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