E&M Liason Is Rodin's Thinker
Rings Is Just Perfectly Fruited and Dynamic
(2015 is The Estate's Favorite One So Far!)
One of Our Most Popular Pinot Noirs - Under $28
The Winner of the Last 2 Berlin Cups for Spatburgunder!
- Plus a New 2016 Riesling That Is Pretty Much So Perfect and So Clean It Just Might Be The Platonic Ideal of Dry Pfalz Riesling
There are people ahead of the curve and then there is the wonder that is Martin Zwick. Martin is a
passionate collector and German wine insider who lives in Berlin and has been an inspiration to me when it comes to championing young producers in Germany. He has a terrific blog, a very active presence on social media, but where he shines and truly helps young and upcoming winemakers is with his Berlin Cup Tastings. Long story short he gathers wine lovers, wine retailers, critics and even wine producers to his home in Berlin and holds big blind tastings with different themes. First it was just the Grosses Gewachs Cup. Then the Spatburgunder Cup (where we discovered Andreas Rings), then the Kabinett Cup. Winning the last 2 Spatburgunder cups is what made Rings famous, at least in my eyes, as that is the most exciting category in German wine today.
Rings is also a switch hitter in that they are brilliant at reds and whites, which is very hard to do in Germany. So don't sleep on the Riesling.Andreas Rings has outdone himself in 2015 with his stunning 2015 Rings Spatburgunder Freinsheimer for as little as $27.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. This is a core item we sell and along with Juwel, Enderle & Moll Liason are like the 3 Person German Mt. Rushmore of under $30 German Pinot. Each so amazingly delicious and important in their own way but all worthy of a huge oversized marble face.
The Freinsheimer has some of the most fresh, dark and dynamic fruit of any German Pinot that we bring in. In 2015 they brought the thunder! The wine is pure pleasure. It's turned up to 11. It bursts. And then it bursts more. It has it all. Freshness, depth, nimbleness, dark sappy fruits (more Gevrey than Chambolle) and a wonderful core of earth and minerals. Super clean which to me is the trademark of Rings wines. Ultra clean and nimble yet also packed with vivacious fruit. Rings already employs low yields as a philosophy, so they had very low yields again in 2015 and it resulted in the best vintage yet for this wine. It is a even richer than the 2013, but maybe even more transparent and nimble with much more depth, darker fruits, but has all of that terrific silky, sweet dark berry fruit presented in such a pure, fruit-driven style with a delicious, explosive finish. This is like juicy black cherries mixed with very ripe red ones being force fed down your throat. But in a good way! It smells so good. It has a fragrance. That earthy sweet berry spice symphony that is what this wine is about. It is so good in 2015. Rings wines are exceptionally well balanced. The background acidity is always there to keep the wine tasting fresh. I had a bottle of the 2014 the other night and I could not believe how great it was. I keep getting emails and tagged on social media with this wine so I opened a bottle and it was even better than I remember. More depth and just so drinkable. Scary drinkable actually. The 2014 has a bit more crunch to it, whilst the 2015 has more depth, concentration and sap, but the acidity is intense and tensile and makes sure those tiny dark berry Pinot fruits of goodness pop in your mouth. Man does his pop. This is a wine to load up on as you cannot get enough of it. You will not believe the quality of this wine.
If you have not had a German Pinot Noir, this should be your first one. Everyone loves it (even people who swear they would never want to try German pinot noir) as it's so darned drinkably delicious. And in 15 it's even more of all of that.
The big problem with the Rings' Rieslings is that they are so famous for their Pinot Noirs that they get overlooked. I think Rings is approaching the level of Weltner, Battenfeld and Muellen as a top producer of Riesling.
I am selling the 2016 Rings Ungsteiner Nussreijbgel Riesling Trocken for $27.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. The Nussriegel has a soaring nose of minerals, ripe citrus and apricot fruit. So clean. So precise. The party really starts in the mouth. Just a perfect wine. Juicy and I mean juicy. Buffered by huge fruit and searing minerals and bright acids. Mouthwatering. Intriguing layers of spice, peach/citrus and intense minerals. Amazingly juicy. So pure it's like how can a wine get cleaner. Balance is as perfect as it gets. Truly a great wine. Wines like this are why I opened Fass Selections. Dare I say that 2016 in the Pfalz is similar to the mythic 08s? Or possibly the very good 2004s that are like a more elegant 2008. I think the final verdict lies in between but it is a special vintage for Riesling in the Pfalz. The Nussriegel is known for its fertile soils and Ungstein is a bit warmer than Kallstadt. It can be drunk before the other Ortsweine I sell, the Steinacker hailing from the Kallstadt. Both are great and express different terroir beautifully.
Please inquire for case prices on this.
One final note. I love the slow release schedule of the Germans when it comes to Pinot Noir as everyone makes it their own way and ages it however they want as there is not really an unspoken agreed upon way to make and age wine like there is in Burgundy. So in Burgundy the 15s generally all come out at the same time. A slow drip of a couple months. In Germany, I have no clue. I've sold and delivered Thorle and Enderle & Moll and am selling now Juwel and Rings. Next year I'll sell Ziereisen and years after that for some of the higher end cuvees. And who knows when Walter and Spater-Veit will release their 15's? 3-4 years? I just offered 12's of both which were just released. It's more like a Barolo/Brunello release program than really anything. I love it as it's different and unique and also speaks to the differences that this is not Burgundy. It is German Pinot Noir in all of its glory and they do it how they want to.
2015 Rings Spatburgunder Freinsheimer - $29.99 ($111.96 4-pack)
2016 Rings Ungsteiner Nussreigel Riesling Trocken - $$29.99
($111.96 4-pack)
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