- Germany Can Compete at a High Level with Their Grand Cru Pinot Noirs
- At Least in Arguably Their Best Red Wine Vineyard
- And in 2015
2015 Josef Walter Spätburgunder Centgrafenberg Hündsruck
- Franken Is Fairly Far North
- In 2015, A Warmer Year, Walter Transforms the Vintage
- Density without Weight
- Complexity with Elegance and Finesse
- A 9.7 Rating Right Now On Delectable - VERY High For Me
- 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-Romanee
- Yet Totally Unique
In 1957, all was good in America. We had won World War II 12 years ago. The postwar economy was booming. We had turned our 2 most hated enemies from the war into powerful allies. American was brimming with self-confidence.
That all changed on October 4. The supposedly backwards Soviets beat us into space with the launch of Sputnik. America was thrust into a period of self-doubt.
When the Burgundians taste today's wine, they will know that there is a new player in the world of top end Pinot Noir. They will know that they have been put on notice.
There are three things you need to know about this email off the bat.
- Originally it was going to be 2 wines like it is most offers. It is one.
- I have patiently been waiting to taste this wine for 4.5 years.
- I tasted today's wine and was so moved and so impacted I knew from first sniff that I had to only focus on that wine in the e-mail. It would have been a disservice to any other wine because today's wine is a benchmark wine.
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 (without the 't') 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. Now comes the 2015. And boy is this an epic wine. This is Furstian but not really as it's unabashedly Walterian! Christophe does not really focus much on marketing. If he marketed his wines, this wine would cost $125+ through traditional 3-tier pricing as the 2015 Furst Hundstruck GG (he is in the VDP, Christophe is not) is between $103-$160 in Europe. Add in 3 tiers and that is quickly a $300 dollar wine. 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 2015 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.
- 2015 Enderle and Moll Bundtstanstejn
- 2014 Möbitz Koepfle
- 2013 Ziereisen Jaspis Alte Reben
- 2016 Max Geitlinger 'maximal' /2015 Thörle Hölle (Tie)
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 from yesterday in all its NSFW glory .
I have been waiting to taste this wine for 4 years and it's better than I imagined. Holee F! This is the best young Walter wine I've ever had. Blind anybody would say Grand Cru Red Burgundy. Easily up there with the top 5 German Pinots I've ever had.
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. 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.
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 9.7 rating right now. Any other producer we are at 9.8 now but this is Walter and air is this estate's friend. A masterpiece and a new benchmark in German Pinot.
2015 Josef Walter Spätburgunder Centgrafenberg Hündsruck - $61.99 ($239.96 4-pack) (*Including Tariff of $6.84)
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