- Gives Village Chambolle, Gevrey a Run for Their Money
- At Half the Price
- Nothing Like This - Like Smelling Truffles for the First Time
- Like High Class Gevrey 1er Cru with a Twist
2016 Jost & Ziereisen Le Grand Rouge
- Stunning Does Not Even Begin to Describe This
- Nose: Intense, Deep, with Morey Spice
- Palate: Dense, Sappy, Explosive, Brooding
- Grand Cru Quality Texture, Purity, Concentration and Intensity
- Last Few Cases (This Winery Is Selling Out in Europe)
- Reminds Me Most of 2 Grand Crus: Clos de la Roche and Clos Vougeout
- This Wine Costs $90 in Germany - Would Be Well Over $150 Through Traditional 3 Tier Stateside ($89.99 in this Offer)
It's very rare to be able to offer a brand new world class Grand Cru Pinot Noir. What is even more rare is to be able to offer an entirely new category of Grand Cru Pinot Noir. A wine that has the depth, concentration and elegance of the best of Pinot Noir. But is different and unique because it comes from terroir that was not previously known for making wines of this quality. I'm very lucky to be selling these wines. It's a great achievement and one that I'm very proud of. But like most great things, it did not come easy.
Today's offer has been almost 1.5 years in the making. Sometimes winemakers in all of their brilliance can be a little flighty. Farmers have different hours and priorities than most of us. I learned that with Ziereisen. One time this year they didn't answer my emails for 2 months. One morning I called Edel Ziereisen and I asked her why she hadn't returned my e-mails and she casually said it's the asparagus harvest and we don't do email during the asparagus harvest. Who knew Ziereisen was a leading asparagus grower in Germany? So I finally got in touch, got samples sent and sold a good amount of the German wines. But they also sent me the Swiss wines (Jost & Ziereisen) which I think are just incredible. Truly incredible. The 2015 "Le Petit Rouge" was a wine that I got at least 7 emails from clients absolutely blown away by that wine. Then I kept asking Edel about the prices for the 2016 Swiss wines. It took 3 months but I finally got them yesterday and of course that means I had to instantly sell these two Pinots. These are wines that are so brilliant because they are Zieriesen making Grand Cru and 1er Cru Red Burgundy style wines in Swiss Mountain terroir in Basel-stadt. It's an insane combo and the level of distinction here is hard to beat. They are incomparable. Today I have the 1er Cru and Grand Cru Pinots of Jost & Ziereisen.I've always wanted to import Swiss wine but every time I brought it up everyone always said it was
too expensive. But I'd always tell them that I adore Swiss wines and while they can be expensive, they can also be downright stunning and are generally incredibly distinctive. I have been flirting with Switzerland for 3 years now and spent some time in Switzerland last August. I enjoyed many local wines and posted on Facebook about it and Stephan Rheinhardt gave me some good info on it and got my mind buzzing. I fell in love with the rolling hills, the lush green mountains and just the general vibe. Still, I didn't want to enter another country as three countries is already a lot of work. But I can't help myself. I feel I have a responsibility to move the wine conversation forward in this country. To do that one must take risks.
The First Wine
Today's first wine is from the "1er Cru" level bottling. The 2016 Jost & Ziereisen "Le Petite Rouge" can be had today for $45.99 a bottle on a 4-Pack. This is 100% Pinot Noir. The nose is like smelling white truffles for the first time. You're like "what is this strange new smell I cannot get enough and oh my god now this is my favorite thing ever for the rest of my life." This wine is just ridiculous and gives Burgundy villages like Chambolle and Gevrey a run for the money at half the price. Not only was the wine profoundly delicious and stunningly well made, it also had a unique and distinct Swiss quality to it.
What a nose. So interesting. Darker cherry fruits but very Pinot and very earthbound and alpine. It opens up for gloriously over 2-3 hours. Scents like I've never smelled before along with this beautiful pure black cherry aroma. Really classy, earthy and ethereal nose. It's very Pinot. But also very Swiss. Not Burg. Not Cali. Not Germany. Swiss. I mean this thing really really delivers. There's forest floor and such an alpine freshness to the aromas that is distinctive and alluring.
The mouthfeel is very serious with lots of acidity but also major sap and wonderful deep and dark fruit. It's so flavorful. The texture is off the charts and the wine his huge mid palate opulence and such amazingly well defined fruit. Black cherries, mid season red cherries and they are so perfectly ripe. It really has a unique intensity to it. The tannins are remarkable and just melt but also are ripe and substantial but never intrusive. They have lively acid to them but are also sweet. There is just beautiful balance and purity to this wine. It is stunning. Insane inner mouth aromas. I'm just wowed by it by it's combo of this is new and this is utterly delicious.
The finish is so, so long. I love how ripe the pretty tannins are. There is a wonderful freshness that is from the acid but also from the minerality; it brings such a unique freshness. There is also a sauvage animal character as well after proper aeration. I settled on 3 hours of air before it gets going and it really reminds me of a high class Gevrey with a twist. It's so juicy, has unreal fruit and has a really terrific finish. I think it has the structure for long term aging. Truly a great wine. This is limited.
The Second Wine
For me for a new wine to be delicious and distinctive like this is as rare as it gets. It has something to it that I've never had or tasted before in Pinot Noir and I can only assume that it is the quality of growing grapes in the mountains. The AOC is Basel-Stadt and the soil is blend of limestone and loess. This needs, no demands, a two hour decant. It was pretty tight when I opened it but I had faith that a wine Hanspeter had a hand in would eventually reveal its greatness. And oh man is it great.
I don't often get Biblical. But it's not often I get to be the first store in the US to sell a Grand Cru quality pinot noir. And it's not just any random pinot noir, it's a pinot noir made by one of the top 2 German producers of pinot and his protege. The Germans and Swiss are scooping up the insanely small production as these are incredible world class wines that are taking their rightful place in the constellation. This is a big deal. My fingers are almost tripping over themselves I'm so excited to be writing this offer.
I'm thrilled to offer the Grand Cru style wine today from Jost & Ziereisen which is the 2016 Jost & Ziereisen Le Grand Rouge (Pinot Noir) for $89.99 a bottle on a 3-Pack. This is the Swiss equivalent of the Jaspis Alte Reben and you all know how profound that wine is. This is as profound but it's completely different. Like the difference between a Richebourg and a Corton Bressandes (if I had to pick two random Burgundy Grand Crus out of a hat). But if there was one village that this epic wine reminded me of it was Morey St. Denis and Clos de la Roche and/or Clos Vougeot. Both of these when done correctly have a distinct earthy spice that sets these two Morey Grand Crus apart. The Le Grand has that but with an alpine mountain twist to it. It's quite profound and makes this wine all the more alluring. What a wine. Stunning does not even begin to describe it.
Nose is absurd. Dark fruit, dark end of season black cherries. Bursting from the glass and with that telltale Ziereisen fruit purity. Really intense and deep aromas that you can get lost in. So much of that Morey spice I was alluding to earlier. It's hypnotizing. The nose gives off those pungent blasting aromatics like lipstick does.
Dense, sappy and just ridiculously explosive palate. This is Grand Cru all the way in texture, purity, concentration and intensity. It's got that urgency. Amazing texture and mouthfeel with tons of dark fruit and spice. The wine is amazingly brooding and has incredible sweet, ripe yet firm tannins and a fierce mineral backbone. It leaves your mouth watering. Stunning levels of power and concentration. The quality of the tannins is something special. So fine. Like silk.
This will age 20+ years and probably shouldn't be touched till 2025. What a wine. This is to be buried in the cellar. It needs maybe 10 years or 9-10 hour decant if one just try it young. But I've had a couple 15s in the last few years since I Initially tasted it and it was closed shut.
2016 Jost & Ziereisen Le Petit Rouge - $47.99 ($183.96 4-pack)
2016 Jost & Ziereisen Le Grand Rouge - $91.99 ($269.97 3-pack)
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