- Baroque, Textured, Dense
- Dynamically Fresh and Long with Incredible Energy
- Nose is Super Floral and Mineral/White Flower Assault
- With Air: Papaya/Mango, Lime Blossom
- Meyer Lemon, Pear Flowers and Minerals
- Sensational Palate: Vibrant, Deep and Packed with Fruits
- Prototypical Laible Minerality
- Top 1% Finesse
- Once in a Decade Density for This Bottling
- Very Long Finish: Distinct Saline Impression
- Best Young Klingelberger Ever/It's Not a Contest
- If Willi Schaefer Made Dry Riesling in Baden But Better
- Very Ageworthy
Most of you know the story of Andreas Laible. He was one of the estates that convinced me to start Fass Selections. Laible makes wines of such purity and elegance that I've always loved them. But when I was in retail, I couldn't get them because they were too expensive via the 3 tier system for the importers to import. So I started my own company and here we are.
The wines have a devoted following on the list. They are on the extreme right on the bellcurve in terms of minerality and elegance. Definitely more like Puligny than say Meursault. If you like that elegant style of wine, these are some of the best values in the world. In 2018, you get that prototypical elegance but the epic density is a once in a decade (or less) occurrence.
The Wine
Today, we are selling perhaps Andreas' best wine. It is the 2018 Andreas Laible Durbacher Plauerlain Klingelberger 1782 Riesling Spatlese Trocken for $34.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. If I'm giving out a core 3-pack of our Dry Riesling to a critic, this is going to be in it. This is the seventh vintage we have worked with and each one is just amazing. Not a bad one in the bunch.
- The compactness of the 2012...
- the acidity and depth the 2013,
- the lean, mineral and angular yet refined 2014,
- the explosive and powerful 2015,
- the nervy, dense, tensile and ultra refined 2016
- baroque, textured, dense, dynamically fresh and long 2017.
I've tasted a lot of young Klingelberger by Laible before but nothing prepared me for the 2018 which I opened last week. It was mindblowing. It was by far the greatest young Laible wine I've had of all the wines. It took my breath away. It is the most balanced, refined, textured, baroque and pure Klingelberger so far. It is also absurdly concentrated and exhibits grace and power in a refined and compact package yet has this stunning texture that seems to show in the best 18s down south. This is a wow wine. Blew my mind.What a nose. sweeping and dramatic with top 1% aromas. So floral. Flower shop levels. Little shop of insane dry Riesling. Gorgeous Mosel like fruit. Smells ripe and sweet but also bone dry. Green apples. Pear. Apricot. So vivid and detailed. Just wonderful. Lime blossom, sweet lime. Endless aromas. Fresh field level 10. But also rock quarry. Staggering young Klingelberger aromas. It screams "I'm here" out of the gates. As it aerated its aromas became deeper and revealed themselves more. Wet stones, lanolin, and lovely sponti aromas and hints of fruit. I find with Laible the fruit aromas
need some years to come out, but in 2018 it is there earlier than usual and it's so good. Then after air there is papaya/mango and pear with all the flowers and minerals. Lime blossom, Meyer lemon as well. This is elite winemaking. Time is your friend with this bottling as it will only get better.
The palate is sensational. Palate is epic like a Norwegian Viking documentary epic. Dense, structured and more deep. Man is this deep with just stunning purity and freshness. So vivid and so detailed. This is god level balance. So long. Never ends. The purity of this wine is just incredible. Amazing finesse and elegance and screamingly mineral and very very complex on the finish. This is a staggering young Klingelberger. Vibrant, deep and packed with fruits and has just amazing freshness from the minerality. But there is also an intense sense of mineral urgency. It slathers you with minerals. It is very, very mineral and so mineral it's almost savory if that makes any sense. Some tropical fruit but more apple and pear at this stage perfectly interspersed with deep clean minerality. This is so well fruited and compact yet so dynamic and fresh it creates quite an impression on the palate. The acidity is quite impressive and echoes on the very long finish which has a distinct saline impression. It is already showing terrific complexity but what is most compelling and separates this from previous Klingelberger is the seamless chewy structure. It's just unbelievable. This is as epic as Riesling can get for $36. I gave this a 9.7 which makes it one of the top white wines I've had in the past year.
On Day 2 it was even better!
Classic kling! What a nose. Green herbs, fresh apricot, huge minerals, hint of vulcanized rubber, lime blossom, citrus, dried earth, minerals. Stunning. Palate is so dense, so structured, so palate staining and just ethereal. Long finish, superb balance And jaw dropping purity. Amazing length and inner mouth florals with chock full of minerality. This is easily a 20 year wine. Sick acids and freshness. So complete, serene yet complex.
2018 Andreas Laible Durbacher Plauerlain Klingelberger 1782 Riesling Spatlese Trocken - $36.99 ($139.96 4-pack) (*Including Tariff of $3.36)
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