The 2019 Vintage in the Pfalz
- The Pfalz Is Known for Brilliantly Mineral Wines
- 2019 Is the Best Vintage Since the Now Legendary 2013
- In Great Years, Top Pfalz Wines Attain Stunning Density and Are Unforgetable
2019 Sven Klundt Riesling Kastanienbusch
- A Grosses Gewachs / Grand Cru Vineyard
- The Platonic Ideal of Minerality
- An Absolute Reference Point Wine
- You Only Get This in the Pfalz in a Great Year, a Great Vineyard and from a Great Winemaker
- Un Reviewed, Under-Appreciated, Massively Underpriced
- Nose: A Finely Grained Mineral Explosion
- Fine Citrus Perfume
- I'd Put This Nose Up Against Any Chablis You Can Find
- Palate: Strength, Power, Elegance, Finesse
- Palate Coating Minerality
- (Yes There Is Wonderfully Dense, Citrus Fruit, But That Is Not the Point)
- From One of the Great Vineyards in Germany (Rebholz's Version Through 3 Tier Is $70+)
- A Wine That Will Evolve, Improve, Define for Decades
- One of The BEST German Riesling We Sell. These are Grand Cru In My Book.
- Sadly, Only 80 Bottles
2019 Sven Klundt Riesling Hochborn
- Incredibly Delicious, Concentrated, Balanced with Incredible Mineral Depth
- More Importantly I've Never Had a Wine Quite Like This
- It's Like A Hypothetical Heirloom Granny Smith But 10 Times More Intense and Clean Combined with Crazy Intense Pfalz Minerality and Ludicrous Aromatics
- Palate: Lively with So Much Energy and Citrus Intensity
- Melon, Cantaloupe
- Superb Spices
- Complex Stoniness
- A Very Distinctive White Wine Experience at ONLY $23.99
- After 9 Years We All Know It Doesn't Stay This Cheap For Long
- Sadly, Only 60 Bottles
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Today's offer is sad and thrilling at the same time. Thrilling because these are both reference point wines. Sad because I only have 60 bottles of each. It was a short vintage and the greedy German market snatched them up.
They are both the best examples of each wine young Sven Klundt has ever made and it saddens me we have so little to sell. This will be first come, first served as I find that’s the best way to do thing fairly when we encounter situations like this. Sven Klundt killed 2019.
His two Rieslings, the Hochborn and the Kastanienbusch are both benchmark Pfalz wines and are shimmering in their beauty and also have insane structures. Oh man these will both age a long time with Kastanienbusch lasting 20 years I think. It will need a minimum of 5. The Hochborn has finally reached its full potential and is not just second fiddle to Kastanienbusch anymore and is now one of the best values in the entire portfolio. These are both utterly compelling wines and whoever gets to buy them and cellar them is in for a treat.
The 2019 Vintage in the Pfalz
Pflaz wines are known for their shimmering minerality. In average years, these wines are all about the minerality. They are studies in precision and balance.
2019 was not an average year. It was a great one.
In great years, you still get that minerality but it is aligned with gorgeous density. And great wines, like those we have today, become reference point wines for this mineral style.
These wines will age for decades and they are wines that you will want to stock up on and enjoy for many years.
Oh - and the prices are ridiculously low. Each wine should cost at least twice what I am charging. Part of that is that I buy direct. The other part is that Sven is not a part of the VDP which sets minimum prices for wines sold by their members.
Wine #1
This remains one of the single most electrifying bargains in the entire book and the 2019 Sven Klundt Riesling Kastanienbusch for $32.99 a bottle on a 4-pack is just an insane deal. The 2019 is the best since the legendary 2013. I really really love 2019 and tasted around 30-40 wines recently and the vintage is truly stunning. Dense and mineral with stunning textures and freshness. There is terrific intense acidity but also a wonderful mineral freshness that puts these wines on another level. They evolve open for days.
Wow. What an insane complex nose. Citrus pith, awesome confectionary aromas. Really really aromatic grapefruit. Pink with sugar. Huge minerals and rocks. Smells almost volcanic. Then it airs out. Watch out! Picture taking finely grained minerals and blasting them into your nose with aerated citrus peels. It's simply an explosion of dense minerality - the absolute Platonic ideal of minerality that you only get in the Pflaz in great years by great producers. There was also an incredible rainwater quality to the nose that just soared from the glass. It smells like nature. Like a vineyard. So, so floral. White flowers. So fresh.
Complex, deep and super duper closed but also a gorgeous pitter patter of minerals. Perfect balance. Most closed young Kastanienbusch ever. But the energy and purity are out of this world. So elegant and finesse driven but with so much material. Finish is getting longer and fanning out. So complete and no extra flesh like in 18. It has such strength and power yet top levels of elegance and finesse. There is a precision and the density in the 2019 that raises the bar. There is a brilliant roundness that I only find in the best white wines yet it remains energetic, dense, high toned and super linear which is what one wants from an electric dry Riesling. Yes, there is also a huge backbone of dynamic fresh and very vivid fruit as well but even that has insane refinement. Incredible tension and structure. Super intense and bright palate, what a powerhouse, it is so packed. Pure. High toned. Explosion of tropical fruits. Massive structure, the cleanliness of this wine is stunning. What a finish of complex rock candy. Sweet saline. Citrus. Mineral sweetness. Lime blossom. Just a massive wine with huge extract, huge structure, huge texture, huge acids. Dramatic and coiled. Balanced, clean and elegant. Nice acid wash at the end. Cleans your palate. The minerality just coats the palate in an almost savory manner like few wines in the world. Almost a wall of flavor wine. There is a an herbal presence in this wine that I only find in German Riesling from great vintages. In a word, this is a stunning effort that will age 15+ years no problem. Only 80 bottles!
Wine # 2
Up next is the 2019 Sven Klundt Riesling “Hochborn” for $23.99 a bottle on a 4-pack.
The vineyard is near Godramstein and is called the Steinweg (Hochborn from 15 on) which translates to "Stoneway," which as soon as you get to the vineyard, it becomes obvious why. There is so much white limestone in this vineyard it looks like shells on an endless beach of vines. The vines are an average of 34 years of age. It is remarkable and grand terroir, and from it comes this remarkable counterpoint to the great Kastanienbusch. If Kastanienbusch is tropical, baroque and spicey, Hochborn is stoney along with apply but also there is a fascinating, unique smokey minerality that makes this wine so seductive.
Like most things that are different from anything else, this is hard to describe, but I will give it my best. So the Granny Smith apple is a hybrid apple produced in large quantities and sold pretty much everywhere. And they are indeed pretty good for what they are. Try to imagine if there was an heirloom apple that was like the Granny Smith but just a million times better. It reeks of Grand Cru class and elegance. It has explosive and dense fruit to it yet there is also there this incredible minerality to it that is the foundation of this wine. There is a pungency to it on the palate as well. It's so distinct and really engages the drinker. There is terrific structure and density along with super clean and classically present Klundt acidity. Think a dry version of a great Willi Schaefer spatlese with less green apple Jolly Rancher tartness and a whole ton of slamming minerality. That's sort of the baseline to understand the Hochborn. The fruit is like a Granny Smith but just much cleaner, more precise, more intense and better delineated. Oh, and then it's mixed in with gnarly Pfalz minerality
Super citrus and grapefruit on the nose. Fleshy and also pithy. Peach pit. Lovely intense minerals. Super expressive nose that is serene and zen. Some confectionary notes as well. Very very complex. Wow.
On the palate, great complexity and depth. Very salty. A bit closed but so pretty and vivid. Almost in 4D. Complex stoniness on the nose after a bit of air. Superb spices and herbs as well. So lively with so much energy and citrus intensity. Really easily the best Hochborn ever. Nose is getting confectionary. After some air it’s got such a classic nose. Airy and confectionary. Melon. Cantaloupe. Terrific rock candy sweet minerality.
ONLY 60 BOTTLES
2019 Sven Klundt Kastanienbusch Riesling - $31.99 ($119.96 4-Pack)
2019 Sven Klundt Hochborn Riesling - $25.99 ($95.96 4-Pack)
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