Description

Already the bottle and partly also the price indicate that we are nearing the top of the advancing German wine industry. This is simply one of Fritz Waßmer’s new monumental Spätburgunder wines that simply needs to be experienced! In the past it was easy to decode Fritz Waßmer. His “opener” was simply Spätburgunder and since then the wines were titled M, L, XL and XXL as they became fuller. That is how it still is, but now the vines of several parcels are reaching an age when the grapes are beginning to reflect their terroir seriously and at the same time he has invested in small new plots on some of the most famous slopes in Baden. One of these wines is this Spätburgunder, created on the fruit of a small parcel on the famous Roter Berg which rises from 190 and up to 250 meters behind the small village of Kenzingen a little north of the famous Kaiserstuhl and just 2 km from the Rhine. Here, Waßmer has acquired just under 1 hectare with 30-40 year old southwest-facing vines embraced by the steep Neiderbergstrasse, and already in its debut year created so much hype that it entered the wine list of a number of gourmet restaurants. The grapes are harvested by hand and placed in small plastic boxes before being driven down to the winery where all stalks are removed before the grapes are crushed and spontaneously fermented in open new French casks. Thereafter, 18 months of aging in the same casks will follow before the final wine is transfered to stainless steel vats for a few more months before being bottled without clarification or filtration. A potent Spätburgunder which after some time in the glass makes you think of a fine Côte de Nuits from a generous vintage, where the grapes came home with so much sugar that it was not necessary to chaptalize. Fascinating scents where the sweetness of the wood and exotic spices interplay seamlessly with forest strawberries, dark cherries and raspberries. Rich & very aromatic, but it also has a lively acidity and an almost salty mineral feel to it. This is just the first vintage, so no one knows for sure how the wine will develop, but this could very well be an experience of a lifetime in 2-3 years.