2017 Furst Burgstadter Spatburgunder

As we enter the “villages” level (aka ortswein) in the range, this is where my expectations were turned on their head a bit. The Burgstadter Centgrafenberg is their home village Grand cru site and informs their ortswein, new erste lage (1er cru), and Grösses Gewächs (Grand cru) bottlings. Its soils are comprised of particularly hard buntsandstein with a lot of iron content, giving it a red color, as well as a variable amount of clay/topsoil accordingly to the parcel. It is my custom to find the wines from the Centgrafenberg to be more sturdy/structured and earthy, sort of broader shouldered and less finessed than the wines from their other Grand cru site, the Schlossberg in the village of Klingenberg. I likened the “typical” character of the wines to those of southern Nuits Saint Georges for their blend of depth, savory, and structured elements, which Paul and Sebastian found to be a decent analogy. HOWEVER, this year, with no hesitation, this wine stood out for its greater complexity and clarity of flavor. Its aromatics are plain stunning, with a notably stronger sense of mineral/floral complexity, then in the mouth a serious amount of layered and precise depth of flavor, with good but fine supporting structure that pushes up on 1er cru quality; there is nearly none of the more “rustic” qualities often found at this level in the Burgstadter range. I believe that the combination of the warmer nature of the year (in the same way as Pommard is far less rustic in warmer vintages) allied to Sebastian’s insightful subtle changes in grape selection for this bottling have it performing at a level I haven’t yet encountered. This is an outstanding success. A little star * awarded here…..