Description
“This comprises lesser lots from the estate’s full quartet of “grand cru” Forst sites: Jesuitengarten, Kirchenstück, Ungeheuer and Pechstein, including young vines in the latter site. All of the vines in Bürklin-Wolf’s Jesuitengarten are young, but Libelli explained that even these were subjected to an initial, load-lightening picking whose fruit was shunted to the Gutsriesling; the rest then went here, as there won’t once again be a “G.C.” Jesuitengarten until the vines are deemed up to it. The nose is terrific, offering alluring and intriguing musky floral notes worthy of Kirchenstück, smoky marjoram-like herbal notes and white peach. The palate is glossy but remarkably buoyant, similarly complex but introducing a stimulating sense of stony, alkaline and smoky mineral impingement that carries into a vibrant finish. And while mineral elements are pronounced and the wine harbors just two grams of residual sugar, its sheer juiciness precludes austerity. This relatively small-volume Bürklin-Wolf bottling (which was only inaugurated with vintage 2013) is consistently one of the estate’s best-value offerings and worth snapping up if you can locate any.” 93 David Schildknecht