Burkin-Wolf Rieseling Set // 2 Pack

Burkin-Wolf is one of the oldest family-owned wineries in all of Germany, with origins way back to 1597. An excellent vintage for German Riesling, 2015 was rated 96 points by the Wine Spectator, which writes: “Nearly perfect spring and summer weather, followed by a cooler autumn, resulted in ripe grapes that retained high acidity.”

This is a 2-bottle set of the 2015 Burkin-Wolf Ungehuer Riesling and the 2015 Burkin-Wolf Langenmorgen Riesling.

2015 Burkin-Wolf Ungehuer Riesling
Ungeheuer is the largest of Forst’s quintet, but at just .29 hectares, it’s still small potatoes. The terroir here is weathered sandstone with layers of clay and sandstone sandwiched between lime and basalt rock. This highly specialized soil together with Forst’s warm and dry climate makes for rich and ripe Riesling with a more mouth-filling character than those found in Germany’s cooler regions like the Mosel, Rheingau and Rheinhessen. Known as one of the Pfalz’s top three estates, Bürklin-Wolf makes a textbook Ungeheuer Riesling, showing forward notes of berry and exotic spice with a mostly dry finish thanks to just 4.9 g/l of residual sugar. Incidentally (or maybe not), Ungeheuer means “monster.” Though Riesling is generally thought of as being one of the world’s lightest wines, this full-bodied offering is anything but.

2015 Burklin-Wolf Langenmorgen Riesling
Bürklin-Wolf borrowed this charming word to refer to this lovely, mineral-hewn Riesling sourced from the estate’s .68 hectares of vines that make up just a tiny part of the 7 hectare Langenmorgon Vineyard. The site is known as one of the Pfalz’s best vineyards. Boasting red and white sandstone-rich soil with loess deposits, Langenmorgen produces warm though structured Rieslings. Bürklin-Wolf’s plot of Langenmorgen sits on the upper slopes of the hillside. This cooler, east-facing site is close to the bordering forest and notably shadier than other parts of the vineyard. As follows, this linear and piquant Riesling packs serious acidity to balance its pineapple and lychee-like fruit character. Grapes are 100% hand picked and fermentation takes place thanks to native yeasts only. Both fermentation and maturation of 10 months in the cellar occur in large, old casks—a throwback to German wines of yore. This Riesling’s moderate residual sugar, however, gives this largely dry Riesling a thoroughly modern profile.