Burklin Blowout Part I: Only $9.98 for this 92pt $22 Stunner!

“…the quality of (Burklin-Wolf’s) generic estate Riesling…is almost unbelievably high and reflects the clarity and animation that have become estate hallmarks.” – David Schildknecht, Vinous Media

It seems like there are more parameters to the ‘art of the deal’ than there used to be.  The ‘small world’ of the wine business perhaps dictates a little more restraint in the ‘disposing’ of brands that switch importers than in times of old.   In short, while there are plenty of deals to go around, those good old ‘scorched earth’ blowouts of the 90’s are rare these days.  But this crazy offer of Rieslings from one of the premier producers in the world brought back memories of some of the mad discounts of yesteryear, and it’s on some pretty spectacular juice to boot.

As most of you know, we have been critical of the dry (trocken) movement in Germany.  We have called out a number of producers who don’t have a history with making a dry Riesling for turning out searing, skeletal, unflattering wines for the sake of fashion.  The majority of these efforts come from the Mosel where the terroir produces bright, structured, driving wines that, to us, need a little residual sugar for balance.  But we are not averse to trocken wines by definition.  We have been selling brilliant dry Rieslings from the likes of Kuenstler, Pfeffingen, Muller-Catoir, and the subject of today’s throwback liquidation, Burklin-Wolf, for decades.

The connection between all of these producers of sensational dry Riesling is location, location, location.  The Pfalz has a trocken tradition that the Mosel doesn’t have.  They are located further to the south, meaning a slightly warmer climate to ripen fruit. A couple degrees here and there to a grapevine is huuuge.  The soils are also more, well, soil-y and less slate-y.  So, the wines here have a broader palate and lean more to dried apricot than citrus.  Dry styles work well here.  And not only is the Pfalz a great place for dry Riesling, but 2016 was a fine year for the Pfalz as a whole.  There was a warm fall which caused some estates to pick early, then a closing cold snap that rewarded those who waited by bringing everything back into alignment.

Burklin-Wolf is one of the largest and most esteemed estates in the region, tracing its history back to 1597, and one that was capping an upswing in quality thanks to a commitment to biodynamic farming in 2005 and a freak but positive change in winemaking.  For four generations a member of the Knorr family was at the helm of the cellar.  In 2012, however, Fritz Knorr suffered a fatal heart attack and the harvest was thrust on his intern, a 27-year-old named Nicola Libelli who had received his diploma from Germany’s prestigious Giesenheim in 2010.  The rest, as they say, is history.  Libelli has become a dynamic force in Burklin-Wolf’s cellar according to Vinous’ David Schildknecht.  Everything was in place for a brilliant season in 2016 and we were sure impressed with what we tasted here.