RIESLINGFEIER PART 1: A 6 pack Vertical of Muller Ruprecht Riesling SAUMAGEN "N"!!!!
1/17/2025
It's that most wonderful time of the year... for Riesling lovers! After a long 5-year pandemic cursed hiatus, one of the world's best Riesling centric events is back! Tomorrow is the walkaround wine tasting and BYOB wine dinner with winemakers from Germany & Austria in attendance pouring and sharing their wines. All this week and next, there are multiple events around town here in NYC hosting these winemakers. In honor of this momentous occasion, we are kicking things off here at Chambers Street Wines with an absolutely stellar offering from Rieslingfeier's creator Stephen Bitterolf of Vom Boden and his partner at Source/Material, Robert Dentice.
[Philipp Wohrwag from Muller Ruprecht (courtesy of Vom Boden)]
For those not familiar with Muller Ruprecht, they have been producing wine in Kallstadt, Pfalz since 1702. Literal neighbours with their distant relatives Koehler Ruprecht, they are also certified organic and farm parcels in the famed Grand Cru vineyard Saumagen as well. Whilst the wines of their cousins are rounder, powerful and more textural, MR's are decidedly more ELECTRIC. According to Vom Boden and Source/Material, the most apt stylistic comparison would be with the " incisive yet grand GGs of Rebholz...focusing the power of the Pfalz into wines of delineation and lift... but MR's are airier".
[Philipp in the vineyard (courtesy of Source/Material)]
As best described by Source/Material: "The Saumagen "N is sourced from a small parcel within the famous Saumagen vineyard called "Nill." It is one of the coolest parts of this storied vineyard, shaded and with fierce winds. Yet this parcel also has more limestone in the soil than nearly any other part of the limestone-driven Saumagen, giving the wine a special, distinctive, cooling minerality! "
We are beyond thrilled to be able to offer the last bottles available of this vertical collection from 2015 to 2021 (minus the 2019) at half the price of what it normally sells for! (Hence NON DISCOUNTABLE) Please find the vintage descriptions from Source/Material below. Riesling lovers, on your marks!!!!
-Giselle Hamburg
2015: The 2015 shows the ripeness and power of the vintage, with dark citrus fruits and melon. There is a glycerin-rich feel to the wine, yet it is edged by spice and has great structure. This is definitely the most mature of the wines, entering a perfect drinking window.
2016: What an overlooked vintage 2016 is - in the best wines (like this) the vintage's delicacy and finesse shines through. This is a joy to drink, with a fresh quinine-like quality to it, like the greatest gin and tonic you've ever had. Profoundly mineral, with salt and an almost liquified rock quality. Stunning wine.
2017: This is a monument and one of my favorite vintages. Right now, the wine is profoundly coiled up, inward-looking and compact. Yet you can feel the density and the structure. This is a laser of mineral. Cellar as long as you can, decant, or open two days before drinking!
2018: This is superb! Even after the 2017 this feels super fresh. Philipp says the 2018 came in with enormous reduction and lots of tannins. Well, this has all resolved itself because the wine is now soaring. It is slightly broader than the 2017 yet tasting this blind one might still think it was a cooler vintage - the acids and energy are excellent.
2020: One of my favorite vintages - the wines are all so open and delicious... and this is in the general framework, yet more precise and delineated. After going through five vintages there really is a distinct minerality, salty and glycerin rich (which I often associate with limestone) yet with this liquified rock quality that almost feels metamorphic. Superb.
2021: Profound young wine; reminds me of the 2017 with a dash of the 2020. It has the linear quality and the delicacy of the 2017, yet it's more open and generous right now than the 2017. Perhaps this is still in a friendly phase - drink now or hold for a while!
