Jürgen Von der Mark
– Fewer Than 500 People Have Passed the Master of Wine Exam
– One of the Top Wine Tasting Palates on Earth
– He Intentionally Under Prices His Wines to Make Sales Easy
– To Create A Thing It Is Necessary to Know the Thing
– The Absolute Top Tier of German Pinots
– With Mobitz Retired, Our Most Burgundian German Pinots
– Some of the Most Brilliantly Subtle, Complex Pinot Noirs I’ve Had
The Song Series
– Von der Mark’s Grand Crus
– Each Named for a Song
– These Are Elite Level Pinot Noirs
– Would Cost a Fortune in Burgundy
2022 Jürgen Von der Mark Pinot Noir “Je Marche Seul”
– The Next Cult German Pinot Type of Nose
– Echoes Cecile Tremblay
– Intense Black Cherries
– Mid Season Best of Bunch Red Cherries
– Huge Minerality: Smells like Red Rocks
– Massive Complex Aromas
– On Day 2 Reminds Me of Prieure Roche
– Palate: Insane Inner Mouth Perfume and Massive Elegance
– Lithe and Elegant but Intensely Flavored
– Incredible Energy and Sweetness of Fruit
– Intensity Combined with Delicacy is Incredible
– 48 bottles
New Member of the Elite in German Pinot Noir
German Pinot Noir has become quite popular on the list as more and more of you realize that a solid number of German wineries have cracked the code on Pinot Noir and are perfecting their wines with typical German attention to detail.
As I look at the different stylistic approaches among our producers who make single vineyard, Premier Cru / Grand Cru Style wines, I can think of 4 broad groups.
1.Buy And Hold. Christoph Walter is Fassproducers, Furst is another. These producers have elite terroir and make these wines to age with terrific structure. Typically you want to wait 10 years for them but when you do open them, they are incredible, dense yet balanced masterpieces.
2.Whimsical Magic. The poster child for this style is obviously Enderle & Moll. Their allocated single soil wines are works of utter random brilliance. Almost impossible to describe and as unique Pinot Noirs as exist on earth. Marbelous could fit in here as well.
3.Teutonic Marching Band. By this description I mean that the winemaker takes the terroir and uses elite level technique to produce a wine of precision and density that can be drunk young. Ziereisen is obviously the leader of this style with his Jaspis wines. Thorle is right there behind Hanspeter Ziereisen. Also our new producer Dr. Wehrheim is of that group.
4.Burgundy in Germany. This style is what it sounds like. German Pinot Noirs that are stylistically similar to Burgundy. Obviously, these are not carbon copies because the terroir is different but the idea is that the wines are elegance and complexity driven. Henrik Mobitz was our original leader here and now, today’s winemaker, Jürgen Von der Mark, is our iconic producer in this style.
Jürgen’s Grand Cru wines are simply brilliant expressions of Pinot Noir. They are light to medium bodied and have just unreal flavor intensity. The purity and the clarity of the fruit is top notch. They are wispy and sneakily dense plus the Grand Cru wines have that trademark JVDM (Jürgen Von der Mark) for short. These are genius wines of the highest degree and made lovingly in small batches with the knowledge and experience of a master of wine.
The Wine
Today’s wine is the 2022 Jürgen Von der Mark “blah blah ” Pinot Noir for $55.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. This is VERY Limited.
Such a deep, complex and aromatic nose. Deep mid season cherry and overwhelming spice. Such stunning spice. Singular. Super earthy and mineral. Like a MSD 1er Cru or SLB Dominode. But so elegant and precise. A nose one can sniff and sniff. 9.7 nose. Genius. Leaves. Sweet leaves and sweet spices. Baking spices and such vivid cherry fruit. Sick nose. Incredible. The next cult German Pinot type of nose. It’s so obvious. It’s got intense black cherries, mid season best of bunch red cherries and some cooling blueberry that echoes Cecile Tremblay. It’s dark but not too dark. Loads of spice and earth. But it is so so so refined. Delicate yet intense nose. Superb. Beguiling. Huge minerality. Smells like red rocks. Nimble. You sniff for 10 minutes before you sip as it is so good and keeps changing. After 10 minutes there are just massive complex aromas.
On day 2, deep and expansive. Prieure Roche is what it reminds me of today! Finally! Been trying to figure out for days now. Deep cherry, blueberry, earth and mint. So precise and so much clarity. Cranberry, cherry and so clean. Wow.
Palate has insane inner mouth perfume and massive elegance. Just an incredible palate. Mega juicy and so complex. So pure and clean. Lithe and elegant but intensely flavored with bursting mid season red and black cherries. Incredible energy and sweetness of fruit and man it is so so elegant. Pure as the driven snow. This is mega elite. The intensity combined with delicacy is incredible. Masterful balance and top of the line purity. Delicate and powdery tannins with perfect ethereal texture. Insanely long finish. This is as transparent and beguilingly fruity as it gets. OMG the purity, finesse and balance here are just divine as is the sweetness. Such sweet cherry fruit and dense yet nimble. This is so stunning and so insane. Balance is perfect. This really is special. Amazing length and just as pure as pure can be. So complex, tangy sweet and fresh. Just spellbound by this.
On Day 2 this was better. Juicy, so clean. Amazing mouthfeel, purity and balance. Best mid season cherries ever. Juicy and so clean. Delicate, haunting and complex.
Midjourney
As you know, we believe that strict recitations of tasting notes is only part of the story of a wine. We’ve always tried to include metaphors to try to give our readers a better understanding of how wines impact us. These metaphors have included architecture, painting, music and poetry.
We’re trying something new to help create visual metaphors using Midjourney, a generative artificial intelligence program that is by far the best image gneratour out there. I’ve messed around with a bunch and this is by far the best. We look forward to hearing your feedback.
Please call Cheryl at 949 378 5251 with your order if you are a first time customer (we prefer not to receive credit card numbers over E-Mail).
OFFICE HOURS 4-7 PM
I love drinking and selecting wines – but my passion for teaching people about wine is almost as big. I’m happy to announce a block of time each day where people can call me just to chat about wine in general. These blocks are NOT intended to sell wine (I do that all day). This is to talk to me about wine pairings or great producers or how long to age wines or styles of wine making or the latest wine controversy. My goal is to help people learn more about wine and enjoy it more. Call me at 917-912-4355 from 4-7EST Monday – Friday.
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A Word about Fass Selections and Social Media
I am big into certain social media and I want people to take pictures of the wines they have received or will receive and tag me in them and share their thoughts. I a am on Instagram. Please tag me there. I also am on Delectable which I love a lot. It is Iphone/Ipad only, but it’s like Instagram meets Facebook for wine. Tag me there and find me there as well. I want to know if you liked the wine, were not moved by the wine, hated the wine or the wine gave you a religious experience. I want to know it all. Feedback is key and I will answer all feedback e-mails as quickly as I can.
For all billing and invoicing inquiries please contact Rick at accounts@fassselections.com or 919-396-9876”