The 2021 Vintage
– Stunning Fruit Classicism
– Remarkable Fruit Clarity
– These Are Must Buys for Pinot Lovers. Must Buys.
2021 Thörle Probstey Spätburgunder “GG”
– The Wine to Blind Taste for Your “I only Drink Burgundy” Friends
– 97 Points Stuart Pigott, $55.99
– Firing on all Cylinders Right off the Bat
– Nose: Deep and Penetrating
– So, So Perfumed
– Wild Cherries, Forest Floor
– Oolong Tea, Minerals
– A Panoply of Subtle Spices
– Palate: Sweet, Dense, So Clear
– Sweet, Silky and Super Deep
– Almost Painful Concentration
– A Tiny Cherry Explosion
– Tiny Berry Super High Quality Fruit
– Allocated with a Decent Allocation
“. . .the super-fine tannins make me think of La Tache.” – Stuart Pigott
The Time Machine – Oh That We Had One as Hindsight Is 20/20
We all say, “of course I could have recognized the brilliant wines of Jeremy Seysses or Dominique Lafon before they were famous.” Better yet, if we had a time machine, we could go back and tell our younger selves to stock up on them.
But, of course, hindsight is 20/20.
Well it’s getting pretty damned obvious that Thorle is top 3 in Germany and can compete with some of the best in Burgundy. They have the critical acclaim to prove it and anyone who tastes the wines can see the brilliance. You have to ask yourself if you will say in 10-15 years that you went deep on these wines when they were this inexpensive.
The wines are already stunning and the Thorles are still very young. They are getting better every year. The history of German pinot noir is being written before our eyes.
The 2021 Vintage
The Thorle brothers have progressively gotten better since the first vintage we worked with them in 2014. They have not made a leap, just a slow and steady progression to an elite level of quality where they are today. They work hard and have incredible winemaking skills. In 2021, which is an excellent Pinot Noir vintage, I will again be able to offer my normal allocations not like in 2018.
The Thorle Pinot Noir Leap
We picked up Thorle because of their Pinot Noirs which were very, very good when we started in 13 with them but then they took a mini leap in 2015 which I think had more to do with the quality of 15 rather than his winemaking skills. Not that the Thorle brothers didn’t improve from 14 to 15 but 15 is an all time great German Pinot vintage that lifted all boats, small or big. But then in 2018 Thorle went from very very good German Pinot Noir producer (top 10) toarguably the best Pinot Noir producer in Germany along with Ziereisen. That’s the biggest leap. But then they made their epic 2019s which were even better than the 18s. The 18s and the 19s of Thorle are genius epic wines and maybe the two greatest back to back vintages of German Pinot Noir Fass Selections has worked with. But with 20 they continued the great work of 19 and added elite finesse but in 21 they have outdone themselves.
The Wine
Probstey is one of their two “Grand Cru” sites and drinks well earlier but still has the ability to age and should be aged for 10-15 years. But Probstey is so seductive young. Probstey is the more windy and is a south facing site with sandy and limestone soil. It’s the warmer of the two Grand Cru sites but also has a knack for snappy acids allied with the richness that comes from the warmer site.
The 2021 Thörle Probstey Spätburgunder “GG” which is $55.99 a bottle on a 4-pack is a masterpiece of a Probstey and easily the best young one I’ve ever tasted. This is the so called “warmer” site but it for me it just means the delivery system for the fruit, mineral and structure is firing on all cylinders right off the bat. The Probstey is the Pinot you pull for your “I only drink red Burgundy” friends and drop this on them blind and their whole world view on Pinot will be altered at the minimum and changed forever at the maximum.
Holy moly. This is psychotic. What a nose. Deep, penetrating, wild cherries, forest floor, and so, so perfumed. An earthy sweetness is just overwhelming. Amazing. So elegant and delicate. Yet so deep and vivid. Best young Probstey Pinot nose ever. Amazing purity to the fruit. High quality here. The deep cherryfruit is constantly changing between dark and light cherries. So detailed and vivid. Just a pleasure to sniff and sniff. Oolong tea, minerals and subtle spices add to the aromatic lightshow. Just ridiculous. Palate is sweet, dense and so clear. The clarity on this is bananas. Sweet, silky and super deep. Velvety tannins and so much energy. Terrific wood spice on the nose. Adds so much. Complexity just beyond. Almost painful concentration. Amazing cherries. A literal tiny cherry explosion. So concentrated with perfect tiny berry super high quality fruit. It just explodes and is so detailed. It’s the earthiest, sweetest most perfumed Pinot fruit you can imagine. All balanced by perfect lip-smacking acidity. Genius.
Finish is all limestone, sweet cherries and velvet. Straight. Really long, intense and very flavorful finish. Like the best sweet tart ever. Really compelling character. These are the results you get from perfectly healthy, ripe Pinot Noir fruit, which Christophe Thörle so eloquently stated in an email to me. A masterpiece. So good today. But will age a decade at least. Below is the 97 Point Pigott review.
“What an amazing nose of black berry fruit with deep smoke and wet earth complexity. Enormous concentration and massive structure yet the super-fine tannins make me think of La Tache. The lively acidity of the vintage gives a lot of energy, then the white pepper and savory notes come through at the spectacular finish. From organically grown grapes. Vegan. Unfiltered. Drink or hold.”– 97 Points Stuart Pigott
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Please call Cheryl at 949 378 5251 after emailing with your firstorder 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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