Max Geitlinger
– I Thought He Was Just a Pinot Noir Phenom …
– I Was Wrong, Very Very Wrong
– A Ziereisen-Like Ability to Make Brilliant Wines from Anything
– These Are to the Entire List – His Uber Rare Wines will Be Allocated to His Best Customers (Later)
2019 Max Geitlinger Maximal Spätburgunder – His TOP Pinot
– Absolutely the Best Pinot Noir He Has Ever Made
– Reminds Me of Top Wines from the Great 2010 Vintage in Burgundy
– Nose: Amazing Purity and Depth of Aroma
– Complex Cherry Flower
– Loads of Spice
– Sappy Berry/Cherry Aromas
– Explosive Palate
– Outrageous Palate Density
– Amazing Tiny Berry/Cherry Intensity
– Astonishing Purity
– Vivid and Well Defined Inner Mouth Aromas
– Florals and Cherries
– So Chiseled and Linear
– Lovely Stoniness
The Hall of Lesser Known Whites
– There Are Producers That Make Great Wine from Grapes That Are Not Normally Great
– Vatan, the Cotats, La Mission Haut Brion
– Trevallon
– Roches Neuves, Guiberteau
– Max Geitlinger’s Whites Are in This Class
– Inexpensive … But Small Quantities
2021 Max Geitlinger Wein Maximal Inne Müller
– One of the Greatest and Original Wine Values I’ve Ever Sold
– Micro Production
– Endless Complexity and Energy
– I Gave This 9.4 on Delectable
– Equals My Score for Very Good 1er Cru White Burgundies
– But It’s Only $29.99
– Will Change Your View of Müller Thurgau
– Nose: Finely Powdered Rocks
– Excellent Refined and Classy Minerality
– Palate: Stunning Freshness
– Elite Levels of Density and Complexit
– Stunning, Stunning, Stunning Freshness
– Terrific Deliciousness
– One of Those Change of Pace Wines That Is Better Than Almost Anything You Are Drinking Under $30
– But Is also Strikingly Different if You Are in a Chardonnay Rut
– The Last 96 Bottles on Earth
The Protege of the Master
I’ve always believed that one of the true measures of greatness is the quality of your students. Great artists can do great things but it’s when they are able to explain and inspire others to equal or higher levels that they really shine.
Hanspeter Ziereisen’s most famous protege to date is Max Geitlinger. Geitlinger’s wines are very different than Ziereisen’s German wines. More linear and stoney.
But they are incredible examples of Baden Pinot Noir and are not to be missed by true Pinot lovers.
The Wines
Today, I am selling the 2019 Max Geitlinger Maximal Spätburgunder for $46.99 a bottle on a 4-pack which is his top 2019 Pinot Noir as he likes to change the names of his top wine in certain vintages. This is absolutely the best Pinot Noir he has ever made. A mind blowing wine that is the closest thing I have ever had in Germany that reminds me of top wines from the great 2010 vintage in Burgundy. I adore the 2010 Burgundies as they are the most transparent and deep vintage since 1999. The 2010s have awesome fruit but it also balanced by a particular type of stoney terroir transparency that Max just nails in his 2019.
He only makes 300-350 bottles of his top Pinot Noir and he has given me a good amount. This wine also reminds me of his 13 and 14 which are absolutely my favorites wines of his up until this genius 2019.
Lovely nose. Spice, cherries, complex aromas of cherry flower, and so expansive. Terrific. Stunning aromas. This reminds me of the 14. Great great Pinot. Big Pinot nose. Very ebullient and expressive. So many light yet vivid red cherries. This wine is firmly in the red fruit camp with maybe 10% black cherries. Sick, sick, sick nose with amazing purity and depth of aroma. Almost a honeyed aspect develops with air. Loads and loads of spice. Sappy berry/cherry aromas with such detail and purity it’s not even believable this can come from a tiny estate in an area no one has ever heard of. You can smell the nose and smell all the hard work Max puts in in the vineyard.
Terrific inner mouth aromas with amazing stoniness that runs throughout. Stunning purity lovely sweet fruit. Really expansive inner mouth aromas with so much confectionery cotton candy. Outrageous palate density. Structure like a brilliant unique piece of architecture. Something like a Gehry. The fruit is so gorgeous and so restrained yet also so sweet and full. Explosive palate with amazing tiny berry/cherry intensity. The low yields lead to the amazing fruit intensity and sweetness. You can tell every grape is perfect, tiny and dense. The purity is astonishing. The inner mouth aromas are vivid and well defined and even h Explosive palate with amazing tiny berry/cherry intensityave some florals in there amongst all the deep cherry fruit. Color like a great red burgundy. Man is this chiseled and linear. Amazing and unlike any German Pinot I’ve had before. Ripe sweet velvety tannins. Undeniable freshness and purity. Such clarity and balance. Poised and balanced. A restrained flamboyance is the best way to describe this wine. It is stunning and not to be missed. So elegant with great sweetness but it also has the stoniness of the 14 Max made and many 2010 red Burgundies. Long and classic with brilliant structure and amazing tannin management. This is so pure with sweetness, great intensity, lingering freshness and outrageous acid. This tastes like $65+.
The Hall of Lesser Known Whites
If you take a visit to the White Wine Hall of Fame, most of it is taken up by Chardonnay from Burgundy. There is a wing for Hermitage as well as one for St Peray (the St. Peray section is still not in the official guide). There’s also a section for Riesling, although it’s hotly debated whether even that should exist (hopefully not by many people on this list).
And then, there is the “Other” Hall for lesser known whites. The hall for the oddball great wines made by random geniuses that are making wines that are so good, they defy logic. The Cotats and Vatan are in there. Haut Brion. Domaine de Trevallon and Chateau Simone. Roches Neuves and Boudignon Our own Gilles Berlioz is being photographed for his section. Hanspeter Ziereisen as well. You get the idea.
And these “Other” wines can be every bit as good as top level white Burgundy. I had an aged 2002 Pascal Cotat “La Grande Cote” one year that was my white wine of the year.
The other thing about these “Other Whites,” is that they cost a ton less than the thousands that you can pay for top white Burgundy. Wine pricing is all about supply and demand. And if very few people have heard of your wine, the demand (and the price) is quite low.
Interlude: Müller Thürgau Can Be Great
A quick recap of Müller Thürgau as I came to know it. The first good Müller Thürgau I encountered was on a visit to Sebastien Fürst and it was his 2005 Müller Thürgau Pur Mineral. It was terrific and had elegance and finesse plus loads of intense Franken minerality. It transcended Müller Thürgau and was a wine I bought and sold for my many years in retail. It even ages 4-6 years. But most Müller Thürgau is planted all over Germany as it has crazy high yields and is easy to grow. It also usually is turned into plonk. Many times I’ve been driving through Germany with winemakers and asked what those vines are and they say dismissively that’s overcropped high yielding Müller Thürgau. I would usually then mention the Fürst. Then fast forward to finding Enderle & Moll and their brilliant skin contact Müller Thürgaus. They make four and are brilliant and we sell a lot of them but they are in a different style than today’s utterly brilliant Müller Thürgau from Max Geitlinger.
The 2021 Max Geitlinger Maximal Müller Inne can be had for $29.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. This wine was a revelation for me and has changed the way I think about Müller Thürgau. This is a wine of endless complexity and energy. It is life affirming and invigorating.
Awesome nose. Potpourri levels of complexity. Some Sponti but not too much but it adds so much. Melon fruit. So clean. Spice as well. Max makes Müller an experience. After air the nose ramps up complexity of an intense vanilla extract, leesy quality, unreal minerals and a confectionary quality. Lime zest. Hint of seltzer. Some hints of tropical fruits like kumqwats, mandarin orange and apricot. Also a sense of creaminess. Wow.
Palate is divine. So vivid and clean. Wine is juicy and deep but also has an appealing hint of mild olive like bitterness. Terrific acids that really leave a lasting impression. Really dense and substantial. Has terrific grip. This is really serious stuff. Wow! After 45 minutes this nose is lit. Oh my god. So complex and high toned. Also leather and forest notes now. From 9.3 to 9.4 on Delectable. Smokey. Just crazy. So dynamic and original. What a transformation with air. Sick sick sick. The beauty of this wine cannot be put into mere words. I was expecting a nice, zippy, clean wine, not this masterpiece. After air (40 minutes) it really delivers. Palate is so dense, yet lithe and elegant. Gorgeous purity and freshness. Long, nervy, creamy and mineral. A beautiful wine. Village level Burg quality here. Incredible finesse and sweetness from the intense fruit and mineral extract. Vibrates on the palate. Just incredible. As this opens it sharpens and gets more angles and even juicer. What a wine. Nose gets so much more complex. Incredible florals. Stunning. Leather. Herbs. Just a work of genius.
On day 2 the wine was as compelling. Still with loads of spice but also peach and apricot. More fruit aromatically today. Yellow almost Marsanne like fruit. Terrific. Lanolin and a sense of richness. Palate is rich and ripe and lovely purity. Man this is pure. Also very dense and textured. Alive and fresh with such length. Dazzling bee sting. Reminiscent of great Fiano.
Complex and just spectacular wine. Run and get this. One of the greatest and original wine values I’ve ever sold.
This wine comes from vines 25 years old in a vineyard in Wolbach. It’s 30% mash fermented and then spends 12 months in wood. It’s been bottled now for 24 months and is still developing.
Please call Cheryl at 949 378 5251 after emailing 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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