2012 Forster Ungeheuer Riesling Auslese

Shortly before his untimely 2013 death, Pfalz entrepreneur Achim Niederberger, in a coup that sent shock waves through the wine world, hired away Bollinger chef de cave and native of nearby Alsace Matthieu Kaufmann to take charge in the von Buhl cellars. There is a strong von Buhl sparkling wine tradition to build on, but Kaufmann was coming on board to run the whole show, of which méthode champenoise is but one facet. The new sparkling wine plan looks superficially like the old portfolio: Riesling from the Pechstein and several barrel-raised Pinot-family blends. But behind this lies a very different approach to harvest, pressing, primary vinification, secondary fermentation, blending and aging. These wines, explains Kaufmann, “will have to rest for at least five or six years. The Niederbergers understood that we would have to accumulate many, many hundreds of thousands of bottles in the cellar. There are few Sekt producers with such ambitions, patience or willingness to invest.” Meanwhile, there will be sparklers rendered from contract grapes (under the commercial rubric “Weinmanufaktur Reichsrat von Buhl”), of which the popularly priced 2013 Riesling Brut released in the spring of 2015 and reviewed here represents an auspicious debut.

Kaufmann’s first still wines are as radical as the future sparklers he envisions. Picking for all of them was early by local standards. Vinifications were to near-absolute dryness (for which cultured yeasts were employed as “closers”). Contact with full lees was maximized, as was the time that elapsed before the young wines ever saw sulfur. (For the 2014s, that happened only beginning in early March; and the 2014 vintage Grosse Gewächse only came off of their full lees when bottled in July of 2015.) And the new team is gradually introducing casks to this formerly tank-dominated cellar. I had my doubts about an approach that might reduce to absurdity the widespread German belief that dryness is itself a sign of quality (in which case, the less residual sugar the better, no?). But while many von Buhl Rieslings tend toward austerity, they are nonetheless distinctively fascinating. And as for doubts whether Kaufmann had any knack with botrytized fruit, those are, to say the least, laid to rest by the early results!

Much credit for such success at the start of this new Buhl regime is also due veteran vineyard manager and Hans-Günther Schwarz protégé Werner Sebastian, who among other things is a pitiless, near-perfect judge of botrytis. As had happened also with the Niederberger acquisition of Weingut Dr. Deinhard (now Von Winning), the one area in which personnel was perceptively judged to be in no need of replacement was vineyard management. A gradual transition is now underway toward biodynamics, but Sebastian had already been trying to nudge things in that direction.

In retrospect, it’s easy to see how 2014 fit Kaufmann’s game plan for still wines as well as sparklers. While Riesling growers in most of Germany feared equally the onset of rot and a possible failure of grapes to fully ripen, the better Mittelhaardt sites, thanks largely to extremely early flowering (three weeks ahead of even the long-term von Buhl average), reached ample ripeness but carried along high acidity as a legacy of late-summer rain and coolness. And in contrast with 2013, this was overwhelmingly tartaric rather than malic acid. The first Riesling picking, albeit for sparkling wine, began on September 8! “Just when we were about to start picking for still wine,” reported new commercial director Richard Grosche, “down came 25 liters of rain on September 20. I thought to myself ‘there goes the vintage down the drain!’ But we kept our heads and waited for a week, during which the weather stayed blessedly cool while wind and sunshine went to work.” Then, picking began in uninterrupted earnest.

“Despite completely disparate ripening seasons,” noted Kaufmann, “I took the same approach to harvest and vinification, and the analyses of 2013 and 2014 turned out virtually identical. Alcohol, total acidity, pH, sulfur . . . they were all the same. When I first looked at the lab report for 2014 I thought I had been given the 2013 report by accident. It shows that when one harvests with targeted deliberation [“bewusst und gezielt holt”], one achieves consistency. If the grapes taste good, they’re ripe. I don’t need to look at the analysis to tell that Nature has done well. But despite their analytical similarity, the aromas and taste of the 2014 wines are completely different from those of 2013!” While my focus in this report is on the 2014 vintage, many of the wines reviewed below are from vintage 2013 because these were only released in 2015. “For the style of dry wine we are practicing, with absolute dryness,” explained Grosche, “time in bottle is critical, but also for nobly sweet wine.”

In 2013, the lease on this beautiful old estate in the center of Deidesheim will expire.Full control will then revert to Achim Niederberger, who already owns Bassermann-Jordan and Dr. Deinhard.The capable team of Werner Sebastian in the vineyards and Michael Leibrecht in the cellars has already begun capitalizing on von Buhl's enormous potential.After a stunning 2010 collection, they have followed through with another range of first-rate Rieslings in 2011.What sets them apart, though, is that they bottle not only succulent dry Grosses Gewachs but also noble late-harvest wines that number among the best in Pfalz, and often in all of Germany.Their sparkling 2008 Pechstein Brut is also worth a detour. Also recommended:2010 Riesling Trocken (85), 2011 Deidesheimer Herrgottsacker Riesling Trocken (85), 2011 Deidesheimer Kieselberg Riesling Trocken (85), 2011 Riesling Trocken FP Buhl (86), 2011 Forsten Musenhang Riesling Trocken (87), 2011 Forster Jesuitengarten Riesling Grosses Gewachs (87), 2011 Ruppertsberger Reitepfad Riesling Grosses Gewachs (89), 2011 Forster Pechstein Riesling Auslese (90), 2008 Forster Pechstein Riesling Sekt Brut (90).

This beautiful old estate in the center of Deidesheim has been on an upward curve over the past four vintages. Always one of the few producers in the Pfalz that excelled at spatlese and auslese, its dry rieslings have also become noticeably better. Although I raised a few question marks about the 2009s, the 2010s are the finest wines I have tasted here in years. Werner Sebastian in the vineyards and Michael Leibrecht in the cellars know what they are doing, and the investments made by Achim Niederberger are beginning to bear fruit. If this continues, von Buhl will be a force to be reckoned with in the Pfalz. Also recommended: 2010 Riesling Trocken (85), 2010 Deidesheimer Herrgottsacker Riesling Trocken (86), 2010 Deidesheimer Kieselberg Riesling Trocken (86), 2010 Riesling Trocken FP Buhl (87), 2010 Deidesheimer Paradiesgarten Riesling Grosses Gewachs (89), 2010 Forster Jesuitengarten Riesling Grosses Gewachs (91), 2010 Forster Pechstein Riesling Auslese (91), 2010 Ruppertsberger Reiterpfad Riesling Auslese (91), 2010 Forster Ungeheuer Riesling Beerenauslese (92), 2008 Pinot Noir (85), 2008 Pinot Noir FP Buhl (87), 2009 Riesling Sekt Brut (86), 2007 Forster Pechstein Riesling Sekt Brut (86).

This icon of the wine industry in the Pfalz has been on a roller coaster ride of late.Fortunes were invested in this winery in the '90s, but personnel changes have been accompanied by fluctuations in both style and quality.The new owner, Achim Niederberger, who also purchased Bassermann-Jordan, brought in Werner Sebastian and Michael Leibrecht, who had already proved their mettle elsewhere, and their first vintage together shows a level of consistency on which they can certainly build in the future.They have the vineyards to make it work.As always, but certainly not typical of the Pfalz, the spatleses and ausleses are better than the Grosses Gewachs.I will keep close watch on the developments here.(Rudi Wiest) Also recommended: 2004 Deidesheimer Herrgottsacker Riesling Kabinett Trocken (85), 2004 Forster Ungeheuer Riesling Spatlese Trocken (87), 2003 Spatburgunder Spatlese Trocken (87).

I hazard thex000D claim that this estate turned in one of the best performances of the vintagex000D outside the Mosel. I say this on thex000D strength of those von Buhl 2001s that winemaker and vineyard manager Frank Johnx000D shared with me, and in light of the fact that I tasted none of thex000D following three "oversubscribed,x000D sold-out" Grosse Gewachse; Ungeheuer Auslese gold capsule; Rieslanerx000D Auslese; Scheurebe Auslese; Riesling and Scheurebe TBAs; and two Eisweins.x000D With high acidity and robust fruit atx000D picking, John extended the use of skin contact; nature certainly played alongx000D with his acid-reduction strategy by serving up the coldest winter in 20x000D years. High acidity, cold ambientx000D temperatures and the sheer abundance of vinous material also prompted John tox000D keep the young wines on their lees until well into spring.x000D For the first time this year at von Buhl,x000D all of the fermentations were with ambient yeasts, which work more effectively,x000D John opines, when there is skin contact to thoroughly transfer the yeasts tox000D the juice. (Rudi Wiest)Also recommended: 2001 Riesling Halbtrocken ($14), 2001x000D Riesling Kabinett Armand ($16), 2001 Ruppertsberger Reiterpfad Scheurebe BA.

Von Buhl export manager Peter Sorg emphasized the selectivity necessary to preserve fruit quality in '99-a practice which, along with June hail, made for very low yields. Still, I have to say that on the one occasion I sampled them, the balance of these wines looked better on paper than it tasted in the glass. They are rich and full but a bit lacking in fineness. Auslesen from the Ungeheuer vineyard represented a high percentage of the estate's '99 crop. I have not yet had occasion to taste the BA or TBA they harvested from this same site. Von Buhl is among the numerous Pfalz estates caught up in the enthusiasm of the moment, which is to proclaim "first growth," or words to that effect, on the label of wines from their best sites and, in perversely procrustean fashion, to finish those wines exclusively trocken. Thus, 1999 could be the last off-dry Kirchenstuck from this estate-or at least the last until either the winds of fashion shift or good taste, common sense and reason prevail over misguided marketing. (Rudi Wiest)

En route through the generous, easy going, but far from riveting '97 von Buhl wines (a couple of which I was by then tasting for the second time), I became worried that I might be doing them an injustice. The taste of one lone '96 left on their price list convinced me otherwise. The grip, spine, stamina and sheer fascination of flavor that made this one of the best '96 collections in the Mittelhaart is largely missing in the new vintage. Which is not to say, however, that the wines canvassed below won't give a great deal of immediate gratification. I believe that the penchant shown by Frank John and his team for very late harvesting (an even larger portion of the healthy fruit hung through December than last year) has somewhat accentuated the soft side of 1997. (Rudi Wiest)