Dr Bürklin-Wolf Riesling Wachenheimer Goldbächel P.C. 2021

Goldbächel is a top-ranked site in Wachenheim and Dr Bürklin-Wolf owns 3ha of the 4.3ha vineyard with this wine coming from 1.59ha planted in 1991. The south- facing slope ensures optimum exposure to the sun, warming the yellow and red sandstone gravel soil. At a depth of 1.8m there is a 1.2m thick layer of alluvial rock. Here the roots of the vines are very well supplied with water and minerals.

'Generous stone-fruit and mandarin character, but there’s nothing demonstrative about this! Likewise, the serious chalky structure sits in the medium to full body in a very relaxed way. Then comes the very long, elegant finish. Drink or hold.’ 94 points, Stuart Pigott, JS Wine Ratings, August 2022.

'I can hardly imagine better wines were produced in the Pfalz than here last year. Most likely, the 2019 Kirchenstück G.C. and the Pechstein G.C., both from Forst, and even the Langenmorgen G.C. from Deidesheim, are among the finest dry Rieslings I have ever tasted from Germany. The wines are deep, rich, powerful and dramatic yet so fine and elegant and reveal vibrating energy that guarantees a long run.' Stephan Reinhardt, The Wine Advocate, August 2020.

The Bürklin-Wolf estate is based in the Mittelhaardt, the quality core of Germany's world-renowned Pfalz, around the towns of Wachenheim, Forst, Deidesheim and Ruppertsberg. Here with 85ha under vine they have the largest family owned wine estate in all of Germany originating in 1597, with a treasure-trove of superb vineyards, at the centre of which lies the great Kirchenstück. Here in the tiny village of Forst, Kirchenstück and its neighbours Jesuitengarten, Ungeheuer and Pechstein, have for centuries been recognised as producing not only some of the world's greatest dry Rieslings, but simply some of the world's greatest wines. In the nineteenth century, prices for these wines exceeded the prices paid for 1st Growth Bordeaux and Grand Cru Burgundy.

In 1990 Bürklin-Wolf began reviewing their vineyard holdings in the context of the 1828 Royal Bavarian Land Tax Classification and after years of exhaustive research they discovered that today's top vineyards are exactly the same as those identified back in 1828. Today they have adopted a Burgundian model with four tiers: Estate, Village, PC (code for Premier Cru) and GC (for Grand Cru). Thus they are focussed on the production of dry, terroir-driven wines and no longer produce the Kabinett and Spätlese styles defined by the (still current) 1971 German Wine Law.