Dr Bürklin-Wolf Riesling Wachenheimer Goldbächel P.C. 2023

Goldbächel is a top-ranked site in Wachenheim and Dr Bürklin-Wolf owns 3 ha of the 4.3 ha vineyard with this wine coming from 1.59 ha 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 1.8 m there is a 1.2 m thick layer of alluvial rock. Here the roots of the vines are very well supplied with water and minerals. 12.7 % Alc/Vol; 1.7 g/L RS; 5.8 g/L TA.

'What a fascinating nose of lemon peel, flint, dried tarragon and jasmine. Already open, but that doesn’t mean it is any the lesser for this, the structure compact and finely nuanced. Stacks of ripe pear fruit on the concentrated palate. Long, salty but gentle finish thanks to the almost soft acidity. From biodynamically grown grapes. Vegan. Drink or hold.’ 95 points, Stuart Pigott, JS Wine Ratings, July 2024.

'The collection of the 2022 vintage at Bürklin-Wolf is outstanding and marks one of the best vintages in the whole of Germany. The 2022 Pechstein G. C. is one of the outstanding Rieslings of the vintage, possibly even ahead of the even more expensive Kirchenstück G. C. If you want to find the finest Rieslings without having to bleed financially, you will also find them among the premiers crus, among which the Wachenheimer Gerümpel P. C. and the Böhlig P. C. come closest to the grands crus in terms of finesse and expression. In the last three years in particular, the Dr. Bürklin-Wolf has established itself as a model German domaine whose Rieslings are a benchmark.' Stephan Reinhardt, The Wine Advocate, December 2023.

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.