Dr Bürklin-Wolf Riesling Wachenheimer ‘Altenburg’ Premier Cru 2022

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

This tiny 0.4 hectare vineyard holding was planted in 1991 and is located high on the slope in the village of Wachenheim above Gerumpel. The total size of Altenburg is just 1.22ha and the steepness of the slope which edges on to the forest also means this is the coolest site of the all the Bürklin-Wolf vineyard holdings. The vineyard has very meagre and stony soil and excellent drainage giving a wine of real density with fine acidity giving structure and finesse and great ageing capacity. Wonderful acidity giving a seemingly endless finish.

In the last three years in particular, the Dr. Bürklin-Wolf has established itself as a model German domaine whose Rieslings are a benchmark.

Stephen Reinhardt, The Wine Advocate

---

They are bone dry, full of tension, precise and exquisitely expressive and uncompromising. The estate is in a league of its own. Outstanding.

Anne Krebiehl, Vinous

About Dr Bürklin-Wolf

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.

“This estate has consistently produced some of the finest dry rieslings of any given vintage from an incredible arsenal of excellent vineyards. One of the first estates in Germany to embrace biodynamic viticulture, Burklin-Wolf is now able give each wine its own voice …

Stephen Tanzer

In the Vineyard

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 substantially 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). They are focussed on dry, terroir-driven wines and no longer routinely produce the Kabinett and Spätlese styles defined by the (still current) 1971 German Wine Law.

In the Winery

Hand harvest and whole-bunch pressing with oxidative handling of the juices into mostly large old foudre for fermentation with indigenous yeast on fine lees for nearly 6 months for the entry level and village wines and 12 months for PC wines and up to 18 months for GC wines.

Where in the World is Dr Bürklin-Wolf?

The vineyards of Dr Bürklin-Wolf are in the heart of the Pfalz.

The German VDP has an excellent interactive map covering the wine growing regions of Germany. Click on the Map to go to the live version.