2021 Weingut Wagner Stempel, Weissburgunder, Reserve, Rheinhessen, Germany.
The Wagner Stempel lineup is a compelling set of wines and I was grateful to taste through a good sampling of Daniel Wagner’s latest offerings, especially this Reserve Weiussburgunder (Pinot Blanc), a grape that has dramatically been elevated in terms of quality and popularity in Germany, with a beautiful and textured profile of elegance in the glass with a light golden hue and a mineral driven medium bodied dry palate. The steely Reserve Pinot Blanc start begins with a lovely mix of apple, honeyed peach, lemony citrus and golden fig fruit, along with flinty wet stones, subtle white flowers, tangy herbs, a touch of bread dough, oyster shell, saline and almond nutty notes. There’s plenty of energy in this wine and it’s impeccable in terms of balance and detail, this would go wonderfully with a wide selection of cuisine choices from fleshy fish, poultry, pork and creamy farm cheeses. Wagner Stempel has some very intriguing high elevation vineyards, with Heerkretz or Höllberg, which are visible from afar, offering up very distinctive terroir influences. These steep areas, which are some 250 million years ago, are set on ancient magmatic rock that have formed the mountains here like, as Wagner Stempel’s importer The German Wine Collection notes, balconies of an antique amphitheater, which see great exposures and provide complex flavors. This wine is sourced, exclusively from old vines and parcels around Siefersheim, with extremely stony sand, gravel and clay soils, including a high level of shell calcium, and a sub- soil of porphyry rock that is volcanic in origin, adding to the mineral and spicy tones to the wine. For the Reserve Weissburgunder, Wagner Stempel did a slow pressing to medium sized traditional German oak casks for fermentation and lees aging, providing the roundness and depth here.
The rise of Weingut Wagner Stempel has been steady and with precision, these wines are truly a study in quality and terroir, highlighting also the elevation in status of the Rheinhessen beyond a few cult heroes such as Wittmann and Keller and there are some outstanding under the radar producers doing great stuff, not just with Riesling, but with a wide range of grapes. So, there’s a lot of excitement here, though the Rheinhessen is the biggest wine-region in Germany, it has array of soil types, climates and grape varieties with some fabulous unique terroirs. Not that long ago the region was maybe best known for the production of Liebfraumilch, mass produced low quality off-dry wines, like Blue Nun and other forgettable labels. The historic and famous vineyards around the villages Westhofen, Flörsheim-Dalsheim or Siefersheim have now become coveted sites, producing some of Germany’s most sought after and expressive wines and the region’s pioneers have created a dynamic must visit region with many top notch and affordable wines being made here, like these by Daniel Wagner at Wagner Stempel. The Wagner family has owned the winery since 1845, but the vineyards were part of a mixed farm and until recently under Daniel, they were producing just those dreaded bulk-wines. While doing some fabulous Riesling, Wagner calls himself a “grapevariety hoarder”, loving to play around with Silvaner, Pinot Blanc, as seen here, Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc to name a few, all of which are well worth searching out. As of now, the Wagner’s have a mix of 50% Riesling, 20% Pinot Blanc, 14% Pinot Noir and St. Laurent (reds), 12% Silvaner and about 4% Scheurebe. All of vines here are certified organic and the estate has been a full VDP member since 2004, making 99% dry wines, like this tasty Pinot Blanc. In my recent tasting of Wagner Stempel I really enjoyed their Rosé and their basic estate bottling of Riesling, but this Reserve Weissburgunder was the standout.
($30 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive