Rating:
91
David Schildknecht - Vinous Media
"Five or six days [after picking Vols II]," explained Plunien, "we went back through the [Braunfels] vineyard and had 20-30% botrytis," with the result that salinity found in Vols II here goes in a sweaty, animal direction, and prickly spiciness and a glaze of quince preserves inflect still-fresh apple and lime. The overall impression is once again of positive tension, energy and invigoration, reflected also in the juxtaposition of glycerol-richness with fairly aggressive phenolic cut. The penetrating, almost strident finish offers an tingle of lime peel, apple pip, fresh ginger and nettle; and the sweetness, while overt, is remarkably restrained considering that we’re talking about 49 grams of residual sugar. "This needs a lot of time," insisted its author, and I don't disagree."
Product Description:
About the Producer
"Enter and welcome Helmut Plunien, and his beautiful new/old estate on the Saar. He comes from a recent background as the administrator of big "noble" estates, first in Wurzburg, and more recently closer to his native Saar - in Trier, at the Bischoflichen Weinguter, which us old-timers will remember as one of the venerable Great Names in the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer. Though Plunien didn't go into detail, I surmise his stint in Trier was frustrating, and I further surmise his efforts to innovate and improve quality at the now-moribund property were resisted. At the same time (and maybe to blow off steam) he founded a tiny estate in Wiltingen, and called it "Vols" after a micro-parcel name in the great Wiltinger Braunfels, better-known before the 1971 wine law wiped it (and far too many other names) off the map. But the real breakthrough came in 2009, when he was able to buy the estate Altenhofen in Ayl. Though barely known to Americans, this was a "name" among Saar amateurs, both for its superb holdings in the (Ayler) Kupp but also its holdings in the partly abandoned but still fascinating Schonfels. Plunien, a genial and unpretentious guy you like immediately, calls his cellar philosophy "concentrated doing-nothing." He'd rather not fine or filter and will avoid doing so if at all possible. The wines are spontis, done partly in fuder and partly in steel. In the vineyards he's close to organic, precluded both by the steepness of the terrain and the helicopter spraying. The estate is "6-something" hectares, with plans to grow "but not beyond ten."" - Importer's Notes
Our biggest wine deals. Available by text! Join Winetext.com today!
