The Gies-Duppel 2007 Birkweiler Mandelberg Weiser Burgunder Spatlese trocken displays the saline savor I have come to associate with wines of this region grown on so-called Bundsantstein (a Triassic-era colorful sandstone), here integrated – almost Chablis-like – into herb and chicken stock. This represents a fine collaboration of vintage and grape (as with a number of this year’s Pfalz Pinot Blancs), with even more vivacity and pronounced minerality than one usually can get from this grape – yet with considerable richness and ample body (at an otherwise unnoticeable 13.5% alcohol) leading to a long, lip-smacking, and at the same time thought-provokingly meaty, mineral finish. These vines are only seven years old, and since there is chalk at a few meters depth below the surface, a terrorist can place odds that the wine’s character will change considerably as the roots penetrate. This elegant beauty should be worth following for at least 6-8 years. Volker Gies took over his family’s domaine in 1999, and is relentlessly and successfully pursuing quality and site-specificity while offering (at least, based on ex-cellar pricing) some of the finest values I have tasted in German wine over the past several years. Some potentially exciting new vineyard sites have recently been cleared for planting it is clear that, as impressive as these wines are, there will be much more excitement up ahead. Although it had been in the bottle 18 months when I tasted it last September, Duppel’s well-concentrated but rather awkwardly woody, rough 2005 Pinot Noir represented at that time his current offering. But red wines represented the only disappointment of any sort at this address, and even here there is promise. Like his more famous neighbors Rebholz and Wehrheim, Giess renders a range of site-specific Pinot Blancs.Importer: Tartaglione Fine Wines, San Francisco, CA; tel. (415) 216-3356
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