Prüm "Back Up the Truck!"
2011 Prüm Kabinett
Our first-ever Prüm "Back Up the Truck" and HUGE NEWS from the Mosel...
The fact that this is our first-ever Prüm "Back Up the Truck" seems almost inconceivable, given Prüm's stature AND our obsession with great German wines.
Well, it was worth the wait.
Today, there is no better pricing. The special is extreme and it's for EVERYONE - German wine dorks, serious collectors, casual drinkers... old ladies with hushed living rooms plastered with doilies and porcelain figurines.
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| Katharina Prum and Lars Carlberg (second and third from the left) on a vineyard tour in the Lower Mosel with friends. |
Prüm absolutely killed it in 2011 - the wines are charming, fresh and drop dead beautiful. The fruit is never too heavy, never too ripe; it dances across the palate, a Riesling wrapped in gossamer citrus, sweet flowers, piquant slate.
At only 10% alcohol, this featherweight Kabinett is eternally refreshing, a perfect play of sugar and acidity (the overall effect is just off-dry) and the perfect wine for the summer, for the pool side, for the picnic table, for this year or the next or the next...
This is the most serious "simple" wine you're likely to come across all year - a wine that has the depth, the stuffing to age for five years and probably many more so if you like underpriced and overqualified wines, well, go long.
There's something very special about the 2011 estate wines across the board - Willi Schaefer, Dönnhoff, Weiser-Künstler and Schäfer-Fröhlich are the absolute tops along with Prüm. Many growers talked about the extraordinary quality of the fruit in 2011. You can taste it, beginning at the basic wines.
This is one of the best. Quantities are good, so go crazy and give us your dream order and we'll do our best.
To order Prüm, reply to this email or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
NEWS FROM THE MOSEL:
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LARS CARLBERG.COM - A GUIDE TO MOSEL WINE
If the Prüm offer above is for just about everyone, the big news from the Mosel is a bit more for the Mosel wine geek, for the scholar of German wine.
Lars Carlberg is an American who has lived in Germany for many, many years. If he's best known to the audience of Crush for helping to found the Mosel Wine Merchant, he is also one of the most knowledgeable German wine fans we've ever met. He knows the vineyards, the growers, better than nearly any other American and his new site - www.larscarlberg.com - is the most comprehensive guide to the Mosel currently online.
We can't recommend it enough. There just aren't any other places that can afford to give the space, the depth and breadth of information that Lars does. Larscarlberg.com as the NPR of the German wine world? Something like that.
But seriously: There are few other people who know the growers as well, who taste the wines as often... who live in the Mosel and are a part of its day to day life.
As an example, Lars has allowed us to reproduce the text of his A.J. Adam producer profile - a 2,000+ word epic that covers EVERYTHING you will ever want to know about A.J. Adam.
With the introductory yearly subscription at only around $36, it's a truly invaluable resource. Note: This special ends July 31st, so subscribe now!
It should be noted that this site is not about scores and lengthy tasting notes. The site is about context and depth of information - this is a site that helps you understand how the winemakers approach their wines, why they do what they do, why the wines taste like they do. Obviously there are tasting notes and Lars has picked out a number of his favorites, but this is a smaller part of the site than you might expect.
In a very important way, this is exactly what's great about it!
Anyway, we think larscarlberg.com is an important addition to the conversation and scholarship around German wines - we hope you'll support it, as we do!
Have a great weekend!
Stephen Bitterolf
Wine Director
Crush Wine & Spirits