600 Liters from Vines Planted in 1906: 2017 Durst Portugieser "P"

Today's offer represents one of Germany's most curious and most singular wines.

Durst's Portugieser "P" is a wine of intense soul and mystery. Every year a few more collectors come to recognize this wine. For the moment, we can still source a parcel large enough to offer.

If you were to research Portugieser, the most likely result would be wondering "why should I care about this grape?" Typically, it's a workhorse grape of the highest order. The potential for yields is ridiculously high - 120hl/ha or more. As you can imagine, your common Portugieser is nothing to be excited about.

I mention all of this to drive home how mind-blowing Durst's Portugieser P is. Tasting the wine is almost unsettling and forces a bewildering reassessment of the grape.

The Portugieser P comes from a very special vineyard that sits on hard limestone and is home to ungrafted Portugieser vines that were planted in 1906. What results is an insanely complex wine that seems to straddle Piedmont and the northern Rhône.

It possesses a mysterious depth and soaring perfume. You get everything from sweet herbs to spice, to floral tones and a strong undercurrent of minerality. For all of its intensity, there's something marvelously agile and delicate about the wine.

The 2017 bottling is darker, denser, more compact and coating than the 2016. The nose is explosive and intensely perfumed with both fruit and flower. There are notes of strawberry, mint, and rose petals.

Durst's curious micro-parcel of old-vine relics is situated in the border region between Germany's Pfalz and the Rheinhessen, only a few kilometers away from where Klaus Peter Keller has redefined what German wines can be, using these same limestone soils.

The potential for greatness here is well established. Durst's bottling is a most curious and soulful part of this greatness, but great it is. Do not miss it.

To order, email offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.

Joe Salamone
Wine Buyer
Crush Wine & Spirits

This offer has sold out, but you may also consider ....

Special 4-pack pricing, for a limited time. Use Code: Durst P-17