375ml of Complexity and Cut
2008 Rebholz Kastanienbusch GG
One of Germany's Greatest Dry Rieslings,
in the Rare Half-Bottle Format
For me, the short list of the world's greatest dry Rieslings would include Trimbach's Clos Ste. Hune, Keller's Absterde, Schäfer-Fröhlich's Felseneck and Rebholz's Kastanienbusch.
Not a bit of hyperbole, not a tiny bit of exaggeration: This is one of Germany's greatest dry Rieslings and the 2008 is perhaps my favorite vintage of Rebholz... well, ever.
I still remember the first time I tasted it in the fall of 2008 - this is one of those wines I've bought so many times and somehow, every time I check the cellar, it's gone again.
The 08 Kastanienbusch is fierce, ungodly fresh, combining serious thrust with a bewildering vocabulary that only Rebholz's great wines have access to (the list would include an herbal complexity that puts to shame anyone's spice box, exotic smoky, earthy and truffled notes, sweet vanilla, gooseberry, peach, apricot, pear, green apple, red apple, melon, grapefruit, orange, clementine, ginger and well... much more).
There is just no one else in the Pfalz or anywhere else that creates dry Rieslings that are so crystalline, so clear and so deeply complicated.
If Rebholz, for some unknown reason, remains unknown in the U.S. (aside from a small group of devotees), he is widely regarded as one of the greatest winemakers in Germany and his wine is priced accordingly - his "GGs" start at about $70 a bottle and go up from there.
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Today, we offer a rare parcel of this wine in the half-bottle, taking what is otherwise a pricey and rarefied experience and making it something a bit more manageable... and yes, our price is the lowest price in the nation.
The half-bottle is a great little format - perfect for the more casual weekday sip, great for when the focus of the evening is on reds yet a white is called for and there aren't really enough people around to justify opening two bottles. We get tons of requests for half-bottles, so you all have your own reasons.
However, also worth considering, especially with a "Grand Cru" dry Riesling like this, is the fact that half-bottles age differently, more quickly, than regular bottles - they offer a glimpse into the future. For that reason, I've met any number of quirky intellectual-type folk who collect and cellar half-bottles.
Still, in whatever format, this is a fortress of a Riesling and the aging potential is serious... honestly I don't quite know but I can't imagine a decade wouldn't do anything but help this wine express itself with more delicacy, more complexity, more of everything...
This is it - a final release of the 2008s and only a small amount of half-bottles came in - so enjoy.
For the Rebholz aficionados, we also recently came across a back-vintage parcel of 2000 and 2001 Kastanienbusch and Im Sonnenschein - very nicely priced.
To order, please email us at offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Stephen Bitterolf
Wine Director
Crush Wine & Spirits