If there is one wine that marks the watershed moment for German Spätburgunder, the simply profound "Liaison" is that wine.
This is, unfortunately, the final vintage.
We first introduced the wines of Enderle & Moll back in 2010. It's funny now to read the text, but it was a different world. The wine world was young. Email marketing that eschewed points and told the narrative of the growers was rare, even unprecedented. It was all very fresh.
We wrote about Enderle & Moll in 2010: "Volnay (especially Lafarge), Noel Verset and his glorious Cornas, Beaujolais (especially Foillard) and Eric Texier with his sinewy little tough-guy Côtes-du-Rhône Brézème... These are the comparisons that come to mind, our gut reactions to Sven Enderle's and Florian Moll's beautiful Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) from Germany's Baden."
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Five years later, in 2015, we wrote the following about the "Liaison" - "There are no other Pinots in Germany like Enderle & Moll's. They are the most compelling non-Burgundian Pinots we've tasted all year."
From 2016: "With each passing day, it becomes more obvious that Enderle & Moll are on the verge of breaking out. This is well deserved. They are beautifully honest and transparent wines. There's nothing to compare them to in all of Germany."
In 2018 we wrote: "The 'Liaison' represents the 'sweet spot' in terms of quality and price. When you put Liaison head-to-head with Pinots from Burgundy, or any other place, it becomes obvious that Liaison is one of the greatest Pinot Noir values in the world."
In 2019: "If your idea of great Pinot Noir is transparency and weightless complexity, then Enderle & Moll's Pinot Noir 'Liaison' is the best buy we know of. Since we introduced the wines with the 2007 vintage, they've developed a near-fanatical group of fans."
2020: "The Liaison is, simply put, one of the greatest buys in European Pinot Noir; one of those clichés (even if 100% true) of a wine that drinks at two or three times its price."
Two years later, in 2022: "What was true the first time we ever wrote about this wine over a decade ago is even more true today: This is one of the single greatest deals in Pinot Noir. Put this wine head-to-head with Pinots from Burgundy, or any other place, and it becomes obvious that the "Liaison" is one of the greatest Pinot Noir values in the world."
As you can see, literally, this is a wine we've loved for a long time. We've loved it for all the reasons we've outlined above, over all the years.
Yet one of the most moving parts of the whole history of Enderle & Moll was that the wines were always cherished, always collector candy, yet they were, for most of their history, fairly priced and available. This was a great and important thing - it spread the good word of the wines and the region.. It helped lift the reputation of German Spätburgunder.
If you'd like to read more about the estate, their importer has penned a farewell; you can read it by clicking here.
So buy as much as you can, and then raise a glass and toast Sven and Florian, the work they did, the landscape they changed forever.
To order, email offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Joe Salamone
Wine Buyer
Crush Wine & Spirits
