2017 Wasenhaus Weissburgunder 'Mohlin,' Baden
SKU: PA
Regular price $109.95ETA Mid-June 2024
Similar to Enderle & Moll, the Wasenhaus Pinot Noirs show an uncommon lightness and clarity; a finesse that embarrasses just about all other German Pinot Noirs. While Enderle & Moll tends to present more structured, a bit more tense and wild, the Wasenhaus wines are ultra-fine, with a textural elegance that is second to none. If Enderle & Moll is punk rock; Wasenhaus is chamber music – one isn’t better than the other, but they are very different.
While the Pinot Noirs are showstoppers, the Weissburgunders, for me at least, are revelatory. The focus at Wasenhaus (thus named after the farm that Christoph grew up at, focusing on horses and not wine) is old vines, old clones, and in general curious parcels that dot the landscape of southern Baden (check out the map, to the right). Alex and Christoph seek out vineyards that have been ignored because they are too hard to work, because the yields are too low, for whatever quirky reason.
The farming is organic with elements of biodynamics woven in. They own very small plots near Staufen (this is where the farm “Wasenhaus” is located) and buy grapes from specific farmers and specific plots in the Kaiserstühl (again, the vineyar schematic will be useful here). The winemaking is low intervention. The white wines are all whole-cluster pressed with a basket press; the élevage is in neutral barrels of varying sizes. The reds are fermented in open-top vats and then aged in neutral barrels as well. Only natural yeasts are used, and all wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered. Sulfur is used only at bottling and minimally.