The direct translation of “Pur” is the following: “pure, neat, sheer.”
Every definition would apply perfectly to the 0-sulfur wines from brothers Daniel and Jonas Brand. Already well known for their crystalline Riesling and Weissburgunder liters, to say nothing of the zero-gravity Pet Nats, this is the first time we are sending out an offering for the “Pur” wines.
The 2017 collection simply astounded us; we couldn’t not offer these wines.
Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Mitos (yup), Dornfelder, Müller-Thurgau, Pinot Blanc, Portugieser, Riesling, Sylvaner and more. These are varied and complex wines, so please read the full notes below.
The wines are also very limited, so please give us your order by the deadline. No order is guaranteed without an email confirmation from us.
Contextualizing these wines is impossible. They taste nothing like anything else coming out of the Pfalz, not only in their phenolic grip and density, but also in their lightness, in their riveting acidity and clarity. The brothers farm limestone-rich soils in the ignored and overlooked northern Pfalz, far away from the aristocratic estates that have defined the Pfalz for the last few centuries. Their northern haunt is a region without an identity, which suits the brothers just fine: this land is a blank slate.
For vintage 2017 the Brand wines are certified organic, though they have been farming organically for years. The farming is also bio-dynamic and everything is hand-harvested. All the wines are fermented spontaneously with no temperature control. Everything is bottled unfined and unfiltered with zero sulfur, but the brothers are not following a recipe, natural or otherwise. If a wine needs sulfur, they will add it.
Though the wines certainly fit into the general rubric of natural wines, they speak more vividly of their variety and of the cool climate than anything else.
As quantities are good for some wines but wildly limited for others, we’ll list things in order of availability. In other words, we have access to a decent amount of the first wine and only maybe 60 bottles available of the mind-freak of a Sylvaner so deep into this offer, that only a few of you, the truly strange ones, will read about it anyway. And even so, it’ll probably be sold out. So it goes.
Obviously if you have any questions shoot us an email.
2017 Wildersatz Pur ~$24
For their field blend (mostly Müller-Thurgau, Chardonnay and Silvaner) the brothers dropped the “mixed things”-field blend branding of the “Gemischtersatz” and went right for the “wild things” name, which is what this is: a wild gemischter. This saw a very short maceration, thus it is perhaps the most finessed and linear of all the Purs. The overall tone is bright and crisp, with fascinating ripe citrus, and darker nuts and oil tones, maybe due to the Riesling stems which were thrown into the brew. This is energetic, driven, airy and delicious. Go crazy. Pair with freshly shucked oysters and onion rings.
2017 Wildrosé Pur ~$27
Here we have another entry in our bid to become the country’s largest importer of old-vine Portugieser. Wildly low yields of just 10 hl/ha in 2017, meaning the wine has uncommon density and extract and all and all is a bit saturating. This is a rosé that flirts with being a meaty, brighter red wine; the sorta wine you chill and drink with some fatty, greasy foods. Still, for all its dark aromatics and red fruit, a good amount of zip. Pair this with veal shank and braised veal cutlets and free-range sobu noodles.
NV (2016) Flora Pur ~$27
Here we have an entry in our bid to become the country’s largest importer of Dornfelder, which by importing this one I think we achieve. Dornfelder is a grape that usually gets over-cropped then beaten to submission with an oppressive amount of new oak, resulting in a wine-like goo rarely worthy of human consumption. The Brand brothers however, show a completely different character with this natty Dorn. It is extremely dark in color, with an inky heft to it, something like Cabernet Franc gone Cabernet Deutsch. Dark fruited, herbal, the wine is rich yet very fresh on the palate, this is a Loire treatise via the northern Pfalz.
2017 Pinot Blanc Pur ~$31
In 2017, this wine is sourced largely from Heilgenkirche (Holy Chapel), Brand’s old-vine Pinot Blanc site that is basically a solid chunk of limestone. Normally they make a single-vineyard, high-end Holy Chapel Pinot Blanc but no dice in 2017 due to hail. So here we have a huge upgrade for this “basic” Pinot Blanc. This is the most electric, saturating and vivid wine in the lineup, flaunting all the wild florality that Pinot Blanc can achieve. Crystal clear and bracing, the wine offers up a version of a perfectly ripe green apple, tons of mint and riddled with rocks and citrus. Foot stomped, whole-cluster maceration for a few hours then pressed directly into 1000-liter used Fuders on the full lees and that’s that until bottling. We lost our pairing notes. Maybe with oysters?
2016 Mythos Pur ~$31
Never heard of Cabernet Mitos? Don’t sweat it, no one has. A provocative crossing of Blaufränkisch and Tenturier du Cher (another rare grape that probably came from the Loire), this bizarre wine is dark as night, a grape with dark flesh and dark juice. Thus, with a basically direct-pressed wine, we have something inky and brooding. Yet, the palate is vivid and almost tart, brightly spiced, with vivid red fruit, some sort of cranberry-cinnamon explosion with wild acids, almost a green apple tartness. Dried herbal notes dark chocolate, this is a delicious freakshow of a wine. One 500-liter tonneau so not much available. Pair with pheasant tongue and unicorn hooves.
2017 Cabernet Franc Pur ~$68
As rare as it is unexpected; here we have just two old barriques filled with the BEST Cabernet Franc you’ve never tasted from Germany. Grapes come from a south-facing site on the southern end of the village. Less rustic and herbal than its Loire brethren, the texture here is ultra-fine and the flavors are dark-toned, brooding, and spicy. This is fucking polished and spectacular, for real. Also there are only 240 bottles available to the U.S. so that’s awesome. Pair with whatever.
2017 Müller-Thurgau Pur ~$31
Fawk I love Müller-Thurgau with skin contact; somehow it brings out a phenolic complexity that is wildly aromatic and confusing. Sourced from the top of the mountain, this is the “Nord Lage,” the northern parcel. Cold as hell, painfully windy and solid limestone, so the vines struggle up here. They only get about 30 hl/ha (consider you can pull 200 hl/ha from Müller-Thurgau with the right steroids). Five days of cold-maceration, then foot-tread and dumped into a 1200-liter Stückfass for the fermentation on the gross lees. Sour lemon, onion, menthol, lemon thyme, almond – whatever, this wine is textural and awesome. Don’t pair this with anything ever. You MUST drink it on its own, preferably alone and in a pensive mood.
2017 Riesling Pur ~$31
2017 Riesling Pur MAGS (6 x 1.5L) ~ $75
You should order all this because you probably won’t get any and then that will be a way to leverage for more back-vintage Becker or Lauer GGs or whatever. This is Riesling, high-toned and saline and linear and sharp and fucking awesome. Tastes like it could have been grown in the damn Saar. Seven day cold maceration, then fermentation and elevage in used barrique. I don’t get how they made this wine but they did. And they made some mags. Pair with Saar Riesling.
2016 Sylvaner “Elis” Pur ~$61
This wine makes zero sense and is too expensive and it’s worth every penny. Without a doubt, this is the most complex, confusing and rewarding wine in the lineup. Here we have 70-year-old Silvaner vines from a plot lovingly tended by a woman named Elis for decades. Now the wine carries her name in tribute, with a drawing done by the Brand brothers’ grandmother. Some shit you can’t make up. In terms of process: one-week cold maceration on the skins, followed by fermentation in used barrique. Only enough wine to fill a single barrel and its minty and fresh, yet also has darker, oily notes, like mandarin orange and other things that are too elusive and confusing for me to name. Contemplative, soulful and beautiful, seriously this wine is a treatise on the power of old vines. There are about 60 bottles available. Pair with anything divisible by 6 or 10.