Here’s one take on an origin story for vom Boden.
If it were not for a bottle of 2004 Emrich-Schönleber Frühlingsplätzchen GG, drank at restaurant Montrachet in early 2006, I may never have started vom Boden seven years later.
It’s a stretch, maybe.
But, if there is one bottle that absolutely cemented my belief that dry Riesling could be as deep, as complex, as elegant, as profound as a bottle of, well, Montrachet, this was the one.
Here is something that is not in the least a stretch: For any serious German wine buyer, the wines of Emrich-Schönleber belong in the cellar next to the greatest monumental dry wines being made in Germany, period.
There is a balance, a center to the best Emrich-Schönleber wines that is about as perfect and meditative as Riesling ever gets: texture and glycerin matched to a chiseled, yet glossy and ultra-fine architecture.
For me, stylistically, you have to leave the Nahe altogether to find the wines that remind me the most of Emrich-Schönleber – and those would be the wines of Keller in the Rheinhessen.
Now, this may seem like a hyperbolic sales pitch, but it’s genuinely not meant that way. While the “other great” wines in Germany are going to start trending upward with serious momentum (it’s already started), the Keller comparison isn’t meant to be a simplistic sales pitch equivalent to “get a $100 bottle for only $50!”
That’s an inane suggestion, equally insulting to Keller and Emrich-Schönleber, both of whom are pursuing their own passions, their unique visions with their unique terroirs. The comparison is more meant to place the two stylistically, in this very rarified center, where both seem to be able to make wines that are saturating and deep, yet that also have lift and a nearly inexplicable energy.
Please see the concise list of 2020 pre-arrivals below!
With 2020 Germany seems to have continued its psychotically good string of vintages – it’s nice at least that something beautiful has come from this **** year. Obviously I’ve been stuck at home like all of you, so I haven’t tasted these wines and have had very few 2020s, as they are just now being bottled. BUT – from what I hear from the growers the vintage is good to very, very good, to maybe great in parts, depending on your style preference.
Compared to the monumental 2019 vintage, the 2020ers seem to have more energy, more bounce, perhaps more cut. As Lauer might say: “They are more drinky.” Could 2019 and 2020 be something like the monumental 2007s next to the linear finesse of 2008? Could be – I’ve heard that reference a few times.
“Let’s see” is I guess all there is to say.
If these wines have not been as available as they should have been over the past few years, we plan to begin changing this, starting NOW, with this offer of the first releases from 2020. (Note: The single-vineyard Prädikat wines and the 1er Cru and Grand Cru dry Rieslings will be released in August and so will be offered closer to that time; preference will be given to those that supported the entire collection.)
I have been collecting these wines personally for nearly 15 years and have known Frank Schönleber for nearly as long; it is a profound honor to be representing this estate. If you have any questions at all, please just email us. We’ll be more than happy to talk Emrich-Schönleber all day long.
To order please reply to this email – orders@vomboden.com. The order deadline is next Friday April 16th for industry, restaurant and retail buyers. All wines will arrive in June or thereabouts…
2020 Riesling Estate Trocken ~$26 per bottle
2020 Riesling “Mineral” Trocken ~$35 per bottle
2020 Riesling “Frühtau” Trocken ~$38 per bottle
2020 Riesling “Halgans” Trocken ~$38 per bottle
This is the earlier picking/younger-vine selection from the Grand Cru Halenberg. For those of you twisted enough to understand German wine law and the VDP, this would be the estate’s “Spätlese Trocken” if they were allowed to label it as such. As with the Grand Cru, the wine is powerful and dense, supremely mineral and forceful. As with the “Frühtau” it is also not a wine to underestimate. This is a wine that one can cellar and with 5-10+ years it shows the depth of its material.
2020 Riesling Monzinger Kabinett ~$37 per bottle
While Emrich-Schönleber is most famous for their dry wines, their Prädikat wines are rare birds that are simultaneously ripe and juicy, even sometimes a flash exotic, while also having a prominent mineral core and, dare I say it, restraint. They are, as the dry wines are, impeccably centered and refreshing. Not much available but worth trying to grab a few.