We have worked with Jonas and Daniel Brand for nearly a decade and it’s honestly a bit shocking to consider what they have accomplished over this relatively short span of time.
They have essentially reinvented the family estate, converting the entire estate to organic viticulture and the cellar to only natural ferments. They have preserved their estate’s eclectic diversity, one that ranges from Riesling to Pinot Blanc, Silvaner, Portugieser, Dornfelder and more. They have reclaimed family farmland, long since leased to larger commercial farmers, and brought these sites to organic farming, planting many heirloom varieties of grains and potatoes. Jonas is now selling grains and more to some of the best small restaurants in Frankfurt and Mainz.
And while the natural wine world in this same time has sorta gone a bit insane – from all the hipster clichés to just big commercial business – quietly and without all that much fanfare or hype, Jonas and Daniel Brand have continued to turn out some of the most honest and transparent natural wines in Germany, priced really fairly for real drinkers, year over year. They are widely found on the top natural lists all over France, Sweden, Copenhagen and, yes, Germany and the U.S. and beyond.
The wines remain pure and authentic; you can feel it.
What these wines were ten years ago, they are still today, although perhaps a bit more refined now. Across the board their wines showcase – they flaunt – the two characteristics that I look for in wine above all else: clarity and acidity.
Jonas was here for a mini-U.S. tour last week and I was taken, again and again, by just how light and intense these wines are. They all have the signature of the northern Pfalz, of this cool, limestone-riddled, windy mountain… yet they are all so specific.
While we do our best to keep the liters in stock year-round, this is simply not possible with the zero-sulfur “Pur” wines. They are made in much lower quantities and released only when the brothers think it is appropriate – thus we have a 2018 Cabernet Franc and a 2019 Sylvaner “Ellis” being released at the same time as the Grand Cru 2021 Riesling “Hill of Flags.”
To make all this semi-legible, we’ve coordinated with Jonas and Daniel to offer the following “Pur” wines, listed below. Some are pretty available, others are wildly limited.
Make no mistake, this is the only time you’ll see or be able to buy some of these wines. In other words, this is your moment!
For consumers, just write to orders@vomboden.com to order and we will connect you with a local retailer who can fulfill your order
If you are in the drinks business, please give us your top ask by Friday, May 12th. For wines that are marked “VERY LIMITED” below, we may have to allocate.
Find all the wines and notes below – wines should arrive in July.
NV Piquette – $17 – VERY LIMITED!
This is made 100% from young-vine Pinot Noir and some Dornfelder, the grapes of which had no juice because of youth and the dryness of 2022. So instead of this being a mash of old skins and stems, it is in fact fresh grapes, with water added and then everything pressed and fermented. Does this switcharoo, new instead of used grapes, make a big difference? Honestly, I have no idea. But this is fresh AF and super low in alcohol, only 7.5%.
The 2022 Pet-Nat Blanc, when I tasted it in March at the estate, was absolutely bonkers good – Champagne-esque in its textures and airy layers. The rosé is this year 100% Pinot Noir, yet darker in color, more sour cherry and grippier than in past vintages. Jonas and Daniel are famous (in certain circles?) for being the first producers in Germany to do Pet-Nats. I think it’s safe to say they remain among the best, if not the best in Germany. These Pet-Nats are ultra-light and gossamer, yet intense and aromatic. Every single bottle is hand-disgorged, which, besides being an inane (I meant to write “inane,” not insane) amount of work, makes the wines a bit fresher and more buoyant.
2022 Brand “Wildersatz” – $26
A blend of everything and the kitchen sink, this is their tip-of-the-hat to the field blends of yore, albeit a bit more structured and wilder – thus instead of “Gemischter Satz,” we have “Wilder Satz.” Ultra-light and fresh, aromatic but not floral, normally with a bit of skin-contact and grip – a very light-styled orange wine.
2022 Brand “Red” – $26
This is their “nouveau,” a blend of Pinot Noir, Dornfelder, Portugieser normally with a touch of white wine – Silvaner and Riesling – for freshness and acid. This is a super-light (normally around 10% alcohol), chillable red. Wunderbar.
2020/2021 Brand Müller-Thurgau “Pur” – $30
A small bit of 2020 is left; we will move on to the 2021 next. So you can have 2020 NOW – or 2021 in a few weeks. The two vintages are comparable, with 2021 being perhaps a bit brisker than the 2020 yet still has that herbal intensity and aromaticity – like the “Wildersatz” it is something of an orange wine meets sour beer meets classic vinous white wine. So deep and saturating and complex and normally well under 11% alcohol.
2021 Brand Pinot Blanc “Pur” – $30
To me this is one of their greatest wines, year after year after year, so perfectly straddling the natural and classic wine world – at least from the perspective of its linear finesse and unapologetic minerality. This is just a great white wine. Such a steal.
2021 Brand Riesling “Pur” – $30
Direct and salty, great citrus tones and minerality – very similar to the Pinot Blanc but even more linear and incisive – perhaps less finesse but more cut and energy.
2019 Brand Pinot Blanc “Holy Chapel” – $38 – VERY LIMITED!
This is the only single-vineyard Pinot Blanc they make; similar to the regular but broader and more fruit-driven but also more structured and mineral. Deeeeeeeep.
2021 Brand Riesling “Monastery” – $40 – VERY LIMITED!
This is one of two single-vineyard Riesling bottlings. This comes from a site called “Klosterschäffnerei” at the foot of the Sonnenberg hill. It is a warm, south-facing site and produces the boldest and deepest dry Riesling the Brands make. This is a powerful and energized dry Riesling, especially in the 2021 vintage.
2021 Brand Riesling “Hill of Flags” – $45 – VERY LIMITED!
This is one of two single-vineyard Riesling bottlings. This comes from a site called “Fahneberg,” which would loosely translate to “Hill of Flags.” It is a limestone-dense parcel, toward the top of the Sonnenberg and very cool and windy. This is the most linear and incisive of the two Rieslings, with a higher acidity and more pronounced minerality.
2019 Brand Silvaner “Elis” – $56 – VERY LIMITED!
This comes from a tiny site of old-vine Silvaner (40 years and much older) that was tended by an older lady in the village named Elis; when she retired she gifted the parcel to the brothers who now tend it as one tends a garden. The grapes are picked and the single barrel is allowed to oxidize a bit, so the wine can have something of hay- and grass-driven aromaticity of a great Jura wine. It also has just a rigorous and impressive structure, great juicy salt-laden acids and such rigor, length and depth. This is a meditative wine that deserves to be drunk over days.
2020 Brand Pinot Noir “Holy Chapel” – $68 – VERY LIMITED!
This is the only single-vineyard Pinot Noir they make and it flaunts layers of fruit, both deep cherry and bright, tart notes with edgings of pine-needle resin and great herbal complexity and grip. This has a long life ahead of it.
2018 Brand Cabernet Franc “Pur” – $68 – VERY LIMITED!
This is one of those wines you just have to believe. We’ve had it blind next to Clos Rougeard (people liked them both the same) – just last week I pulled a 2016 from my cellar and drank it over a long dinner with a bunch of wine people – it was simply superb, superb. This is just awesome Cabernet Franc, with herbal layers, dark soil-driven fresh fruit with transparency and verve, great acids and fullness – this fucking wine is great.