The direct translation of “Pur” is the following: “pure, neat, sheer.”
None of these definitions seem even remotely appropriate for most zero-sulfur wines; yet the brothers Brand, Daniel and Jonas, created a small, yet brilliant and ethereal collection in 2018.
The cool-climates did well in 2018, and while the Pfalz is hardly the coldest region in Germany, the Brand brother’s far northern, limestone-rich, mountain-vineyard, the Sonnenberg, fared well. Seriously: These wines are crystalline, with definition and energy. And they do one other thing that most zero-sulfur wines do not: They show a very specific sense of variety and place.
Contextualizing these wines is impossible. They taste nothing like anything else coming out of the Pfalz. You just have to try them.
Please read through the offer below and let us know what you might like. Most of the wines are in stock, though we will order more from the estate if possible. Email us at orders@vomboden.com with all requests and we will get back to you shortly with a confirmation of your order.
Obviously if you have any questions shoot us an email. All wines will be sold first come, first served. Thanks so much!
2018 Wildersatz Pur ~$27 retail
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, an ocean breeze with the saltiness that implies, great peppy 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.
2018 Wildrosé Pur ~$33 retail
Here we have another entry in our bid to become the country’s largest importer of old-vine Portugieser. Wildly low yields give this wine an uncommon density and extract. 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. This is not yet in stock.
NV (2017-2018) Flora Pur ~$31 retail
You are not allowed to buy this wine unless you read this note in its entirety. Seriously, you will be quizzed when attempting to place orders.
This is an incredibly important wine to me, to us, to the brothers? This wine certainly is, or will be, the greatest Dornfelder you’ve ever had. Which maybe isn’t saying much as Dornfelder is a grape that usually gets over-cropped and added to other anemic red wines to bolster the color – a natural mega purple if you will.* Here, with the Brand “Cuvée Flora,” we have an old-vine Dornfelder vineyard (about an acre and a half in size) planted a half-century ago by Daniel and Jonas’ grandfather, and worked by the grandfather and his beloved horse, Flora. The horse was necessary given the soil: This is one of the most brutal parcels they have, dense with limestone boulders seemingly bubbling up from the ground. The vineyard is at the top of the Sonnenberg mountain and thus is ravished by wind and experiences extreme temperature shifts between day and night. The site produces very low yields, and thus a singular Dornfelder of ravishing complexity. If this wine tasted exactly the same and wasn’t Dornfelder and wasn’t from Germany, it’d be three times the price. The “Cuvée Flora” is a blend of two vintages, 2017 and 2018. While the wine has the signature inky darkness, it is not a rich or heavy wine. In fact, it is energized, quite lively on the palate with a mineral and citrus-driven acidity reminiscent of white wine. There is something of the Loire Valley here, like Cabernet Franc gone Cabernet Deutsch. Dark fruited, brambly, herbal, the wine is textural yet very fresh on the palate, multifaceted and complex.
* I have to correct myself here: Dornfelder is not a teinturier grape, as I have told some people. I humbly apologize. This is not a grape where the juice is dark! Dornfelder simply has a lot of colorants in the skin, thus the darker than normal color. I was corrected by Daniel Brand, who noted that I may have been confusing Dornfelder with Dunkelfelder, which indeed is a teinturier grape. For the record, I was not confusing anything with Dunkelfelder, because I have never, ever even heard of that grape. Now, naturally, I want to find the world’s greatest Dunkelfelder. If you know of one, holla.
2018 Pinot Blanc Pur ~$34 retail
This wine comes in part from the Heilgenkirche (Holy Chapel), Brand’s old-vine Pinot Blanc site that is basically a solid chunk of limestone. You can taste it; this is a beautiful, suave and luxurious Pinot – tasted blind I think many people would guess Pinot Blanc and would not guess it’s zero sulfur. It flaunts 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.
2018 Riesling Pur ~$34 retail
This is Riesling, high-toned and saline and linear and sharp and awesome. A few days cold maceration, then fermentation and elevage in old barrels. I don’t exactly understand how they made this so freshy-fresh in 2018, but they did, and I am thankful.
2018 Riesling Pur Magnums (6 x 1.5L) ~$74 retail
So sorry to make this complicated, but while labeled simply “Riesling Pur magnum” – this wine is different than the 750ml bottling. I’m not really at liberty to say how this is different, but it is, and it’s seriously profound juice. Perhaps, in it’s way, one of the absolute best 2018ers I’ve had – powerful and generous and expansive, as is true to the vintage, yet wild and ruthless and incisive – cutting. Flaunting minerals and force. Just silly. Order this. It’s pre-arrival, so order AND be patient.
2018 Pinot Noir Pur ~$37 retail
Dark-fruited, lavish with energy and punch. Honestly, I’d try and sell this more, but we have 15 cases in stock and it’s sold out at the estate. That’s some indication of how compelling the wine is. The Pinot Noir vines here are up to 40 years old, and the grapes see a week of cold maceration followed by a week of fermentation on the skins with occasional punchdowns, no pump-overs. It’s aged for about 8 months in old 500-liter barrels, called halbstück in the Pfalz. You know, to each region, it’s own barrel terminology.
2018 Sylvaner “Elis” Pur ~$63 retail
This wine makes zero sense and is too expensive and it’s worth every penny. It’s even more expensive this year thanks to our ***hat in the White House. Without a doubt, this is the most complex, confusing and rewarding wine in the lineup. Here we have 70-year-old Sylvaner 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.