Staatsweingut Freiburg - Blankenhornsberger Doktorgarten Weissburgunder 2017
We drink a Weissburgunder grown in the Blankenhornsberger Doktorgarten from Staatsweingut Freiburg harvested in 2017, a Großes Gewächs.
Today’s wine is the first pure Weissburgunder on the blog and it’s somehow special for us since in our cellar Riesling as a white grape variety otherwise exceeds in its number all other wines. Something different in the glass could be seen as an exception. A fact that may be questioned, at least at times, since there is so much to discover. I’ll work on it. So Weissburgunder today. The vineyard, the Blankenhornsberger Doktorgarten, is located on the Kaiserstuhl near Ihringen in Baden. Burgundy varieties are allowed to be sold here as a VDP Grosses Gewächs. The wine is matured in wood and has only been introduced to the market this year as vintage 2017.
In the nose wood is paired with some yellow fruit. In the mouth immediately creamy with nicely integrated acidity, yellow apple and the structure of the wood on the palate. It drinks easily, has a good length and with increasing age there will be more complexity in the wine, but there is still a trace missing behind the creaminess. The 14% alcohol is actually well integrated, but of course you can already tell that it is there. I like wood in Pinot Blanc, surely this is one of the reasons why the scent has something soothing about it, it is so soft and the apple becomes more and more ripe and yellow as the evening progresses.
Normally we drink residual sweet Riesling with Thai Curry, but since the winery itself recommends spicy Asian cuisine as a food accompaniment, we tried it. Here the wine really turns up the heat, becomes even creamier, really super buttery with a great, dark yellow, ripe fruit. The wood fades into the background and the pairing of the hot curry, the coconut milk, and the yellow fruit, which completely fills the mouth between bites, is an experience. This was not the last mating of this species.
On the second evening, a note of pear joins the apple. The mouthfeel is like the first evening, enriched with a touch more acidity. The wood in the nose is almost gone, but on the palate it continues to provide the structure it needs to withstand the alcohol. The wine is even faster to drink than on the first day. It is nice that there is still a bottle in the cellar. However, it may be left lying around for a while to gain some maturity.