Hölle Spätburgunder

Nose is cranberry, spice and mulberry. So different than what Thorle is doing today. Love this style but also love the newer style. What a winery! Some herbs, some limestone aromas and sour cherry. Very complex. Palate is energetic and to be honest a bit of an herbal streak that I love but others might not. No green from 18 on for this bottling. I am betting it goes away with air. Palate is lush and energetic with terrific purity and depth. Good freshness and depth hut seems thing compared to what they are doing now. Sour and early season cherry fruit and super velvety tannins. Let’s see what happens with air.

What a drop dead stunningly profound wine. Just so brilliant. Nose is all elite plum, black raspberry, mid season cherries, sour cherries, black cherries and lovely tree bark and a hint of herbals. So complex and so pure. There is a delicacy and elegance to the nose that is stunning. Also some citrus top notes. Palate is at once round and but also has terrific energy from what seems like stem inclusion. So nimble and pure. This has serious structure and the fruit in the palate is sweet but also high toned and cooling and one can tell this is a cool vintage wine. What an epic finish and such refined tannins. This also needs to breathe. And it will improve and wow what a wine. Let’s see where it goes.

Intense violets. Intense purple fruits. So so pungent and intense. Chalky and gorgeous. Just a perfect wine. This is the real deal. Finish is minutes and so crunchy. This is the best Holle ever.

One of the greatest Pinots in Germany. Just a ridiculous wine. Heaven in a nose. Just so high toned. It’s like a sphere. Spice, limestone, so mineral, some fresh herbs, so so so complex. Sour cherry to medium cherry, pomegranate, cherry flower and ripe dark cherry but only a hint. It’s always changing it’s hard to pin down. Amazing fruit definition. Clarity is just amazing. Mint, tree bark, transcendent. Palate is deep and juicy but also not nearly as open as the nose. It’s transcendent. It’s long. It’s complex. It’s got intense and substantial structure. Insane concentration, depth and power. Sappy and mouth coating fruit and tannin and so complex. Amazing, mineral infused tannins. This is such a fucking great wine. It’s young and in 5-6 years will be epic but this is remarkable shit. The tiny berry fruit intensity is something else. Amazing texture. Almost a hint of creaminess. This is just a sphere of Pinot. Just so focused and linear. Amazing finish. Remarkable. So so so long. The echoes of fruit on the finish are endless.

Stunning. Just had the 2016 and wanted to try 2015 soon thereafter. Soaring nose of spices, deep cherry and mineral. A huge almost NSG like perfume. Gorgeous sour cherry as well. Insanely fragrant. Exotic spices. Hoisin. Really profound. Amazing sap and sweetness on the palate with and almost painful fruit intensity. So refined. Also powerful, dense and explosive but also exhibiting terrific spine and tension. Epically long finish. Almost creamy texture after some air. What sweetness. This is amazing. A baby but will age for 15+’years. Likely needs 3-4.

The piece de la resistance of the Thörle lineup. Knockout nose that reminds me of high end NSG. Stunning depth and purity. The palate is amazing. So much depth, huge fruit and structure and so much structure. It shows a level of class and finesse that is beyond all the other wines. Also it’s substantially concentrated and the finish just goes on and on. The fruit is insane. Oh man. Thrilling levels. Such an incredible fruit soak this seems like it could be Grand Cru from Côte d’Or. Best Thörle Pinot I’ve had.

Red cherry, blackberry, red currant, tamarind, licorice, with some shoe polish & menthol intrigue. Great energy and concentration. Throbbing tart fruit on the finish. Coiled tight, superb nose that’s still a bit reticent.

This is drinking so well now. Nose is stunning and floral. Spices galore. Amazing cherries and Xmas spice. Gingerbread. Lovely limestone background. Beautiful mid season cherries. Super sweet cherry fruit and velvety tannins. So tangy and concentrated. Amazingly pure. Before 2018/2019 this was the benchmark Thorle Pinot and nice to see it’s drinking so well. Terrific sweetness and the tannins are so good and come one more with air. Sweet, silky and velvety.

Phenomenal. Family visiting. Bottle didn’t last long enough for notes.

Finally I get to taste the legendary 18. Been waiting for this day for almost a year. It does not disappoint. Nose is slightly muted but has stunning florals. Violets and mid season cherries. Really ethereal. Stunning earth and minerals. Just sick. Such clarity, detail and vividness. A nose one cannot stop smelling. Smells like elite 1er Cru Red Burgundy. Like VR or CM. Maybe a NSG near VR. This is the creme de la creme. My goodness this is a benchmark German Pinot. Wow. This is even better, albeit young on the palate. Sweet like you cannot believe and unreal power, depth and concentration. Such power but also grace. This is super refined and also has substantial structure and length. Wow the length. Nose gets so complex after 10 minutes or so. Just insane. Herbal, forest, wild flowers. Sickness. There are so many elements here it’s hard to describe. The sweetness on the palate is crazy. But it’s backed up by unreal minerality and earthiness. While this is obviously young this is the greatest young Thorle Pinot I’ve ever had. Just stunning.

Closes up with air and structure becomes more prominent but just massive power, depth and concentration.