Garagiste

• By Jon Rimmerman
  2/15/2008 (link)

  (KLEIN Riesling BURGREBEN) Friday SPECIAL Dear Friends, Some hard to find formats and crazy prices below - all are in perfect condition, directly from the source. To find original 3.0lt bottles of Cote Rotie at this point (from the cellar) is quite rare, so take note. Have a good weekend everyone! 2005 Moulin Haut Laroque (Fronsac) LIMITED 3/person (Compare at more - one of the better values of 2005. You can look up the scores if you need to but look for Suckling to give the overall vintage 100pts next week...) 1996 Klein aux Vieux Remparts “Burgreben” Riesling (Alsace) LIMITED 3/person They sent us an extra ten cases of this wine as they felt bad there was space left-over on a pallet - it’s not everyday that a winery “fills” a pallet with 12 year old Riesling at peak...obviously the amount of wine all of you ordered made an impression. These are the only bottles available in the US. 2003 Chapoutier Crozes-Hermitage “Les Varonniers” 3.0lt 1999 Chapoutier Cote Rotie La Mordoree 3.0lt 1990 Chapoutier Cote Rotie La Mordoree 3.0lt - $1874.30 (these are some of the most impressive bottles of Cote Rotie I’ve ever seen) FIRST COME FIRST SERVED up to the stated limits Thank you, Jon Rimmerman Garagiste Seattle, WA Bord6340 Als1200 Rhone2220 Rhone2230 Rhone2240

• By Jon Rimmerman
  7/5/2007 (link)

  (BURGREBEN Riesling KLEIN) 1996 Alsace DEAL Dear Friends, When we get a chance to acquire a wine with this age and this level of provenance we jump in head first. It’s not often you get the opportunity to acquire cellar stock from a decade ago, nearing its peak drinking window - especially from Alsace. This wine is going to blow people out of their socks (well, not literally but you know what I mean)... I originally inquired about this wine after tasting it at a dinner last winter in Strasbourg where a local collector was trying to showcase the best unknown producers in Alsace. I couldn’t find any at the winery but I found a few bottles at a local retailer and was told he had access to three more cases that were lying in the winery cellar as a library release. I inquired again at the winery and due to persistence was told there were “a few cases” but no more. I visited, tasted the wine again and walked through the cellar where I found a stash of this, unlabeled and full of the typical dust and mold one finds in decade-old bottles resting in a cave. I asked if indeed there were more than “a few” cases available and indeed there were (remember, this started as “nothing available”, “a few” and now “more than a few” - such is the nature of my job, gentle prodding that can seem determined to many Europeans but the results are in your cellar). Hand-picked and hand made, this is an esoteric bottle of wine that contains a mystery of flavor and stony but honeyed Riesling fruit that is strong but medium in weight and beautifully balanced. It is just starting to mature and open and its best days are well ahead of it. Klein is known to have some of the longest-lived examples in Alsace (even the Trimbachs are fans) and 1980s examples are still going strong (even an early 1990s Muscat tasted was magical). The Klein Burgreben reminds me of a junior version of Boxler’s Riesling “Brand” from the 1996 vintage (or even Tempe’s 1998 Burgreben which is quite close) and I liken this offer to one of the Schloss Schonborn deals we had over the winter - cellar stock that is in absolutely pristine condition. While we have the opportunity, I urge you to partake of this shimmering, lightly golden elixir - it’s just a great bottle of terroir-focussed Riesling (this time dry), directly from the winery cellar and never moved since bottling. The wine was just labeled on your behalf a week ago and sent on its way to us. For this price it makes a mockery of many of the world’s current Riesling release offers. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for support of a small family winery, condition and aging potential (another 10+ years) 1996 Klein aux Vieux Remparts Riesling “Burgreben” (Alsace) Thank you, Jon Rimmerman Garagiste Seattle, WA Als6000