Von Winning is a rising light in the Pfalz. Originally a somewhat controversial estate for their decision to vinify their grand cru riesling holdings in new oak, the results of the iconoclastic practice have convinced skeptics of the vision’s merit. Von Winning winemaker Stephan Attman approaches his cultivation and his cellar work with an obsessive meticulousness and craft. Coche Dury is more often cited as a lodestar for the wines of Von Winning than is Egon Müller or Dönnhoff. Attman wanted to impart something of the grandeur of great white Burgundy to his German rieslings and he succeeded! His newer vineyards are planted at the very high density of 9500 vines per hectare. This reduces the vines yields through competition for nutrients and increases the remaining bunches’ concentration. All organic and sustainable agriculture is practiced in the vineyards. The wines see gentle clarification and natural fermentations. The Grosses Gewächs wines ferment in 500L French Oak barrels. The wines exhibit a power that is underlaid by a gentle elegance.

MarMar comes from a small parcel within the Ungeheuer Grosse Lage site. The Ungeheuer is a south east facing slope of volcanic basalt with an ideal water supply and a perfect, thin layer of humus within the soil. Marmar is a .25 ha limestone rich parcel within the Ungeheuer. MarMar produces just two 500L barrels and ages for 24 months on the lees. The nose of the wine is a lovely little structure of just-peeled orange, a honeysuckle bush from a little ways off on the wind, finely chopped herbs, and that cold feeling of white marble. The palate is wrought with great acidic precision while the oak and lees aging provide a supple power to the body. The wine is full of quince paste and asian pear, apricot and herbs, and a mineral vibration on the tongue like a finely wrought stone chain binding it all together.