Garagiste branches into German private label: Bünchen

K&L has been doing something like this for a while with their Kalinda series, now Garagiste is apparently acquiring the rights to a vineyard in the Saar and selling a private label:

My original impetus for making our own Riesling was the increase in
sugar levels found nearly everywhere in Germany over the last 5-7
years - I desire Riesling that is lithe and mysterious but also pure
and full of the minerality that can only come from this region. The
Bunchen label will pledge to show vintage, terroir and a light hand -
all elements of the general Garagiste mantra. This is Riesling for
Riesling’s sake not sugar’s sake - we will err on the lowest side
of each pradikat level to showcase the demure, filigreed elegance of
the varietal and soil - what most Riesling fans tell me they wish for
(i.e more stone and less glop).

Sounds good to me, we'll see how they deliver on the promise. I won't reproduce the whole email here, but their first offering is a 2007 Saar Riesling Spätlese for $16.97 plus shipping.

The website is not up yet, but will be at http://www.bunchenwein.com.

Walt

[David M. Bueker]

I just finished reading this. I was about ready to lose my lunch from all the pats Rimmerman was giving himself on the back. Gosh he makes me sick.

Hi, David,

I am enjoying the WLDG for a few months now, to a great extant because of your contributions, so I hope my question will be welcomed in a friendly manner!

i especially appreciate your understanding and enjoyment of Riesling, so I am sure you have something in mind with the above comments, but I admit the ignorance of exactly what. I am guessing that the Garagiste prose is rather flowery and self-indulgent, but at US$17, do you have particular reason to think this will be an unappealing wine?

While I have never drunk any of their offerings, I am (now) accustomed to buying wine unseen and untasted and I wonder if I should be concerned that their descriptions and approaches go beyond ordinary commercial hype, or whether you might just personally not enjoy their business approach.

My questions humbly submitted, and my thanks in advance for any response!

[David M. Bueker]

Hi Steve,

It's basically that I cannot stand the over the top write ups that Garagiste puts out. I don't doubt the wine will taste ok. Will it live up to the write up - no chance. Not even JJ Prum at its best could live up to that.

Thanks very much!

I have been in business my whole adult life, and while I personally prefer 'underselling', I guess I have learned that many fine products and services are still worthwhile and fulfill my needs and expectations, even if I cannot necessarily hope that they will fulfill their sponsors' promises.

[David M. Bueker]

I guess that I know German Riesling well enough that I am certain I can do as well or better for under $20 (with no shipping).

David, it sounds like "shipping" is a key term. Sure, Jon Rimmerman's bloated and punctuation-challenged prose is annoying, and if I lived on the east coast of the USA, it would be easy to tune him out. But instead I live in the southmost Sierra Nevada of California and buy 90% of my wine via internet. And most of it is through K&L and Garagiste (the state sales tax levels out the increased shipping charge from Seattle).

Rimmerman has an obvious economic interest in the product he's pushing, but like wine critics, he's consistent. I've been buying from garagiste since 2003 and have come to read JR's particular code--as I have the codes of Parker, Tanzer, Robin Garr, and others--and relate it to my taste. And Garagiste does have some pretty good deals on German wines, especially older wines (like the 1992 CH Berres Uerzieger Wuertzgarten Spaetlese for $14 a bottle). Yeah, I'm looking forward to the '07 Selbach-Oster Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett on order and also looking forward to wnissen's TN on the Buenchen.

K&L has been doing something like this for a while with their Kalinda series, now Garagiste is apparently acquiring the rights to a vineyard in the Saar and selling a private label:

Does anyone know which site and winemaker is concerned or is it a "secret"?

[David M. Bueker]

With all that flowery prose I immediately thought of Ernie Loosen.

And as for Rimmerman - I would not find him so distasteful if he could be more concise. Several pages of "aren't we great" to promote 1 wine is more than tiring.

Dear David,

I knew you'd be especially happy to read that missive.

Dear Jean,

I haven't read any of the usual places the identity of the site or maker. Presumably someone who can get a look at the bottle will at least be able to determine the cellaring winery.

Dear Steve,

Welcome to the board. We're all here to be friendly, even the designated curmudgeons are cuddly once you get to know them. My answer to your question is that sometimes the characteristics Mr. Rimmerman describes are lacking, and his superlatives are to be discounted almost entirely. Frankly, the reason I stay on the list is the occasional outstanding deal. Yes, it's a form of gambling addiction, as the cost of that yearly score is a number of other bottles that are OK, and rarely a bad value, but nothing special. There's also wines that I would have bought anyway (2006 Pinon Vouvray) that are cheaper on the West Coast from Garagiste than anywhere else, shipping included. I was certainly surprised to learn that I've spent more at Garagiste than any other retailer (12% of purchases by dollar), but Cellartracker doesn't lie.

Walt

And as for Rimmerman - I would not find him so distasteful if he could be more concise. Several pages of "aren't we great" to promote 1 wine is more than tiring.

Rimmerman and concise? In what universe?
I do love some of the emails though - I find the prose hilarious (at times very accurate on some wines when you cut through the flowery bits, I've bought quite a number of wines from them I would have never thought of trying otherwise, and they've for the most part been excellent), especially some of the non-wine related stuff - Jon's near-religious experiences with pizza or roast potatoes are awesome reads. (J. Peterman catalogue meets reality!)

[Of course, I ended up deleting this one within a minute and not buying. Will wait for his old German Riesling offers right from the cellar, or some of his cool climate Aus stuff that usually hits the spot. Mm, Torzi Matthews...]