It's a curious situation to be put in for someone who wants to both express a very honest opinion, and (believe it or not), not over-hype nor over-sell something.

What I wrote last year holds equally as true (if not more true) as we present the newest collection from Carsten Saalwächter: My honest opinion is that these are some of the finest Pinot Noirs and Silvaners being made in Germany right now, period.

I realize the line feels like an easy and cheesy, salesy-zinger, but it is just the honest truth.

These are wines of amplitude and force. There is a certain swagger and even voluptuousness to the palates - a very serious concentration and depth - yet the wines have such energy, such incredible drive and transparency. I have been barrel tasting with Carsten since 2019 and even five years ago, with his first barrels and bottles, the wines had a very serious and authentic sense of style.

It isn't that often that a winemaker seems to just understand what they want to do, and then knows how to do it. Every year the wines have gotten better.

We've provided pretty detailed information on all the bottlings below.

For the Pinot Noirs, there are two main terroirs Carsten is farming: the cool, limestone-riddled vineyards of his hometown Ingelheim in the northern Rheinhessen, and then a few tiny parcels (totaling only around one hectare) of the Höllenberg vineyard in the village of Assmanshausen in the Rheingau, just across the river. Today's offer focuses *only* on the limestone Pinots of Ingelheim. I think the Rheingau Pinots will come later?

Saalwächter's single-vineyard Grand Cru Silvaners are now sold out; notes on those as well below. These are powerful, deep, and insanely transparent wines - they are just head-spinningly good. They are not cheap; but they are also rare as hell and worth the indulgence when they come around again. 

Thank you so much for the support and please do let us know what you think.

Stephen and Robert

Saalwächter Pinot Noirs
As stated, all of the Pinots on offer today come from Saalwächter's hometown of Ingelheim, in the northern-most part of the Rheinhessen - essentially across the river from the Rheingau. There is the regular bottling (a profound deal), the Spätburgunder "alte Reben" (old vines), and then finally the Spätburgunder "R," presumably meaning "Reserve." This is his top bottling from his hometown.

2022 Spätburgunder - $33.95
The basic Spätburgunder is sourced from various parcels around Ingelheim; all limestone parcels. While the wine has great delineation and energy, there is a textural amplitude to the wine, a fine bright red fruit, perfumed and soaring. This for sure drinks the best right upon opening; it is giving and just a total pleasure to drink. An absurd - ABSURD - deal at under $35.

2022 Spätburgunder “alte Reben” - $49.95
Sourced from older vines, the "alte Reben" has both more depth and more structure. The wine has a beautiful florality, with a complex array of red and darker fruit, great herbal detail. On the palate the wine is textural but swift, with energy and structure. Immense potential, but this does benefit from a decant at this young age.

2022 Spätburgunder “R” - 82.95
This is the top Pinot sourced from the vineyards in and around Ingelheim - again we're talking limestone. This specific bottling is sourced from one of the parcels that is most isolated and the coolest, with old vines that push up against an old forest. And you taste that, in a way. This is for sure the most serious of the Ingelheim group. This is very structured and right away has a more forceful herbal edging with a very serious tannic structure. It is dark-fruited and inward looking, brooding almost. Lots of forest floor notes and great resin details on the layers of dark, mineral-driven fruit. Damn this is a mysterious and engaging wine, both a bottle for serious Burgheads but also in a way for Riesling drinkers, in the compact, herbal-mineral density and the wine's transparency.

Saalwächter single-vineyard Silvaners - SOLD OUT
Carsten often talks about Silvaner as a phenolic grape, about the wines being as much about the architecture as the taste, and these wines are an uncanny flex into this aspect of the variety. Burly, fine, phenolic, elegant, deep, lean - none of this makes total sense, I admit, but these are the wines. While Carsten harvests neither particularly early nor very late, he does favor a very slow and serious pressing cycle - he wants the phenolics. The wines then see a mix of barrels, some new, some older and neutral, where they will normally age for a year - two years in this case. They are then blended into stainless steel tanks for about six months before they are bottled - a similar process is used at Wasenhaus and many more Burgundy-oriented estates. We have so few of these wines that I'm hesitant to go into too much deal, but holy hell... outside of Keller, I cannot think of more profound Silvaners from Germany. You just have to taste these to understand. If you like white Burgundy, these are in your wheelhouse.

2022 Silvaner "Steinkante" - SOLD OUT
The "Steinkante" parcel was bought by Carsten in 2019; the 2022 is the first time it was bottled separately, I believe. A stony plateau above the "Grauer Stein" (see below), the site is a bit more exposed to the wind and so comes off as a bit sharper and finer. Structure, tension, push - just amazing wine.

2022 Silvaner "St. Laurentius" - SOLD OUT
This is perhaps the leanest and meanest of them all; profound incisiveness and a great salinity, a crystalline, washing minerality. While it is young now, with an almost kinetic energy, I have the sense this will develop into a wine of just profound elegance.

2022 Silvaner "Grauer Stein" - SOLD OUT
This is Carsten's top Silvaner bottling from the oldest Silvaner vines at the estate, around 70 years old. Only tiny quantities are made; it is released after two years in barrel and then additional bottle-aging. For all the grandiosity and fullness (albeit a disciplined fullness), the Silvaner "Grauer Stein" is broad-shouldered, yet taut and lean-feeling. There is so much salty density here while the wine is at once buoyant (upward looking) and incisive (downward looking). The wine is still silly-young - cellar if you can, otherwise decant or drink over a few days.

To order please email orders@sourcematerialwine.com.