First Exposure to Enderle & Moll Pinot Noir

R

Rahsaan

Rahsaan
I've heard a lot of positive buzz about E&M and was happy to drink a few bottles. I enjoyed each one, but am not sure I'm a full-blown adoring fan just yet.

I started with 2013 Liaison Pinot Noir and reveled in the fresh fragrant delicate trembling texture. Even as it became deep in its own way, the stereotypical natural wine freshness is appealing when done well.

The 2012 Buntsandstein Pinot Noir was also a lot of fun for its suave silky texture and an increase in luscious intensity without an increase in weight. Lovely interpretation of pinot noir. Continuing on, I had fun with the 2012 Muschelkalk Pinot Noir for its finer elegant grains and complete harmony.

I enjoyed each of these bottles and will be buying more. But mainly because they were fun fragrant wines and I'm currently based in Germany where the local red wine options are limited. But am not sure these really scratch my pinot noir itch and am not sure what they speak of?

I suppose time (and more drinking) will tell!
 
I'm a big fan of E&M, and to me these wines have a very distinct voice, speaking of a location for PN that I have little other experience with. My experience with the wines is that they have a smoky, earthy character that is to me distinct from what I get with PN from either Burgundy or the Jura. You might have to give those single vineyard wines more time for them to really strut their stuff.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by MLipton:
I'm a big fan of E&M, and to me these wines have a very distinct voice, speaking of a location for PN that I have little other experience with. My experience with the wines is that they have a smoky, earthy character that is to me distinct from what I get with PN from either Burgundy or the Jura. You might have to give those single vineyard wines more time for them to really strut their stuff.

Mark Lipton
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What Doc Lipton said.

In other news, Ulli Stein's 2012 "Waechter" spatburgunder was on fire last night.
 
originally posted by MLipton:
I'm a big fan of E&M, and to me these wines have a very distinct voice, speaking of a location for PN that I have little other experience with. My experience with the wines is that they have a smoky, earthy character that is to me distinct from what I get with PN from either Burgundy or the Jura.
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Interesting, smoky and earth are qualities that are fairly common in my experience with Spatburgunder, perhaps because of stems/barrels/I don't know. But these E&M wines seemed to lean more on the juicy fragrant natural wine fruit style, and made me think of all their natural wine brethren in France as much as they made me think of other Spatburgunders.

But, of course I don't pretend to understand the wines after these three bottles. Which is why I posted the note.
 
I have a bittersweet relationship with the Enderle & Moll wines. When they're on, they are utterly delicious. Juicy, weightless, silky and ethereal. But they seem very temperamental to me.

My success ratio is just 50% - for every delightful bottle there seems to be one that is utterly closed, or just off. The off bottles are sometimes turbid. Yet twice now I've had what seemed a completely fucked bottle turn delicious after being lost in my fridge for a couple of weeks. I don't know what is going on there.

The winemaking at E&M is often described as highly experimental, and I understand that some experiments don't succeed. But I'm curious if other folks have a better hit ratio with these wines, and if so how they are treating the wines. E.g. drink each vintage on release vs. some cellaring, decanting / aeration practices, etc.
 
originally posted by slaton:
When they're on, they are utterly delicious. Juicy, weightless, silky and ethereal. But they seem very temperamental to me...

My success ratio is just 50% - for every delightful bottle there seems to be one that is utterly closed, or just off. The off bottles are sometimes turbid.
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Sounds about right for the natural wine thing!
 
[T]hese E&M wines seemed to lean more on the juicy fragrant natural wine fruit style, and made me think of all their natural wine brethren in France as much as they made me think of other Spatburgunders.
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We had the 2014 Liaison with dinner, and "juicy fragrant natural" would have been a good set of descriptors. I imagine that if I was tasting blind I would might guessed a village wine from somewhere in the Cote de Beaune. And at 12%, this was a great wine for the table.
 
originally posted by slaton:
Paging Chairman Levenberg.
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Here I am...
I think these wines are great. I have no idea how they will age, or if they will age at all. Complex they are not. I've got the feeling that what you see is what you get. How you feel about them on the very first sip is pretty much how you're going to feel about them. I think they are better than "fun," though. "Fun" is for zippy, lively wines. I find these more sedate and serene, which is much harder to pull off. I don't think there is anything else out there quite like them. The closest analogue in my mind isn't another kind of pinot noir, but the Dirty & Rowdy mourvedres.
 
originally posted by Keith Levenberg:
think they are better than "fun," though. "Fun" is for zippy, lively wines. I find these more sedate and serene, which is much harder to pull off.
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These adjectives are all highly personal, and I do see what you're saying. Although for me, sedate and serene is nicely aged premier cru red Burgundy, and these E&M wines were in a different category from that.

Either way, I'm happy they exist and look forward to drinking some more, at least over the next few months while I'm still in Germany.
 
2013 Enderle & Moll Ménage à Trois Pinot Noir 12.5%
Just when you thought you’d seen dem Moll, along comes a selection of the best grapes from three different layers [2 x Buntsandstein (red sandstone) and 1 x Muschelkalk (limestone)]. Decanted two hours after reading reports of near-term tightness. Pinosity playing prettily, that signal mix of raspberry, strawberry, and spice. Adequate weight and balance, but unfetchingly dry before food, especially coming from a northern nation with austere leanings, yet cherubic gobs of sugar in so many of its wines. But with food a delicious cruising altitude is attained, with no hint of turbulence to mar the sense of effortless transport. Quite a satisfying non-Burgundian expression, one that vanished with a most regrettable celerity.
 
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